Tournament top seed Ankita Bhambri and qualifier Sonal Phadke sailed into the second round of the US 10,000 dollar Shivaji Park Gymkhana-ITF women's Tennis tournament in Mumbai on Monday with comfortable first round victories.
Sonal, the top seed at the qualifying stage, whipped wildcard Parjia Maloo 6-1, 6-0 in under an hour while Ankita started slowly before getting into the groove to show Canada's unseeded Kavita Krishnamurthy the exit door with a 6-2, 6-2 verdict in two hours.
Kavita, a player of Indian origin, used her double-fisted backhand to surprise her fancied rival and go up a break to lead 2-1 against title favourite Ankita before the latter stormed her way back to draw level at 3-all.
Taking advantage of two double-fault from her Canadian opponent, the top seed went 5-3 up before closing out the set.
Another double-fault by Kavita at a crucial stage helped Ankita break her rival's serve in the opening game of the second set. She secured another service break in the fifth to take a commanding 4-1 lead and then took the set and the match in style.
Another Indian woman Sai Jayalakshmi Jayaram was eliminated when she crashed to Thailand rival Nungnadda Wannasuk in straight sets.
In a bitterly contested encounter, Japan's Miki Miyamura ended the strong challenge of Uzbekistan's wildcard recipient Elenora Sidjenmileva 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.
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