Sonal, Parija in final qualifying round in ITF women's tennis meet

Mumbai, Mar 17 (UNI) India's Sonal Phadke and Parija Maloo fashioned easy wins to advance to the final qualifying round in the ITF Women's 25,000 dollars Tennis tournament at the Kalina University Campus, Santacruz here today.

On a day of mixed fortunes for the Indians, Phadke overcame her sister Sagarika 6-2, 6-4 in a first round tie, while Maloo accounted for another Indian Nupur Kaul 6-1, 6-1.

Joining the duo was Punam Reddy, who recovered from the loss of the opening set to beat Mutsuko Hirose of Japan 2-6, 6-2, 6-1.

Among the Indians who made a premature exit were Geeta Manohar, Radhika Jadhav, Ashan Nandakumar and Tanvi Shah.

The hard court tournament, organised by the All India Tennis Association and the Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association (MSLTA), includes singles and doubles.

The Kalina Campus is hosting its maiden tennis tournament on the 150th Anniversary Celebrations of the University of Mumbai.

Bhambri is No 439 in the WTA rankings, while Lakhani is 535. They are likely to pose a strong challenge to the likes of Shiho Hisamatsu of Japan, who is the highest ranked player in the tournament at 160, China's Yan-Chong Chen (195) and Akgul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan (233), a regular on the circuit, and is familiar with the conditions here.

Joining the Indian challenge are veteran Rushmi Chakravarthi, who at No 393 in the WTA list, is the highest ranked Indian in the draw, Tara Iyer (539) and Sanaa Bhambri (553).

The main draw starts on March 19.

Results (1st qualifying round): Kelsey Sundaram (US) bt Geeta Manohar (Ind) 4-6, 6-1, 6-4; Martina Caciotti (Ita) bt Chirashanthi Rajur (Ind) 6-2, 6-3; Ji-Young Kim (Kor) bt Madhulika Sharma (Ind) 6-0, 6-0; Morgan Basil (US) bt Radhika Jadhav (Ind) 6-2, 6-3; Shao-Yuan Kao (Tpe) bt Vishika Chhetri (Ind) 7-6(2), 6-2; Ashmitha Easwaramurthi (Ind) bt Akshitha Basavaraju (Ind) 7-5, 6-2; Sonal Phadke (Ind) bt Sagarika Phadke (Ind) 6-2, 6-4; Punam Reddy (Ind) bt Mutsuko Hirose (Jpn) 2-6, 6-2, 6-1; Misa Kinoshita (Jpn) bt Asha Nandakumar (Ind) 6-2, 6-3; Parija Maloo (Ind) bt Nupur Kaul (Ind) 6-1, 6-1; Hae-Sung Kim (Kor) bt Archana Venkataraman 6-3, 6-3; Wei-Ping Lee (Sin) bt Apurvika Shukla (Ind) 6-0, 6-2; Jeong-A Cho (Kor) bt Tanvi Shah (Ind) 6-1, 6-0.

UNI