Phadke, Manohar enter main draw in ITF women's tennis tourney

Mumbai, Mar 26 (UNI) Sonal Phadke, Archana Venkataraman and Geeta Manohar of India made it to the main draw as the hosts experienced mixed fortunes in the final qualifying round, in the Shivaji Park Gymkhana-ITF 10,000 dollar Women's Tennis Tournament here today.

Top seed in the qualifiers Phadke demolished compatriot Asha Nandakumar 6-1, 6-1, while No second seed Venkataraman overcame Wei-Ping Lee of Singapore 7-5, 6-3 and No seven Geeta Manohar beat compatriot Liza Pereira 6-3, 6-4.

Joining the Indians in the main draw were Ling Zhang of Hong Kong, Lavinia Tananta of Indonesia, Shao-Yuan Kao of Chinese Taipei Nungnadda Wannaduk of Thailand and Kazusa Ito of Japan.

Ito ousted Sheethal Goutham of India 6-0, 6-3, while Tananta endured a strong challenge from a determined Madura Ranganathan before earning a hard-fought 7-5, 7-6 (7-4) win.

While Phadke and Manohar enjoyed an easy passage, Ventaraman was forced to struggle in the opening set before earning crucial breaks en route to taking the set and the match.

The main draw commences on Monday.

Results (Final qualifying round): Ling Zhang (HK) bt Cagla Buyukakcay (Turkmenistan) 6-3, 7-5; Lavinia Tananta (Ina) bt Madura Ranganathan (India) 7-5, 7-6 (7-4); Shao-Yuan Kao (Tpe) bt Penporn Chantawannop (Thai) 3-6, 7-5, 7-5; Sonal Phadke (India) bt Asha Nandakumar (India) 6-1, 6-1; Nungnadda Wannasuk (Thai) bt Cho Jeong-A (Korea) 6-4, 6-1; Archana Venkataraman (India) bt Wei-Ping Lee (Sing) 7-5, 6-3; Geeta Manohar (India) bt Liza Pereira (India) 6-3, 6-4; Kazusa Ito (Jpn) bt Sheethal Goutham (India) 6-0, 6-3.

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