Bhambri makes it to semis in singles, doubles of CYG

Pune, Oct 15 (UNI) Second seed Yuki Bhambri outpointed Anthony Michael of Nigeria to sail into the quarter-finals of the tennis competition as three other Indians joined him in the singles event of the Commonwealth Youth Games here today.

Bhambri broke Anthony twice in each set to beat him 6-1, 6-2 in just under an hour, while Sitaram Sudanwa, Poojashree Venkatesha and Kyra Shroff also won their respective singles matches in their categories to make it to the last eight stage.

The highest ranked Indian in the junior circuit, Bhambri and his doubles partner Vijayant Malik also made it to the semis in the boy's section.

Had Bhambri not committed the 14 unforced errors in the second set, he would have won the match a lot earlier and with much ease.

However, those errors were just delaying the inevitable as the India was far more consistent in comparison to his in experienced rival.

The Osaka Mayor's Cup winner, Bhambri, has impressed everyone with his booming and quick serves which most of the players have found it difficult to return back.

Bhambri had five aces to his name, besides which a good number of his serves were almost unplayable.

Three break points came his way in the first set out of which he converted two but the Indian missed out on a good number of break points in the second set.

Anthony had no answer to some of his great forehand returns which left the crowd only to appreciate them with applauses while Nigerian was left gasping for breath on the other side of the court.

Bhambri was more keen to play from the base line and was spot on with his returns which at times were just inches inside the court.

Earlier, in the first match of the third round in the girls singles, Poojashree Venkatesha continued her impressive form as she handed a straight set defeat to Alyssa Fuentes of Barbados 6-0, 6-0 in jsut 37 minutes.

The second seed Indian broke her rival in every game and held on to her serves throughout the match to advance in to the next round.

Poojashree had an amazing break point conversion rate as she did not let go any opportunity to surge ahead of rival.

Kyra Shroff also won her singles match defeating Kenyan Joie Keter 6-1, 6-0 and joined the quarte-final league.

Another Indian in the fray, Sitaram Sudanwa also won his third round singles match to advance into the quarter-finals of the event.

The sixth seed Indian had to sweat it out against Filippos Tsangaridis of Cyprus but after an hour long battle, Sitaram ended his rival's challenge defeating him 6-2, 6-4.

In the girls doubles' event, Tanvi Shah and Rashmi Teltumbde reached the semi-finals as they beat Carruthers sisters Kim and Steffi 6-4, 6-1.

In the doubles too, Bhambri along with Vijayant Malik entered the semi-finals as they hardly faced any ressistance from Charles Cohen and Scott Clayton of Jersey whom the Indians beat 6-2, 6-1 in an hour-long battle.

Kyra Shroff and Poojashree also combined well to break their Lankan rival once in each set to beat Jithmie Jayawickrema and Amritha Muttiah 6-3, 6-4 and booked a place in the semi-finals for themselves.

UNI RAR AB HS1933