Madhura beats Martina to enter main draw

Pune, Nov 12 (UNI) Talented junior Madhura Ranghanathan of India saved two match points in the second set tie-break to beat Italian junior Martina Cociotti in a two hour 14 minute battle and made it to the main draw of the 25000 dollar Poona Club Women's International Tennis tournament here today.

In the last round qualifying event, Ranganathan put out Martina Cociotti 4-6, 7-6(8), 6-2. Indian juniors Vishika Chhetri, Pooja Shree Venkatesha, Asha Nandakumar, Asmitha Easwaramurthi, Sweta Kumari Solanki, Parija Maloo, along with Russian Elizaveta Tochilovskaya also made it into the main draw which gets underway from tomorrow.

Pooja Shree Venkatesha (Ind) beat Abby Hedges (Australia) 6-2, 6-3, while Asha Nandakumar (Ind) scraped past Kelsey Sundaram (USA) 7-5, 7-5, and Parija Maloo (Ind) beat Chirashanthi Rajur 6-1, 6-2.

Vishika Chhetri (Ind) ended the run of local wild card entrant Radhika Tulpule 6-3, 6-4.

Following are the seedings for the main draw: Singles: 1. Akgul Amanmuradova, Uzbekistan, 2. Montinee Thanpong Thailand, 3. Agnes Szatmari Romania, 4. Olga Panova, Russia, 5.

Ankita Bhambri India, 6. Isha Lakhani India, 7. Rushmi Chakravarti India, 8. Amina Rakhim, Kazakhistan.

Doubles: 1. Olga Panova Russia/Agnes Szatmari Romania, 2. Nicole Clerico Italy/Ksenia Palkina Krgyzstan, 3. Ankita Bhambri/Rushmi Chakravarthi (Ind), 4. Sanaa Bhambri/Meggha Vakharia (Ind).

Following are the results final round qualifying singles: Vishika Chhetri (Ind) bt Radhika Tulpule (Ind) 6-3, 6-4; Pooja Shree Venkatesha (Ind) bt Abby Hedges (Australia) 6-2, 6-3; Madhura Ranganathan (Ind) bt Martina Cociotti (Italy) 4-6, 7-6 (8), 6-2; Elizaveta Tochilovskaya (Rus) bt Sagarika Phadke (Ind) 6-1, 6-0; Asha Nandakumar (Ind) bt Kelsey Sundaram (USA) 7-5, 7-5; Asmitha Easwaramurthi (Ind) bt Liza Pereira (Ind) 6-4, 6-1; Sweta Kumari Solanki (Ind) bt Sandri Ganghothri 6-2, 6-4; Parija Maloo (Ind) bt Chirashanthi Rajur 6-1, 6-2.

Doubles: Elizaveta Tochilovskaya (Rus) and Amina Rakhim (Kaz) bt Prerna Mythri Appineni (Ind) and Sagarika Phadke (Ind) 4-0, 4-0; Sarah Stallard (Gbr) and Abby Hedges (Aus) bt Ronak Shah (Ind) and Ayushi Sinha (Ind) 4-0, 4-0.

UNI IS MAZ PDS DB1954