Natasha Palha, Sowjanya Bavisetti fight well in NECC $25,000 ITF women's tennis in Pune

National championship finalist Natasha Palha alone managed to win a round in the qualifying event among the Indian women, and in fact, put up a good fight before being beaten 7-6(1), 6-1 by Paula Cristina Goncalves of Brazil in the second and final round of the NECC $25,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament at the Deccan Gymkhana, Pune, on Sunday.

In the absence of Ankita Raina, who is competing in the $100,000 event in Dubai, and Karman Kaur Thandi, who looks to have closed the season for rest and training, only wild card entries could be made for Indian players in the main draw.

Zeel Desai, Mahak Jain, Snehal Mane and Bhuvana Kalva were extended the wild cards for the main draw.

Even in the qualifying event, out of eight players, six Indian players had entered with wild card. Only Riya Bhatia and Sowjanya Bavisetti could get direct entries in the qualifying event.

Sowjanya went down fighting in the first round against fourth seed Maryna Chernyshova of Ukraine 7-6(5), 2-6, 7-6(4).

In the main draw, two-time national champion Mahak Jain will play qualifier Paula Cristina Goncalves of Brazil. Snehal Mane will be up against fifth seed Junri Namigata of Japan, Zeel Desai will play sixth seed Valeriya Strakhova of Ukraine and Bhuvana will challenge Marina Melnikova of Russia, who won the title last week in Solapur.

The seedings: 1. Jia-Jing Lu (CHN), 2. Deniz Khazaniuk (ISR), 3. Katarzyna Kawa (POL), 4. Diana Marcinkevica (LAT), 5. Junri Namigata (JPN), 6. Valeriya Strakhova (UKR), 7. Katarzyna Piter (POL), 8. Tessah Andrianjafitrimo (FRA).

The results:
Qualifying singles (second and final round): Nigina Abduraimova (UZB) bt Ksenia Palkina (KGZ 6-3, 7-6(3); Aleksandrina Naydenova (BUL) bt Jessica Ho (USA) 6-2, 4-6, 6-1; Fatma Al Nabhani (OMA)bt Julie Gervais (FRA) 7-5, 6-2; Maryna Chernyshova (UKR) bt Melanie Klaffner (AUT) 6-2, -2; Chieh-Yu Hsu (TPE) bt Anastasia Nefedova (USA) 6-2, 7-6(5); Pei-Chi Lee (TPE) bt Gozal Ainitdinova (KAZ) 5-7, 6-0, 6-2; Beatrice Gumulya (Ina) bt Pia Cuk (SLO) 2-6, 7-5, 7-5; Paula Cristina Goncalves (BRA) bt Natasha Palha 7-6(1), 6-1.

First round: Nigina Abduraimova bt Emily Webley-Smith (GBR) 5-7, 6-3, 6-2; Ksenia Palkina bt Tejasvi Kate 6-1, 6-1; Aleksandrina Naydenova bt Ya-Hsin Lee (TPE) 6-1, 6-2; Jessica Ho bt Riya Bhatia 6-2, 6-4; Fatma Al Nabhani bt Ana Veslinovic (MNE) 4-6, 7-5, 7-5; Julie Gervais bt Albina Khabibulina (UZB) 6-2, 6-1; Maryna Chernyshova (UKR) bt Sowjanya Bavisetti 7-6(5), 2-6, 7-6(4); Melanie Klaffner (AUT) bt sharannya Gaware 6-1, 6-2; Anastasia Nefedova bt Mallaurie Noel (FRA) 7-5, 3-1 (retired); Chieh-Yu Hsu bt YeXin Ma (CHN) 6-0, 6-2; Pei-Chi Lee (TPE) bt Ayla Aksu (TUR) 2-1 (retired); Gozal Ainitdinova bt Ishita Parikh 6-2, 6-1; Pia Cuk (SLO) bt Sai Dedeepya 6-0, 6-0; Beatrice Gumulya bt Anna Morgina 3-6, 6-3, 6-2; Paula Cristina Goncalves bt Jennifer Luikham 6-2, 6-2; Natasha Palha bt Maria Marfutina (RUS) 6-3, 6-4.