Zeel Desai qualifies into main draw

Zeel Desai beat seventh seed Choi Ji-Hee of Korea 6-7(3), 6-4, 10-6 to qualify into the main draw of the IWTC $25,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament in Navi Mumbai on Monday.
Zeel, the only Indian to qualify into the main draw, will play another qualifier, Jia-Qi Kang of China in the first round.

Only Riya Bhatia could direct entry into the main draw in the absence of Ankita Raina and Rutuja Bhosale who have wound up for the season to rest and recoup for the next year.

The four wild cards were given to national champions Mahak Jain and Sowjanya Bavisetti apart from Akanksha NItture and Sathwika Sama.

The results:

Qualifying singles (second and final round); Victoria Muntean (FRA) bt Steffi Carruthers (SAM) 6-3, 6-7(4), [10-7]’ Miya Kato (JPN) bt Corinna Dentoni (ITA) 7-5, 3-6, [10-7]; Olga Doroshina (RUS) bt Humera Shaik 7-5, 6-2; Nefisa Berberovic (BIH) bt Arthi Muniyan 6-4, 6-0; Jia-Qi Kang (CHN) bt Pareen Shivekar 6-0, 6-0; Sunam Jeong (KOR) bt Sravya Shivani Chilakalapudi 6-2, 6-0; Zeel desai bt Choi-Je-Hee (KOR) 6-7(3), 6-4, [10-5]; Kim Na Ri (KOR) bt Jennifer Luikham 6-2, 6-2.

First round: Victoria Muntean bt Vaidehi Chaudhari 6-2, 6-4; Steffi Carruthers bt Soha Sadiq 6-1, 6-1; Corinna Dentoni bt Avika Sagwal 6-0, 6-0; Miyu Kato bt Harshita Bangera 6-1, 6-0; Olga Doroshina bt Shirvalli Rashmikaa Bhamidipaty 6-1, 6-3; Humera Shaik bt Saumya Vig 6-2, 6-3; Nefisa Berberovic bt Salsa Aher 6-2, 3-0 (retired); Arthi Muniyan bt Sarah Pang (SGP) 6-1, 6-1; Jia-Qi Kang bt Lakshmi Sahithi Vutukuru 6-2, 4-0 (retired); Pareen Shivekar bt Mihika Yadav 6-4,4 -6, [10-6]; Jeong Sunam bt Dakshata Patel 6-2, 6-0; Sravya Shivani Chilakalapudi bt Ramya Natarajan 2-6, 6-3, [10-5]; Choi Ji-Hee bt Aaliya Ebrahim 6-1, 6-1; Zeel Desai bt Prathiba Narayan 6-1, 6-2; Kim Na Ri bt Alicia Smith (AUS) 6-3, 6-3; Jennifer Luikham bt Malvika Shukla 6-1, 6-2.

(Courtesy: The Hindu)