$10K ITF Women's Tournament, Mumbai (Apr 4)

[neh215]

Indian challenge ends...

Singles (Quarter-finals):

Chi-Wei Chan (Tpe) bt Natsumi Hamamura (Jpn) 6-1, 6-0
Yurika Sema (Jpn) bt Shruti Dhawan (Ind) 3-6, 6-2, 6-2
Mihaela Buzarnescu (Rom) bt Rushmi Chakravarthi (Ind) 6-4, 6-2.
Montinee Tangphong (Thai) bt Punam Reddy (Ind) 1-6, 6-1, 6-0.

Doubles (Semi-finals):
Sanaa in finals.
Sanaa Bhambri/Mihaela Buzarnescu bt Rushmi Chakravarthi/Sai-Jayalakshmy Jayaram 6-4, 6-2.

Chin-Wei Chan/Julia Vorobieva bt Natsumi Hamamura/Yurika Sema 6-1, 6-3.

[neh215]

I got to see Shruti's match. Lasted for almost 2 hours. She started very well, early break in the 4th game, came up to the net and volleyed beautifully. Again broke her opponent while leading 5-3 to take the set. In the second set too she was a break up 3-2. But then there was a lapse, and Yurika took full advantage. To me, Shruti looked a bit tired, could have been one of the reasons for the loss. I had a brief chat with her & her parent, who said she's been practicing hard and working continuously on her game. She herself was a little disappointed and at the same time happy with her performance on this tour.

I also had a brief chat with Geeta Manohar's mother. She's been travelling with Geeta for her tournaments of late and felt it was important because those special "Comeon's" from the crowd make a difference Sponsorship remains a problem. She's looking forward to playing in Mumbai next week and plans to go to Indonesia the week after.

Other then that, I spoke to other Mumbaikars, most of the time it was like "Hey, I have seen you before, you playing in this tournament ?" Was nice to cheer them on though I din't have much time to do that I dint see Ankita, Sanaa, Rushmi and Tara at all, since they made a move as soon as their matches were done.

[PKBasu]

(Indian challenge ended)...only in singles of course. Sad, nonetheless, especially to see Rushmi's long winning streak in India come to an end. Great that Sanaa has made the doubles final. I hope she captures some of her singles magic next week.
Thanks for the great reports Neha. It's good to see the terrific fight Shruti and Punam put up.

[jaydeep]

Ohh tough loss for Rushmi ... But Punam amnd Shruti managed to stretch their opponent ... For me very positive result is from Shruti Dhawan ... She played brilliantly in this tournament ... Today's three sets loss must gave her lot of learning experiance ... Hoping repeat performance in next week ...

Sanna really making all use of time which she is spending on court ... Superb result for her reaching final of doubles ... Hopefully we will see improve performance from her in singles with all these match practice which she missed becoz of her studies.

And Neha what can I say about u ... Simply marvelous reporting ... great that u got time to spoke with Shruti and Geeta ... Thanks again for ur wonderful work ...

Jaydeep.

[kiran r more]

It is sad that all the girls lost in singles.The score line of punam reddy is funny but it happens in tennis.However,sana is still there in doubles .Hopefully she takes the title.

[gvhvhg]

Its over already?

Well atleast this week we learnt that Shruti is playing some great tennis right now. Lets hope she keeps it up!

[neh215]

I couldnt make it to Practennis today, although the results are:

Singles (Semi-finals):

Chi-Wei Chan (Tpe) bt Mihaela Buzarnescu (Rom) 6-4, 6-2.
Montinee Tangphong (Thai) bt Yurika Sema (Jpn) 6-2, 6-1.

I was told both these matches lasted just over an hour or so.

So, the singles final would be #1 seed Vs #2 seed.

Doubles (Final):

Sanaa lost too.

Chin-Wei Chan/Julia Vorobieva bt Sanaa Bhambri/Mihaela Buzarnescu 6-2, 6-1.

[jaydeep]

So Chi-Wei Chan is in line up for Double Crown ... Good that Sanna had longer stint in doubles.

Neha again thanks for all ur pains to update us with scoreline.

Jaydeep.

[Sandeep]

Thank you very much Neha for all the efforts you have put in. A dissapointing loss for Sanaa, neverthless a good performance in doubles. What is Ankita doing? Why isn't she playing?

[neh215]

Its been a pleasure to give you all some first hand updates. I had a wonderful week watching tennis almost everyday (although not for long) and also catching up with some friends (if i can all them so ) Sorry for no point by point reports, but I hope you had fun reading the posts anyways!

[PKBasu]

Thanks a lot Neha, for all your efforts. It was great getting first-hand reports on the action, especially since they were coming from a former college star and current sports psychologist.

[neh215]

Thank you PKB, and as I said earlier, the pleasure is all mine

Also, top seed Chin-Wei Chan of Chinese Taipei clinched the singles title with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Montinee Tangphong of Thailand today. So Chan completed a double crown!

[BSharma]

Thanks Neha for your superb reporting and also for making the effort to send your reports to the Indian news media. Your good deeds did not go unnoticed.