Pitted against players ranked many rungs above them, the Indians on Monday failed to find their bearings on the inaugural day of the USD 175,000 WTA Sunfeast Open in Kolkata.
While Ankita Bhambri went down to fourth seeded Aravane Rezai of France in straight sets, the doubles contest saw Sandhya Nagaraj and Isha Lakhani suffer the same fate against the Ukrainian pair of Ylia Beygelzimer and Yuliana Fedak in the opening round.
The Iranian-origin Rezai, ranked 66th in the WTA list, snared Ankita 6-2, 7-6 (7-3) to move into the second round where she will take on Belarus girl Tatiana Poutchek.
The duo of Lakhani and Nagara on the other hand, was snuffed out by Beygelzimer and Fedak in straight sets 6-3, 7-5.
In the other singles matches of the day, Poutchek shrugged off a tough resistance from Anne Keothavong of Great Britain to register a three setter win 6-2, 6-7 (5), 6-3. Poutchek, ranked 113, ran though Anne, who is ranked only 16 places below.
In the first set, Poutchek picked up two breaks on the run, but the Briton turned the game around on its head in the second and forced a tie-breaker that the latter won cashing in on Poutchek's weak return.
But Poutchek was back in her elements in the third set clinching the affair 6-3.
In the other match of the day Abagail Spears ranked 216 in the WTA listing defeated Agul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan in straight sets 6-3, 6-4.
© 2024 Rediff.com -