Rankings don't lie. So, when Indian wild card entrant Shikha Uberoi, ranked 989 in the world, played world no.18 Agnes Szavay of Hungary, it panned out to be the mismatch it was expected to be.
The US-based Uberoi, returning to the tour after a seven-month injury lay-off, was outplayed 6-1, 6-4 by the fifth seed in the first round of the WTA Tier II Bangalore Open on Monday night.
"I guess it was a lot of nerves, coming to India I wanted to do well. Also coming back on tour after a long absence, I think I wanted a little too much too soon," said Uberoi after the match.
Earlier, defending champion Yaroslava Shvedova was sent packing by Uzbekistan's Akgul Amanmuradova while sixth seed Sybille Bammer advanced to the second round with a fighting win over Japan's Akiko Morigami.
The 6'3" tall Amanmuradova, who fired nine aces, recovered a lapse in the second set to beat the Russian 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in a hour and 43 minutes.
Veteran Austrian Bammer battled back from a set and break down in the second set to register a 2-6, 6-3, 7-5 win over Morigami.
Indian Fed Cup player Uberoi saw the balls fly past her in the first set, managing to hold on to her service only in the fifth game.
In the second, Uberoi, who was keping herself pumped for the opportunity, got the toe hole as Szavay let up the pressure for a while. The errors were coming from the Hungarian's racquet and Uberoi got her first break of serve in the fifth after Szavay served a double fault. Uberoi consolidated it with a hold to go up 4-2 in the set.
"In the second set I started playing some tennis," laughed off Uberoi, who was given a pep talk by her father between sets. "I thought I was picking it up towards the end of the first set. I am just happy to be here, grateful for the wildcard, and I didn't want to walk off the court losing 6-0, 6-0."
But at 2-4 down, Szavay had had enough. She woke up from the slumber and started attacking the ball, made a couple of cracking forehand cross-courts to take charge of the court again.
"She stepped it uo just when she had to, she showed her level," said Uberoi, as she lost the next four game and made a silent exit from at KSLTA.
Singles (First Round):
(5) Agnes Szavay (Hun) d. Shikha Uberoi (Ind) 6-1, 6-4
Akgul Amanmuradova (Uzb) d. Yaroslava Shvedova (Rus) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3
(6) Sybille Bammer (Aut) d. Akiko Morigami (Jpn) 2-6, 6-3, 7-5
Aiko Nakamura (Jpn) d. Tamarine Tanasugarn (Tha) 6-7(5), 6-1, 6-2
Doubles (First Round):
(1) Chan/Chuang (Tpe) d. Gagliardi/Schnyder (Sui) 6-3, 5-7, 10-6
Morita/Namigata (Jpn) d. (WC) Bhambri/Bhambri (Ind) 3-6, 6-4, 10-4
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