12 Indian Girls Enter Final Qualifying Round
NAGPUR: Irina Maria Bara (28) of Romania is the top seed in the Maha Urja $25K ITF women's tennis championships, which began at the Nagpur District Hard Court Tennis Association (NDHTA) courts in Ram Nagar with qualifying rounds on Sunday.
In the fourth ITF women's event to be hosted by Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association this year, Mumbai, Solapur and Pune, players from 15 countries will be seen in action with Indian stars Sahaja Yamlapalli, Shrivalli Rashmikaa Bhamidipaty, Zeel Desai and Vaidehi Chaudari looking to gain crucial points.
Slovenia's Dalila Jakupovic is the second seed in the main draw while India's second highest-ranked Sahaja Yamlapalli (No. 329) is the fifth seed.
Local girls Sejal Bhutada and Maithili Mothe have been given wildcard entries in the main draw of 32 players.
After two rounds of qualifying, the main draw action will begin from Tuesday. The winner will get 70 WTA points and a cash prize of Rs 2.45 lakh, while the runner up will be richer by Rs 1.3 lakh and earn 42 WTA points. A total of eight qualifiers will qualify for the main draw.
In the singles qualifying round of 32 players on Sunday, 12 Indian players including Suhitha Maruri, Saumya Vig, Anjali Rathi, Vaishnavi Adkar, Pooja Ingale, Joeli Nichole, Akansha Nitture, Humera Baharmus, Kavya Khirwar, Kundali Majgaine, Lakshmi Gowda and Sadiq Soha recorded victories in contrasting fashion to move up.
In an exciting tie, Joell stunned Korea's fifth seed Lee Gyeong Seo 3-6, 6-2, 10-7 while Lakshmi edged out Japanese eighth seed Mei Hasegawa 6-4, 3-6, 10-7. Japan's top seed Ikumi Yamazaki outplayed Ishwari Matere in straight sets 6-1, 6-2.
The tournament was inaugurated by divisional commissioner Vijayalaxmi Bidari. Tournament secretary Vijay Naidu conducted the proceedings.
Main Draw Seedings
1 Irina Maria Bara (Romania, 174), 2 Dalila Jakupovic (SLO, 215), 3 Justina Mikulskyte (LTU, 241), 4 Diana Marcinkevica (LAT, 309), 5 Sahaja Yamalapalli (IND, 324), 6 Fanny Ostlund (SWE, 363), 7 Miriana Tona (ITA,387), 8 Thasaporn Naklo (THA, 407);
Results: Qualifying, Round
1: Ikumi Yamazaki (Jpn) bt Ishwari Matere 6-1, 6-2; Anastasia Zolotareva (Rus) bt Jigyasa Narsinghani 6-1, 6-0; Michika Ozeki (Jpn) bt Apurva Vemuri 6-0, 6-1; Rinon Okuwaki (Jpn) bt Kashish Bhatia 6-4, 6-2; Suhitha Maruri bt Abhaya Vemuri 6-3, 6-1; Saumya Vig bt Anastasiia Sergienko (Rus) 6-4 5-7 [10-7]; Anjali Rathi bt Priyanshi Bhandari 6-4, 6-3; Lakshmi Gowda bt Mei Hasegawa (Jpn) 6-4, 3-6, [10-7]; Vaishnavi Adkar bt Sharmada Balu 6-2, 6-4; Pooja Ingale bt Ekta Ingle 6-0, 6-1; Kundali Majgaine bt Shefali Arora 6-1, 6-1; Soha Sadiq bt Kotistha Modak 6-2, 3-6, [11-9]; Kavya Khirwar bt Nidhitra Rajmohan 3-6, 6-3, [10-7]; Akanksha Nitture bt Bela Tamhankar 6-4, 5-7, [11-9]; Humera Baharmus bt Sahira Singh 6-2, 0-6, [15-13]; Joell Nichole bt Gyeong Seo Lee (Kor) 3-6, 6-2, [10-7].
