Tumakuru, Madhurima Sawant scored a gritty three-set win over Maria Mikhailova, leading an impressive show of Indian players in the opening round of the ITF W35 Tumakuru Open here on Tuesday.
Madhurima displayed a fine blend of control and fighting spirit, while overcoming Mikhailova 6-2, 3-6, 6-1.
Madhurima, after racing through the opening set with confident baseline play and sharp movement, faced a strong response from
Mikhailova in the second set, where the Russian raised her level to draw parity.
However, the Indian quickly regrouped in the decider, reasserting her dominance with aggressive shot-making and consistency to close out the match.
Meanwhile, in an all-Indian clash, Sandeepti Singh Rao got the better of Yashaswini Panwar 6-3, 6-4. Pooja Ingale also came through a tough three-setter, edging past Danica Fernando 7-5, 1-6, 6-4.
Sonal Patil delivered one of the most dominant wins of the round, brushing aside qualifier Snigdha Kanta 6-0, 6-3 to advance to the last 16 stage.
Amongst the visitors, Ksenia Laskutova registered a notable win over seventh seed Michika Ozeki 6-3, 7-6, while fifth seed Elina
Nepliy advanced with a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Harshini N Nagaraj.
The Indian momentum continued in the Women’s Doubles Round of 16.
Top seeds Vaidehee Chaudhari and Zuzanna Pawlikowska were in commanding form, defeating Mikhailova and Sandeepti 6-1, 6-2.
The fourth-seeded all-Indian duo of Sravya Shivani Chilakalapudi and Zeel Desai were equally clinical, cruising to a 6-0, 6-2 win over Yashaswini Panwar and Bela Tamhankar.
In one of the standout results in doubles, Aishwarya Jadhav and Aakruti Narayan Sonkusare upset the second-seeded pair of Arina Arifullina and Ekaterina Yashina 6-4, 7-5.
The only setback for the home team came when Shreeniti Chowdhury and Meghana G D went down to Ksenia Laskutova and Elina Nepliy.
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