She may be still struggling to finish matches, but Sunitha Rao has found new motivation to keep winning. The 22-year-old, the second highest-ranked Indian after Sania Mirza, was not given a wild card for the $600,000 Bangalore Open beginning here on Monday.
The peeved Sunitha may still make it. She is just one win away from making the main draw of the Tier II event here. Sunitha notched here second straight three-set win to move into the final qualifying round.
After her 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 win over Junri Namigata, Sunitha revealed her displeasure at being overlooked by the organisers, the Karnataka State lawn Tennis Association in this case. "It really hurt my feeling that I was not worthy of being given the opportunity," lamented Sunitha. The organisers had given wild cards to Isha Lakhani, ranked 349, and Shikha Uberoi, ranked a lowly 824.
Sunder Raju, the KSLTA secretary and the Tournament Director, could not be reached for comment. "The AITA recommended the names," said a KSLTA official on conditions of anonymity. "We've nothing to do with it. The AITA must have had obvious reasons for selecting Isha and Shikha."
"It is a struggle out there, but I'm not quitting," Sunitha said about her battle to make the main draw.
"I came here thinking I would get a wild card. It is too expensive coming all the way. I'm living on prize money alone now. It's very tough," she explained.
Meanwhile, American Alexandra Stevenson, once ranked in the top-20, went out in the second round, losing 3-6, 4-6 to German Angelika Bachmann.
Qualifying round results:
II round: Agnes Szatmari (Rou) bt Khrystyna Antoniychuk (Ukr) 6-3, 6-4; Melanie South (GBR) bt Ekaterina Dzehalevich (Blr) 6-7 (8-10), 6-2, 6-3; Mathilde Johansson (Fra) 6-3, 7-6 (11-9); Anne Keothavong (GBR) bt Kathrin Woerle (GBR) 0-6, 6-4, 6-4; Sunitha Rao (Ind) bt Junri Namigata (Jpn) 6-2, 4-6, 6-2; Angelika Bachmann (Ger) bt Alexandra Stevenson (US) 6-3, 6-4; Tiantian Sun (Chn) bt Corinna Dentoni (Ita) 3-6, 7-5, 6-2; Monica Niculescu (Rou) bt Debbrich Feys (Bel) 7-6 (7-3), 6-1. I round: Debbrich Feys bt Jie Zheng (Chn) 6-2, 3-2 (retd.).
