Eight Indians qualify for main draw

Nagpur, Feb 28

As many as eight Indian girls have qualified for the main draw in MSLTA Women's $ 15 K Women's Tennis Tournament which is being organized by Nagpur District Tennis Association in association with MSLTA at MSLTA Tennis Academy, Ramnagar Nagpur.

In the final round qualifying Niditra Rajmohan registered a credible win over sixth seeded Ilaria Sposetti of Italy 7-5, 6-2, Smriti Bhasin edged out Laalitya Kalluri 6-2 6-7(8) [12-10] , while Vanshita Pathania got past Sai Dedeepya Yeddula 2-6, 6-2[10-3] in another close encounter Jagmeet Kaur Grewal Rallied past Anjali Rathi 7-6(3), 2-6, [11-9] to make the main draw. Avishka Gupta, Shreya Tatavarthy , Kashish Bhatia and Sharmada Balu were the other qualifiers

India’s Zeel Desai will lead the seedings list in the singles event , Players from 7 countries including Russia, Germany, Thailand, Denmark, USA, Italy, Austria will be seen in action during the week long event which gets underway with the main draw tomorrow

Winner of the first leg at Jhajjar Russian Anna Ureke will be second seed , while winner of the third leg at Ahmedabad Emily Seibold of Germany. Will be the third. Seed. While winner of the second leg at Gurugram Thailand’s Punnin Kovapitukted is ranked fourth

Upcoming Indian girls Vaidehi Chaudhari , Jennifer Luikham , Sama Sathvika and Mihika Yadav will be ranked fifth, sixth , seventh and eighth respectively

The event will provide an opportunity for Indian Players to make important WTA points and improve their ranking and also gain experience and points to play at higher level events

Results: (Final Qualifying round): Avishka Gupta (IND) [11] bt Priyanka Rodricks (IND)6-2, 6-3; Shreya Tatavarthy (IND) [2] bt Paavanii Pathak (IND)6-1, 6-1;

Smriti Bhasin IND) [8] bt Laalitya Kalluri (IND) 6-2 6-7(8) [12-10]; Vanshita Pathania (IND) bt Sai Dedeepya Yeddula (IND) [13] 2-6, 6-2[10-3]; Jagmeet Kaur Grewal (IND) [3] bt Anjali Rathi (IND) [14]7-6(3), 2-6, [11-9];

Kashish Bhatia (IND) [15] bt Shria Atturu (USA) [4] 6-2, 6-2; Niditra Rajmohan (Ind) [9] bt Ilaria Sposetti [6] 7-5, 6-2; Sharmada Balu (Ind)[10] bt Prathiba Narayanprasad Ind)[7] 6-1, 6-3