Pune: Wildcard entrants Preethi Ujjini of India and Huynh Phuong Dai Trang of Vietnam had contrasting outings in the first round of the qualifying event of the NECC-ITF $25000 Women’s tennis tournament at the Deccan Gymkhana courts here on Saturday.
Preethi was sent packing by seasoned Sheethal Gautham in straight sets 6-1, 6-4; while Trang labored to win against Prarthana Thombare in the bottom half of the draw. Trang, who was busy playing in the National championship of Vietnam and hence landed here late, was stretched in the first set by Prarthana, but kept her nerve to win in 7-5 before easing through to the second 6-2.
Trang, who sought wildcard as she was busy in her country’s Nationals, will meet No 16 seed Anamika Bhargava of the United States in the second round on Sunday. Sheethal will have to tackle yet another seasoned player in Rushmi Chakravarthi, who is seeded No 8 and had a first round bye.
Georgia’s Natia Gegia and Pei-Chi Lee of the Chinese Taipei played intensely for three sets before the former won 1-6, 6-2, 6-4. Nupur Kaul scored straight set win over Ashley Murdock of the United States 6-4, 6-4 after squandering 5-2 lead to allow the American to close in the gap after Ashley broke back and held serve comfortably to come to 5-4.
Nupur, however, did not let that rattle her concentration and served out the match. Ekaterina Tour of Israel was given a tough time by Zainab Ali Sajjad of India as the two traded series of breaks before Ekaterina managed to scrape through 7-5, 6-4.
Results Qualfying Tournament (First round): Arantxa Andrady (Ind) bt Amala Warrick 6-3, 6-3; Ekaterina Tour (Isr) bt Zainab Sajjad (Ind) 7-5, 6-4; Nupur Kaul (Ind) bt Ashley Murdock (US) 6-4, 6-4; Sayali Bhilare (Ind) beat Tanisha Rohira (Ind) 6-1, 6-3; Sowjanya Bavisetti (Ind) bt Wing-Man Lin (Hkg) 6-1, 6-1; Madhuri Patere (Ind) bt Mahrukh Kokni (Ind) 6-4, 5-7, 6-2; Parija Maloo bt Garima Vatwani 6-3, 6-1; Natasha Palha bt Sahan Shetty 6-2, 6-2; Ho-Ching Wu (Hkg) bt Prarthana Pratap (Ind) 6-0, 6-0; Natia Gegia (Geo) bt Pei-Chi Lee (Tpe) 1-6, 6-2, 6-4; Sheethal Gautham (Ind) bt Preethi Ujjini (Ind) 6-1, 6-4; Trang Huynh Phuong Dai (Vie) bt Prarthana Thombare (Ind) 7-5, 6-2.