Phadke, Panova enter IInd round of interna'l womens' tennis

Pune, Nov 13 (UNI) India's seasoned campaigner Sonal Phadke overcame a resolute qualifier Asha Nandkumar, while fourth seeded Olga Panova of Russia went through a torrid second set win to move into the second round today of the 25000 dollar Poona club women's international tennis tournament here today.

In the event, Mumbai-based Sonal Phadke, ranked 738, battled out the Bangalore collegian Asha Nandkumar 6-7(7-5), 6-3, 6-2 in a two-hour seven minute tussle. Delhi's talented qualifier Sweta Kumari Solanki gave a second set fright to fourth seeded Russian Olga Panova.

In the first set, Panova, ranked 338 in the world hit scorching forehands to take the first set 6-0. However, in the second set, Solanki found her bearings and matched Panova stroke for stroke taking the second set to 6-6. In the tie break, Panova proved to be the more experienced winning the tie-break 7-5.

Following are the results- Singles (first round) Tara Iyer (645) India bt (qual) Parija Maloo (1175) 6-4, 6-1,(7) Rushmi Chakravarthi (468) Ind bt Geeta Manohar (791) Ind 6-4, 6-3,(5) Ankita Bhambri (414) Ind bt Parul Goswami (686) Ind 6-0, 6-0, Sanaa Bhambri (747) Ind bt (wc) Prerna Mythri Apenini (820) 7-5, 6-4, Sonal Phadke (738) Ind bt (qual) Asha Nandkumar (821) 6-7(7-5), 6-3, 6-2, (4) Olga Panova (338) Russia bt (qual) Shweta Kumari Solanki (1175) 6-0, 7-6 (7-5), Cassandra Barr (521) Australia bt (qual) Vishika Chettri (Ind) 6-3, 6-1.

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