Top seed Hisamatsu, No 3 Sunitha Rao shocked women's tennis meet

Mumbai, Mar 21 (UNI) Top seed Shiho Hisamatsu of Japan became the biggest casualty after crashing out without a challenge, in the University of Mumbai ITF Women's 25,000 US dollar Tennis Tournament at the Kalina University Campus, Santacruz here today.

On a day of mixed fortunes for the seeds, Hisamatsu, ranked 164 in the WTA rankings, was demolished by compatriot and unseeded Natsumi Hamamura 6-1, 6-1 in the second round.

Third seed Sunitha Rao of the US, ranked 221, also made an early exit after crashing out in straight sets to unseeded Swiss Stefanie Voegele, who won 6-4, 6-1.

In contrast, second seed Yan-Chong Chen of China, fourth seed Akgul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan, No 5 Nina Bratchikova of Russia, sixth seed Olga Panova of Russia and No 8 Wan-Ting Liu of China sailed into the quarter-finals.

Bratchikova overcame India's Rushmi Chakravarthi 6-4, 6-0 to end the Indian challenge in the competition.

The campaign of the three remaining qualifiers Amber Liu of the US, Martina Caciotti of Italy and Jeong-A Cho of China also came to an end.

Results (2nd round): 6-Olga Panova (Rus) bt Martina Caciotti (Ita) 6-2, 6-4; Wan-Ting Liu (Chn) bt Sonal Phadke (Ind) 6-3, 6-3; 5-Nina Bratchikova (Rus) bt Rushmi Chakravarthi (Ind) 6-4, 6-0; 4-Akgul Amanmuradova (Uzb) bt Amber Liu (US) 6-3, 6-3; Stefanie Voegele (Sui) bt 3-Sunitha Rao (US) 6-4, 6-1; Natsumi Hamamura (Jpn) bt 1-Shiho Hisamatsu (Jpn) 6-1, 6-1; 2-Yan-Chong Chen (Chn) bt Tomoko Sugano (Jpn) 6-4, 6-0; Remi Tezuka (Jpn) bt Jeong-A Cho (Kor) 6-4, 6-2.

UNI