SPORTS

Sonal Phadke is lone Indian qualifier

March 18, 2007 20:54 IST

Sonal Phadke beat compatriot Punam Reddy 7-5, 6-4 in the final qualifying round to become the lone Indian to make it to the main draw, in the ITF women's US $25,000 tennis tournament at the Mumbai University Campus, in Kalina, Mumbai, on Sunday.

Parija Maloo and Krushmi Chheda were the other Indians in contention, but both crashed out following straight sets defeats.

Japan's Misa Kinoshita beat Maloo 6-0, 6-4, while Wei-Ping Lee of Singapore overcame Chheda 6-2, 6-1.

The other qualifiers to join the elite in the main draw were Amber Liu (US), Martina Caciotti (Italy), Ji-Young Kim (Korea), Shao-Yuan Kao (Taipei) and Jeong-A Cho (Korea).

The main draw starts on Monday, March 19.

Top seed Shiho Isamatsu of Japan and No 2 Yan-Chong hen of China will lead the overseas challenge.

Third seed Sunitha Rao of the US received a wild card along with India's Prerana-Mythri Appineni and Parul Goswami, and Uzbekistan's Nigora Sirojiddinova.

The other Indians in the main draw include Isha Lakhani, Tara Iyer, Rushmi Chakravarthi and siblings Ankita and Sanaa Bhambri.

Results (final qualifying round): Amber Liu (US) bt Kelsey Sundaram (US) 6-1, 6-1; Martina Caciotti (Ita) bt Mariana Muci-Torres (Ven) 7-6(2), 6-3; Ji-Young Kim (Kor) bt Morgan Basil (US) 6-0, 6-4; Shao-Yuan Kao (Tpe) bt Ashmitha Easwaramurthi (Ind) 6-3, 6-1; Sonal Phadke (Ind) bt Punam Reddy (Ind) 7-5, 6-4; Misa Kinoshita (Jpn) bt Parija Maloo (Ind) 6-0, 6-4; Wei-Ping Lee (Sing) bt Hae-Sung Kim (Kor) 6-4, 6-1; Jeong-A Cho (Kor) bt Krushmi Chheda (Ind) 6-2, 6-1.

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