Prerna, Nidhi advance
Second seeded Prerna Bhambri defeated Sharmada Balu 6-4, 6-3 to make it to the quarterfinals of the ITF meet in Hyderabad
Second seed Prerna Bhambri and fourth seed Nidhi Chilumula advanced to the quarterfinals of the Women’s ITF tennis tournament being held at the Jubilee Hills International Centre on Wednesday.
In the pre-quarterfinal match, Nidhi made use of her superior court movement to unsettle Mahita Dadi Reddy early on in the game. Nidhi mixed her shots very well keeping Mahita on her toes throughout.
The early onslaught allowed Nidhi to notch up successive games in the first set. To help Nidhi’s cause further, Mahita looked nervous and made too many unforced errors for her good. It perhaps was of little surprise that Nidhi raced away with the first set 6-2.
However, Mahita put up a much improved performance in the second set, not just by holding onto her serve but also by attacking Nidhi’s serve by getting into her returns very early.
But despite the relative success Mahita achieved with her more aggressive approach, Nidhi still managed to outsmart her to wrap up the set 6-4 and book her place in the last 8 stage of the tournament.
Second seed Prerna, on the other hand, faced tough competition from Sharmada Balu in her pre-quarterfinal match. The unseeded Sharmada proved a worthy competitor for Prerna as she responded to the latter’s superb ground strokes with her own. Sharmada’s good reach also allowed her to swing at the shots with menacing intent.
However, Prerna managed to hold onto her serves when it mattered the most as she managed a 6-4, 6-3 victory.
Joining Nidhi and Prerna in the last eight stage was Thailand’s Napatsakorn Sankaew, who defeated Hong Kong’s Ho Ching Wu — who was seeded fifth in the tournament — 6-4, 6-3 in their pre-quarterfinal match.
RESULTS
Pre-quarterfinals: Nidhi Chilumula (x4) (IND) bt Mahita Dadi Reddy (IND) 6-2, 6-4; Napatsakorn Sankaew (THA) bt Ho Ching Wu (x5) (HKG) 6-4, 6-3; Prerna Bhambri (x2) (IND) bt Sharmada Balu (IND) 6-4, 6-3