South Stops Sahoo, to enter semis of $25,000 NECC-ITF Women's Tennis
Pune, November 13: Top seeded Melanie South Qualifier stopped the winning run of the lone Indian player Shalini Sahoo to enter the semifinal , of 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 quarterfinals played today the strongly built world ranked 116th British player South easily outplayed Sahoo 6-2, 6-2 in a 1hr 1min match. South will now take on fourth seeded Ksenia Palkina of Kyrgyzstan.
Palkina ranked 220th easily accounted for sixth seeded Kai-Chen Chang of Taipei 6-3, 6-4. Qualifier Bojana Jovanovski of Serbia continued with a fabulous run in the event outwitting I Hsuan Hwang of Taipei 6-2, 6-2 to make it to the last four from the bottom half.
Bojana will take on eighth seeded Jing Jing Lu of China. Jing Lu had an easy outing as second seeded 192 ranked Ye-Ra Lee of Korea conceded her match due to fever after being down 5-2 in the first set.
Sahoo who evolved a lot of interest with her performance, started well winning 2 games in a row, but South played solidly to outplay Sahoo to win six games in row to win the set 6-2. In the second set Sahoo was broken in the 1st and 3rd games to let South walk off with the match.
"I tried to play my best, but was beaten by the speed and pace of South", Sahoo admitted after the match. It was the first time I was playing a high ranked player and it was truly a great experience for me " I've got a feel of what top class tennis is , said the qualifier .
"I owe my performance to my father B.C Sahoo who has supported me all along and want to continue my form in future, she said. Shalini however had the consolation of getting 8 WTA points and $686 (Rs. 25,000) for her effort.
Melanie South praised Sahoo's effort, saying she played well, but probably overwhelmed with the occasion. I'm playing well said South who plays at the British National Training centre at Roehampton.
"I'm looking at taking a title here, which will be the third of the year, she said.
Elora Dabija(Rou) /Bojana Jovanovski (Srb) will take on the Chinese Taipei pair of Kai-Chen Chang/ I Hsuan Hwang in the doubles finals.
In the doubles semi- final the pair Dabija and Jovanovski scraped past the pair of Julia Parasyuk(Rus) and Korina Perkovic(Ger) 3-6,6-1,10-4 , while the Chinese Taipei pair of Chang and Hwang (Tpe) defeated Jade Curtis / Emily Webley Smith of Great Britain 6-4,6-2
Following are the results. (Quarter finals)
S.1 Melanie South (Gbr) bt Shalini Sahoo(Ind) 6-2,6-2
S.4. Ksenia Palkina (Kgz) bt S.6 Kai-Chen Chang (Tpe) 6-3, 6-4
Bojana Jovanosvski (Srb) bt I-Hsuan Hwang (Tpe) 6-2, 6-2
S.8 Jing Jing Lu (Chn) bt S.2 Ye Ra Lee (Kor) 5-2(retd)
Doubles (Semifinals)
Elora Dabija(Rou) / Bojana Jovanovski (Srb) bt
Julia Parasyuk(Rus) / Korina Perkovic(Ger) 3-6,6-1,10-4
Kai-Chen Chang/ I Hsuan Hwang (Tpe) bt
Jade Curtis / Emily Webley Smith (Gbr) 6-4, 6-2
No comments:
Post a Comment