Indian challenge ends in singles, Rushmi falls

Chennai, Apr 6: Notwithstanding a brief fightback in the second set, second seed Rushmi Chakravarthy could not prevent qualifier Juang A Cho of Korea from hogging the limelight with an 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) upset in the quarter finals of the US 10,000 dollars prize money in the third and final leg of the ITF women's circuit tennis championship on the Gymkhana hard courts here today.

Rushmi dashed any hopes of Indian challenge surviving into the semi finals after Sweta Solanki, who came through a three set battle yesterdy, fell to Japan's Miki Miyamura 6-4, 6-1 in another one hour battle on court three.

In her upset at the hands of Jeong, ranked 1032, the seasoned Rushmi, failed to get her shots in. She promised a fight back up 3-0 early in the second set, and again 4-0 in the tie break, but caved in meekly as the Korean never let her nerves to give away.

In other quarter final matches, Great Britain's Natasha Khan mainained here winning streak with an easy 6-4, 6-3 win over Chinese Taipei's Shan Yuan Kao, while Thailand's Nudnida Luangnam became the lone seed (fifth) still in fray, with a 6-3, 7-6(7-6), second set fought on tie break, win over Indonesia's unseeded Lavinia Tananta, ranked 878, in a one hour 45 minute duel.

Rushmi, who pulled out of the second leg at Mumbai due to an injury, promised a fight back after losing the first set rather tamely. She broke Jeong in the first and third games for a 3-0 lead. But fell into errors again. The Korean broke Rushmi in the fourth and eighth games for a 5-3 lead and held serve for a 6-5 lead. In the first set, Rushmi down 1-3, levelled 3-3, but caved in.

Jeong won three games in a row.

But the Chennai girl, Rushmi managed to level 6-6 and forced the tie break. But she caved in again after a 4-0 lead. Jeong levelled 4-4 and shut out the match, winning three points in a row.

Earlier, Solanki struggled against Miki Miyamura after fighting hard in the first set till 6-4 when the two traded breaks. In the second set Miki held sway, breaking Solanki's serve. The one sided battle lasted an hour and 25 minutes.

The Indian challenge is now confined to doubles semi-finals, with Sheethal Goutham and Sonal Phadke in fray against Jeong A Cho and Ji Young Kim, the Korean duo.

Results (Singles-quarter finals): Natasha Khan (Great Britain) bt Shao Yuan Kao (Taipei) 6-3, 6-4 Jeong A Cho (Kor)bt Rushmi Chakravarthi (Ind) 6-3, 7-6(4) Miki Miyamura (Jpn) bt Swea Solanki (Ind) 6-4, 6-1 Nudnida Luangnam (Thai) bt Laviia Tananta (Indonesia) 6-3, 7-6(6).

UNI