[Tennis] Misc. Results for Indians abroad...

[jayakris]

Not enough to get a ranking yet, Jay. As per WTA ranking rules, she has to get points from 3 tournaments to get ranked. Quite strange rule that. Don't know what is the idea behind putting such a criteria for players to get a ranking.

Oh yeah, I forgot that. They have always had that rule in WTA. It actually helps players because there won't be some single-point players getting a rank and then using up spots in tournament qualies etc. Didn't check, but she has some points from last week and so would only need one more event, right?

[sameerph]

No. Last month in Spain ( I said last week by mistake), Nandini qualified thru for a $15K tournament but lost in first round. So, she will need to earn points from 2 more weeks or earn more than 10 points this week by winning the title.

[sameerph]

Easy win for her in second round.

At $15K ITF Women, Lisbon, Portugal

[R2] (Q) Nandini SHARMA (IND,NR) d. (LL) Beatriz PACILETTI DUARTE DA COSTA (POR,NR) 61 60

Next round will be tougher.

[QF] (Q) Nandini SHARMA (IND,NR) vs. (4) Romy KOELZER (GER,556)

[jayakris]

So, she will need to earn points from 2 more weeks or earn more than 10 points this week by winning the title.

Hey, why not? Win the title, then. More importantly, get a thread for herself at sports-india. She totally took out the LL today. That girl had some 10 DFs which helped, but Nandini was on top her right from the start.

[sameerph]

Nandini lost in 3 sets.

At $15K ITF Women, Lisbon, Portugal

[QF] (Q) Nandini SHARMA (IND,NR) l. (4) Romy KOELZER (GER,556) 46 62 26

Still, a great week for her.

I see her name in qualies of $25K tournaments in Portugal for next 2 weeks. I hope she can qualify there to get some WTA points.

[jayakris]

One again, she does not lose easily. Gave it a good fight in three sets. I am beginning to be impressed, though I know nothing about her playing style or deficiencies in things like height, serve etc. She converted 6 of 14 BPs in the match while the 4th seed had 7 of 11. That was really the key. 84 points to 91 points, so this was a pretty good match from Nandini again.

[Varma]

That's very impressive show from someone who is brand new at this level. If she can do this on a consistent basis, it's just a matter of time before her name goes into the rankings list. I guess we can add one more name to our teenage girls' list now, and look with more hope for some or all of them to have a bigger breakthrough soon.

- Varma

[PKBasu]

Clearly a talented 18 year old. A few months ago she lost a close 3-setter to Pranjala, and as a junior she lost a G4 final to Karman in 3 sets (winning the first and losing the next two sets in tiebreaks) three years ago. Looks like she is now based in Portugal, where she has played all her tournaments this year. One to watch!

[jayakris]

True. That is what really caught my eye too, immediately. The close/tough matches she has given to quite a few good players. Let us keep an eye. She may be pretty good!

[sameerph]

At $25K ITF Women, Obidos, Portugal

[Q1] Nandini SHARMA (IND,NR) bye

[Q2] Nandini SHARMA (IND,NR) d. (7) Alicia BARNETT (GBR,698) 76(6) 64

Another good win for Nandini.

Next,

[Q3] Nandini SHARMA (IND,NR) vs. (9) Anna PRIBYLOVA (RUS,863)

[bujilover]

Impressive win. One more big win to get a ranking point.

[jayakris]

Yeah, she needs to win the next round for a point, and then need points from one more event, to get a ranking. By the way, Nandini seems to have been training at the Felner Tennis Academy in Portugal during this year. Here is Nandini's pictame page. I think that Sep 10th pic is not hers, but the Aug 16th pic is.

[jayakris]

Not going well today for her. Very streaky match, based on stats. Nandini gets 2 breaks in a row and Pribylova counters with 3 in a row.... Anyway, 4-6 1-4 down now. Serious double fault problem today for her (unlike in her past matches). Eight DFs. That will kill you in a match. She lost. Her first bad match after a good string of good matches.

[Q3] Nandini SHARMA (IND,NR) l. (9) Anna PRIBYLOVA (RUS,863) 46 16

[bujilover]

Damn. Any LL hopes?

[prasen9]

Given that she is NR, it is possibly low.