NECC DAY 3

Sahoo enters quarterfinals at $25,000 NECC-ITF Women's Tennis

Pune, November 12: Qualifier and little known Shalini Sahoo of India kept the Indian flag flying high and continuing her fabulous run knocking out Uzbekistan wildcard entrant Alexendra Kolesnichenko in straight sets , to enter the quarterfinals at the $25,000 NECC- ITF women's tennis Championships sponsored by the National Egg Coordination committee (NECC) being organized by the Deccan Gymkhana and being played on their courts here.
In the second round match the Delhi player Shalini Sahoo outplayed the 662 ranked Kolesnichenko 6-3,6-2 in a 1hr .15 min match to make it to her first ever singles quarterfinal in her career. Shalini broke the Uzbeki junior in the 8th game to wrap the first set at 6-3, in the second set Shalini hit an array of winners and broke Alexandra in the 3rd and 5th games and establish her control over the match.
" I'm thrilled the way I'm playing and frankly didn't expect to go so far she said, after the match.
"I was thinking of withdrawing from the event as I had reached the doubles final at Muzzafarnagar last week and wasn't sure of reaching Pune on time for the singles sign-in , but I took a chance and I'm happy to have taken the decision , Sahoo said.
Top seed and 116th ranked Melanie South played attacking tennis to put out Ankita Bhambri 6-2,7-5 in 1 hr .19 mins , while 245th ranked Jing Jing Lu ended the challenge of other Indian and 292 ranked Isha Lakhani 6-3,7-5 to make it to the last eight. Second ranked 192nd ranked Ye-Ra Lee of Korea also moved into the quarterfinals with a7-5,6-4 win over Thialnd's Suchanan Viratprasert.
Fourth seeded Ksenia Palkina was the only seeded player to go through a harrowing time before overcoming Leonie Mekel of Nederlands 6-1, 3-6, 6-1.
Serbian qualifier Bojana Jovanosvski, sixth seeded Kai-Chen Chang of Taipei along with her country mate I-Hsuan Hwang also made it to the last eight.
The Indian challenge also ended in the doubles as the teams of Rushmi Chakravarthy /Ankita Bhambri and Parija maloo and Poojashree Venkatesha were ousted in the quarterfinals.

Following are the results. (2nd Round)
S.1 Melanie South (Gbr) bt Ankita Bhambri (Ind) 6-2, 7-5
Shalini Sahoo(Ind) bt Alexandra Kolesnichenko (Uzb) 6-3,6-2
S.4. Ksenia Palkina (Kgz) bt Leonie Mekel(Ned) 6-1, 3-6, 6-1
S.6 Kai-Chen Chang (Tpe) bt Korina Perkovic(Ger) 6-2,6-3
I-Hsuan Hwang(Tpe) bt Natasha Khan (Gbr) 6-2,6-3
Bojana Jovanosvski (Srb) bt Patrycja Sanduska(Pol) 6-4,6-1
Jing Jing lu (Chn) bt Isha Lakhani (Ind) 6-3,7-5
S.2 Ye Ra Lee (Kor) bt Suchanan Viratprasert (Tha) 7-5,6-4


Doubles (Quarter finals)

Elora Dabija(Rou) /Bojana Jovanovski (Srb) bt Jade Windley / Natasha
Khan (Gbr) 6-4,6-0
Julia Parasyuk(rus) / Korina Perkovic(Ger) bt Parija Maloo/
Poojashree Venkatesha(Ind) 6-4,6-0
Jade Curtis / Emily Webley Smith (Gbr) bt Varatchaya Wongteanchai
(tha) / Jing Jing Lu (Chn) 7-6(8-6),4-6,11-9
Kai-Chen Chang/ I HsuanHwang (Tpe) bt Ankita Bhambri/ Rushmi
Chakravarthy(Ind) 6-4,6-4