Sreenidhi barges into main draw, Shrivalli starts favourite

Bengaluru: Local girl Sreenidhi Balaji scored a hard-fought 5-7, 6-4, 10-4 win over Kashish Bhatia to make her maiden main draw at the senior level on Monday. The bespectacled player was joined by five other Indians in the 32-player field for the SKME ITF Open that begins at the KSLTA Tennis Stadium here on Tuesday.

The 18-year-old wildcard entrant, who stunned 10th seed Naomi Hagi in the first round on Sunday, found her touch after a relatively slow start. She came back strongly after losing the opener to put it past her towering rival.

The other three Karnataka players – top seed Vanshita Pathania, Amodini Naik and Sonicka Jadeesh – fell by the wayside. While Vanshita and Amodini lost in straight sets, Sonicka suffered a heartbreaking 9-11 loss to Bela Tamhankar in the super tie-break.

Top seed Shrivalli Rashmikaa Bhamidipaty takes on qualifier Sahira Singh in the opener. The other contenders are Vaishnavi Adkar, the second seed who is placed over 370 places below Shrivalli in the rankings, and Denmark’s Elena Jamshidi.

Like Shrivalli, Elena, still not 100 percent fit, too will look to make up for a premature end in Mysuru. The Dane, who suffered a bout of food poisoning and retired in her quarterfinal against Lakshmiprabha Arunkumar, will look to sign off on a high.

Besides a few Indians who have the wherewithal to make it count on their day in the 32-player draw, New Caledonia’s Carolann Delaunay, who crashed out in the opener last week, and young Russian Arina Arifullina too will be watched with interest.

Results (Final qualifying round, Indians unless mentioned): Sreenidhi Balaji bt Kashish Bhatia 5-7, 6-4, 10-4; Jo-Leen Saw (Mas) bt Vanshita Pathania 6-4, 6-3; Kaili Demi Teso (Jpn) bt Amodini Naik 6-1, 6-3; Abhaya Vemuri bt Joell Nichole 6-2, 6-0; Sahira Singh bt Laalitya Kalluri 6-3, 6-0; Apurva Vemuri bt Noelani Sara Teso (Jpn) 6-2, 6-4; Chandana Potugari bt Sejal Gopal Bhutada 6-3, 3-6, 11-9; Bela Tamhankar bt Sonicka Jadeesh 6-3, 3-6, 11-9.