Second seed Rushmi Chakravarthi of India and No. 5 Tomoyo Takagishi of Japan fell to little known opponents on a dramatic day of upsets in the Shivaji Park Gymkhana-ITF $10,000 Women's Tennis Tournament, on Tuesday.
Hampered by a wrist injury, veteran Chakravarthi, ranked 381 in the WTA, went down to qualifier and compatriot Geeta Manohar 1-6, 1-6 in a contest that lasted just 52 minutes.
Chakravathi's ouster was a pleasant surprise for Manohar who set up a second round clash with the formidable Pichittra Thongdach of Thailand.
Unseeded Thassha Vitayaviroj of Thailand caused the other upset in the singles main draw when she rallied to a 6-7 (3-7), 6-2, 6-1 win over Takagishi in the first round.
Takagishi won the first set for a good start but was in trouble as it stretched into the tie-breaker. The Thai girl took advantage of her opponent's error-prone game and came back strongly to take the next two sets and the match.
The other Indians who crashed out were unseeded Parul Goswami and wild card Krushmi Chheda, who retired following an injury after clinching the first set 6-2 and leading 4-1 in the second against Thongdach.
Doubles top seeds Ankita and Sanaa Bhambri were shocked by qualifiers Ito Kazusa and Moe Kawatoko of Japan who won 6-4, 6-7 (8-10), 6-3 in an absorbing first round clash that lasted 2 hours and 15 minutes.
Results (1st round): Ling Zhang (HK) bt Ji-Young Kim (Kor) 6-0, 6-2; Thassha Vitayaviroj (Thai) bt TomoyoTakagishi (Jpn) 6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-1; Lavinia Tananta (Ina) bt Parul Goswami (India) 6-2, 6-1; Geeta Manohar (Ind) bt Rushmi Chakravarthi (India) 6-1, 6-1; Pichittra Thongdach (Thai) bt Krushmi Chheda (India) 6-2, 4-1 (retd); Punam Reddy (India) bt Archana Venkataraman (India) 6-7 (5), 7-6 (2), 6-1; Sanaa Bhambri (India) bt Kao Shao-Yuan (Tpe) 6-4, 6-1; Ito Kazusa (Jpn) bt Megha Vakharia (India) 6-3, 6-2.
Doubles (1st round): Ito Kazusa/Moe Kawatoko (Jpn) bt Ankita/Sanaa Bhambri (India) 6-4, 6-7 (8), 6-3; Isha Lakhani/Rushmi Chakravarthi/Isha Lakhani (India) bt Czarina-Mae Arevalo (Phi) /Madhura Ranganathan (Ind) 6-0, 6-3; Natasha Khan/Claire Peterzan (Gbr) bt Sonal/Sagarika Phadke (India) 4-6, 7-6 (3).
