Shrivalli, Zeel enter second round at 22nd edition of NECC Deccan ITF 50K Women’s Tennis Tournament

Pune, January 24 2024: Upcoming Indian players Shrivalli Bhamidipathy and Zeel Desai made most of the opportunity moving into the second round of the singles event at the 22nd edition of NECC Deccan ITF 50K Women’s Tennis Tournament being organized by Deccan Gymkhana and sponsored by National Egg Coordination Committee (NECC) under the auspices of the ITF, AITA and MSLTA and played at the Deccan Gymkhana Tennis Courts

Lucky Loser Z eel Desai proved truly luck as she saved 7 set points in the first set to fell local favourite Rutuja Bhosale 7-6(6) ,6-2 in a 1 hour 57’match in a battle of Indian players.

Wildcard Shrivalli Rashmikaa Bhamidipaty made the most of the opportunity and played balanced game to register a 6-3,6-2 win over qualifier Eri Shimizu to move into the second round .

In the biggest upset of the day Sapfo Sakellaridi of Greece upset India No 1 and former winner here and the seventh seed Ankita Raina 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 in 2 hours and 20 minutes, Ankita took the first set and looked cruising comfortably before the unorthodox stroking Greece ranked 274 came back to shock Ankita who looked to be sick and recovering from fever last week .

In the best match of the day Wildcard Sahaja Yamlapalli gave a brilliant performance before going down to top seed
Darja Semenistaja of Latvia

In the opener the 142 ranked Semeniataja took 2 hours and 36 mins to get past Sahaja Yamalapalli )5-7, 6-3, 6-3 in a high quality stroking match

In the doubles first round Shrivalli Rashmikaa Bhamidipaty and Vaidehi Chaudhari Combined well to get last Slovakian Viktoria Morvayova and Australian Tina Nadine Smith 6-3, 5-7, 10-8 to move into the quarterfinal.

Results: Singles: First Round:
Darja Semenistaja (Lat) [1] bt Sahaja Yamalapalli (Ind)5-7, 6-3, 6-3;
Himeno Sakatsume (Jpn) [4] bt Dejana Radanovic (Srb)6-3, 3-6, 6-1;
Alexandra Eala (Phi) [5] bt Fanni Stollar (Hun)6-2, 6-2;
Sapfo Sakellaridi (Gre) bt Ankita Raina (Ind) [7] 3-6, 6-3, 6-2;
Shrivalli Rashmikaa Bhamidipaty (Ind) bt Eri Shimizu (Jpn)6-3, 6-2;
Viktoria Morvayova (Svk) bt Saki Imamura (Jpn)7-5, 4-6, 6-1;
Anastasia Kulikova (Fin) bt (LL) Yukina Saigo(Jpn) 6-0, 6-3;
Naho Sato (Jpn) bt Rina Saigo (Jpn) 6-1, 6-0;
(LL)Zeel Desai (Ind) bt Rutuja Bhosale (Ind) 7-6(6) ,6-2
Dalila Jakupovic (Slo) bt Naiktha Bains (Gbr)6-3, 7-6(6);

Doubles:
Sapfo Sakellaridi (Gre) [2] /Prarthana G Thombare (Ind) bt Ishwari Matere(Ind)/Madhurima Sawant(Ind) 6-1, 6-4;
Shrivalli Rashmikaa Bhamidipaty (Ind) /Vaidehi Chaudhari (Ind) bt Viktoria Morvayova (Svk) /Tina Nadine Smith (Aus)6-3, 5-7, 10-8.