Shrivalli begins well but bows out to Cabaj in the prequarterfinals
Shrivalli Bhamidipaty got off to a flying start but lost her serve rhythm and got beaten 16, 63, 76(5) by Jacqueline Cabaj Awad of Sweden in the prequarterfinals of the Federal Bank $25,000 ITF women’s tennis at the Tennis Project on Thursday.
Shrivalli had two aces and 15 double faults in the match that spanned two hours and 30 minutes.
Seventh seed Jacqueline played well right through and made less mistakes to reach the quarterfinals. She had to do less in terms of winning points or breaking serve, and Shrivalli slithered to defeat, making three double faults in the third set tiebreak.
The Swede will challenge second seed Ankita Raina who came through a tough encounter against Zeel Desai in straight sets.
Best match
The best match, in terms of high quality play, was the one between Sahaja Yamalapalli and Riya Bhatia. Sahaja was gritty as she recovered from being 35 down in the first set, when she eventually saved a set point in the tiebreak, for a 76 (8), 75 victory in two hours and 45 minutes.
While serving for the match at 54, Sahaja missed three match points, as Riya stroked brilliantly to fight till the end.
Sahaja will challenge top seed Dalila Jakupovic of Slovenia who negotiated her way past the young Vaishnavi Adkar 76(1), 63.
The results: Pre-quarterfinals: Dalila
Jakupovic (Slo) bt Vaishnavi Adkar 7-6(1), 6-3; Sahaja Yamalapalli bt Riya Bhatia 7-6(8), 7-5; Justina Mikulskyte (Ltu) bt Yasmine Mansouri (Fra) 6-1, 7-6(4).
Ekaterina Kazionova bt Anastasia Gasanova 3-6, 7-5, 6-4.
Yeonwoo Ku (Kor) bt Fanny Ostlund (Swe) 4-6, 6-2, 7-5; Zhibek Kulambayeva (Kaz) bt Rinon Okuwaki (Jpn) 6-4, 6-3. Jacqueline Cabaj Awad (Swe) bt Shrivalli Bhamidipaty 1-6, 6-3, 7-6(5); Ankita Raina bt Zeel Desai 7-6(4), 6-3.
Doubles: Quarterfinals: Kulambayeva & Ankita bt Akiko Omae & Ikumi Yamazaki (Jpn)
7-5, 7-6(9); Riya & Michika Ozeki (Jpn) bt Gasanova & Ekaterina Yashina 6-4, 6-4; Ku & Diana Marcinkevica (Lat) bt Kazionova & Mansouri 6-4, 6-3; Cabaj Awad & Mikulskyte bt Shrivalli & Vaidehi Chaudhari 3-6, 6-4, [10-8].