Indian players advance to quarters in Tennis tourney

Kochi, Apr 30 (UNI) India's Rushmi Chakravarthi, Parul Goswami, Sweta Solanki and Shalini Sahu advanced to the quater-finals of the Federal Bank Women's International Tennis Tournament at Angamaly near here today.

Top seed Rushmi had to toil hard in the second round before overcoming Geetha Manohar, 6-3, 7-6. The second set witnessed a sea-saw battle and it required Rushmi's stealy resolve to romp home in tie-breaker. Geetha, fought valiantly, with a combination of ground strokes and touch play but the 30-year-old Rushmi's experience made all the difference in the end.

Shalini, who scripted an upset by defeating second-seed and compatriot Prerana Maitri yesterday, continued her dream run by outwitting Archana Venkataraman 6-3, 6-3.

Meanwhile, Parul Goswami had an easy outing when she defeated Ashitha Easwaramoorthi 6-0, 6-2.

Sixth-seed Sweta Solanki also had a easy run while defeating Fuang Dayiye of Vietnem 6-1, 6-3.

Magatha Okurashavli of Georgia was streched to third-set against India's Tretra Bhattacharya 6-2, 3-6, 6-2.

In the doubles second round, Rushmi Chakravarthi teamed up with Poojashree Venkatesha to defeat Yuri Kurashima and Chika Terasawa (Japan) 6-2,6-1.

In other matches, Parul Goswami and Sonal Phadke beat Alhilasha Ahuja and Shilpi Jaiswal 6-2, 6-2, and Sweta Kakhandki and Asha Nanadakumar beat Miki Miyamura and Arathi Venkitaraman 7-5,6-2.

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