The equations may change a lot in the $15,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament to be played at the Tennis Project in Baliawas from Tuesday.
After the clay courts had tested many a player last week in Jhajjar, it may be back to the comfort of hard courts for most of the players as they thrive on it. There is not much change in the line-up except for the inclusion of two key players B. Shrivalli and Sravya Shivani.
Shrivalli has good memories of winning the national title at the same venue, and Sravya must have gained enough strength to compete hard after restricting herself to doubles last week.
Top seed Zeel Desai should also feel at home on the hard courts after having slipped in the climax — in a marathon of a final against Anna Ureke of Russia on Sunday. Zeel opens against a qualifier, and Anna will start against Soha Sadiq.
Bouncing back
In the second qualifying round, Sanjana Sirimalla did well to bounce back from an indifferent start to beat Sai Dedeepya 11-9 in the super tie-break. She will meet Smriti Bhasin in the final qualifying round.
The smooth-stroking left-hander Smriti found her rhythm to beat Shachf Lieberman of Israel 7-5, 6-2. Vanshika Choudhary put out the second seed Ilaria Sosetti of Italy in straight sets, while Avisha Gupta fought past Sudipta Kumar 10-6 in the match tie-break.
It should be another week of exciting matches, before the caravan moves to Ahmedabad and Nagpur, back to the testing clay courts.
The results: Qualifying (second round): Jagmeet Kaur bt Kiran Kalkal 7-5, 6-2; Priyanshi Bhandari bt Sonashe Bhatnagar 1-6, 6-2, [10-4]; Vanshika Choudhary bt Ilaria Sposetti (Ita) 7-6(4), 6-3; Avishka Gupta bt Sudipta Kumar 6-4, 3-6, [10-6]; Prathiba Narayan w/o Sharannya Gaware; Suhitha Maruri bt Laalitya Kalluri 6-1, 6-1; Sydney Stone (Aus) bt Shefali Arora 6-3, 0-6, [10-6]; Bela Tamhankar bt Himaanshika Singh 7-6(3), 0-6, [10-6]; Pooja Ingale bt Kavya Khirwar 6-2, 6-1; Dakshata Patel bt Ishwari Matere 6-2, 6-4; Smriti Bhasin bt Shachf Lieberman (Isr) 7-5, 6-2; Sanjana Sirimalla bt Sai Dedeepya 0-6, 6-4, [11-9].
The seedings: 1. Zeel Desai, 2. Anna Ureke (Rus), 3. Punnin Kovapitukted (Tha), 4. Vaidehi Chaudhari, 5. Sathwika Sama, 6. Mihika Yadav, 7. B. Shrivalli, 8. Sravya Shivani.
