Shreya Pasricha shocked top seed Mai Minokoshi of Japan with a 7-5, 7-6(5) win in the pre-quarterfinals of the $10,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament at the DLTA Complex on Wednesday.
Trailing 2-5 in the first set, Shreya turned the tide by reeling off five games in a row. The 17-year-old, who does not have a WTA rank, fell behind 2-4 in the second set but bounced back once again to force a tie-break and won it 7-5.
In the quarterfinals, Shreya will meet Eetee Maheta who wiped out the foreign challenge by beating the seventh seed Naomi Totka of Hungary in straight sets.
“I had nothing to lose and was very consistent with my strokes. This was the biggest win of my career,” said Shreya, who is coached by Aditya Sachdeva.
Prerna hurt, retires
Fourth seed Prerna Bhambri, who had struggled with a painful shoulder in her first round match against Amrita Mukherjee, retired after three games against qualifier Ambika Pande.
Second seed Ankita Raina flirted with a possible early exit as well before subduing Rushmi Chakravarthi 3-6, 7-6(7), 6-3 in two-and-a-half hours.
It was a match Rushmi could have won had she not missed a regulation forehand at the net at 7-7 in the second set tiebreak. Once she went into the third set, Rushmi lost her grip on the match. Ankita should draw confidence from this fighting performance.
The 20-year-old that finished the match with a love hold contrasted significantly from the impatient youngster who committed many errors in the opening set.
Rushmi’s strong defence drew several errors from Ankita’s forehand as the former made the second seed play one shot too many, a few times.
From 3-2, Ankita lost seven games, slumping to 0-3 in the second set.
Rushmi’s deep returns troubled Ankita but she stormed back by attacking the latter with conviction and accuracy.
A break in the eighth game of the decider clinched it for Ankita and she served out the match in style.
The second seed will now play fifth-ranked Prarthana Thombare in the quarterfinals.
The results:
Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Shreya Pasricha bt Mai Minokoshi (Jpn) 7-5, 7-6(5); Eetee Maheta bt Naomi Totka (Hun) 6-1, 6-2; Ambika Pande bt Prerna Bhambri 3-0 retd; Natasha Palha bt Vaniya Dangwal 6-0, 6-2; Shweta Rana bt Sneha Padamata 6-4, 6-2; Rishika Sunkara bt Adnya Naik 6-0, 6-4; Prarthana Thombare bt Sai Samhitha 6-2, 6-3; Ankita Raina bt Rushmi Chakravarthi 3-6, 7-6(7), 6-3.
Doubles (quarterfinals): Naomi Totka (Hun) & Rishika Sunkara bt Amrita Mukherjee & Shreya Pasricha 6-4, 7-6 (5); Nithya Raj & Victoria Chehal bt Arantxa Andrady & Manya Nagpal 6-3, 6-4; Ankita Raina & Rushmi Chakravarthi bt Sai Samhitha & Eetee Maheta 6-3, 6-4; Natasha Palha & Prarthana Thombare bt Vaniya Dangwal & Sharon Paul 6-3, 6-2.
