Indian girls Rushmi Chakravarthy and Ankita Bhambri fashioned contrasting victories in the qualifiers to make it to the main draw at the USD 170,000 WTA Sunfeast Open in Kolkata on Sunday.
Chakravarthy outclassed Chin-Wei Chan of Taipei while Bhambri pipped compatriot Isha Lakhani in a well-contested three setter in the qualifiers played at the Netaji Indoor stadium.
With Sania Mirza and the Uberoi sisters -- Shikha and Neha -- making a direct entry in the main draw, and Sunitha Rao, a US players of Indian origin being given the wildcard entry after German Merlene Weingartner's last minute pull-out, the home crowd has a lot to cheer for in the first-ever WTA event in the metropolis.
However, Sanaa Bhambri, the other Indian in the qualifier, made a tame exit going down to Chia-Jung Chuang of Taipei 1-6, 4-6.
In the first match of the day, Ankita won 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 overcoming a stiff resistance from Isha, who bounced back on a number of occasions from seemingly hopeless situations.
Ankita started on a confident note polishing off the first set, before Lakhani staged a remarkable rally firing home a series of forehand crosscourt winners aided by some unforced errors that crept into Ankita's play to take the second set.
Lakhani at that stage seemed all geared up to run away with the match, but Ankita stepped on the accelerator to win the third set and register a berth in the main draw.
In the post-match conference, Ankita exuded confidence that she would do well in the tournament.
On her today's performance, however, Ankita said she lost momentum in the second set when Lakhani started mixing up her game.
"There was a high percentage of unforced errors too, that added to the problem. But I think it was okay in the third."
At the Centre Court, Rushmi breezed past Chin-Wei Chan in straight sets 6-3, 7-5. Rushmi was in the driver's seat all through and never allowed Chan to settle in the game.
She rattled off an array of forehand winners and a high percentage of first serves to claim the first set in a little over 25 minutes.
In the second set, Chan tried to come back but Chakravarthy demolished her serve to win the set and the match.
The seasoned Chakravarthy later said she was not under any pressure. "My target was to qualify and I have done that. I think I had the match under control".
In the second match at Court one, Japan's Junri Namigata came back after dropping the first set to upstage Taipei's Su-Wei Hsieh 6-7 (4-7), 6-3, 6-4.
The Japanese initially appeared hesitant in approaching the nets, but started moving up after conceding the opener and claimed the next two sets.
