11 December 2005

DUBAI — India had mixed luck in the first round qualifying matches of the $75,000 Al Habtoor Tennis Challenge which began at the Habtoor Grand Resort tennis courts here yesterday.

Punam Reddy and Sanaa Bhambri made it into the next round with impressive wins while Prerna-Mythri Appineni stumbled when she was ousted by Alana van Dervort of the USA.

The American, with a 614 ranking on the WTA circuit, did not give Appineni any room to settle taking the two sets easily 6-1, 6-0. Van Dervort will now face third seed Yaroslava Shvedov of Russia in the second round.

India’s Bhambri, meanwhile, put up a spirited fight, to overcome Elena Tchalova of Russia in three sets. Tchalova, ranked 412 on the WTA circuit, took control of the opening set with her powerful volleys and superb groundstrokes to take the set 6-2. But Bhambri, who is 54 rungs below the Russian, showed a remarkable recovery with some astonishing display to win the next two sets 6-4, 6-3 and the match.

Bhambri’s compatriot Punam had no such problems as she defeated Yana Levchenko of Ukraine 6-2, 6-2. Punam, however, faces a tough task when she takes on top seed Napaporn Tongsalee of Thailand in the second round. Another Ukrainian, Katerina Avdiyenko, advanced to the second round after beating Agnes Szatmari of Romania 6-0, 6-1 to set a date with Olga Panova of Russia. Olga chalked up a hard-fought 6-3, 6-2 victory against Tara Wigan of the UK.

Jennifer Smith, who has won several honours in junior tournaments in the UAE, found it tough against Thassha Vitayaviroj of Thailand, ranked 495 on the WTA circuit. The Thai swept aside Smith’s early resistance to win 6-2, 6-1.

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