INDIAN players Soumya Vig, Lakshmi Gowda, Joell Nicolle and Vaishnavi Adkar scored wins in their opening qualifying matches at the Maha Urja Nagpur Open ITF Women’s Championships on Sunday. In the first qualifying round, Saumya, seeded eleventh, pipped Russia’s Anastasia Sergienko 6-4, 5-7, (10-7) to advance in the tournament. Saumya will now face qualifier another Russian Anastasia Zolotareva who defeated Jigyasa Narsinghani 6-1, 6-0. In another qualifing game, Lakshmi upset eighth seed Mei Hasegawa of Japan 6-4, 3-6 (10-7) while Joell Nichole, who got a wild card entry, got better of fifth seed Gyeong Seo Lee of Korea 3-6, 6-2, (10-7).

 

In an all-India matches, fourth seed Vaishnavi Adkar defeated Sharmada Balu 6-2, 6-4 while Pooja Ingale outplayed local wild card Ekta Ingle 6-0, 6-1. At the outset, the tournament was inaugurated by Divisional Commissioner Vijaylaxmi Bidari at MSLTA Tennis Academy Ramnagar. MSLTA Secretary Sunder Iyer, NDHTA President Kumar Kale, Tournament Director Dr Sudhir Bhiwapurkar and Tournament Secretary Vijay Naidu were present during the opening ceremony. Dr Darshan Dakshindas proposed a vote of thanks. Ladies of Akhil Bhartiya Marwari Mahila Sammelan presented a colourful lezim dance performance along with Ganesh Vandana.

 

Other Results: Ikumi Yamazaki (Japan) bt Ishwari Matere (Ind)6-1 6-2; Anastasia Zolotareva (Rus) bt Jigyasa Narsinghani (Ind)6-1 6-0; Michika Ozeki (Jpn) bt Apurva Vemuri (Ind)6-0 6-1; Rinon Okuwaki (Jpn) bt Kashish Bhatia (Ind) 6-4 6-2. ; Suhitha Maruri (Ind) bt Abhaya Vemuri (Ind)6-3 6-1; Anjali Rathi (Ind) bt Priyanshi Bhandari (Ind) 6-4 6-3; Kundali Majgaine (Ind) bt Shefali Arora (Ind)6-1 6-1; Soha Sadiq (Ind) bt Kotistha Modak (Ind)6-2, 3-6, (11-9); Kavya Khirwar (Ind) bt Nidhitra Rajmohan (Ind) 3-6, 6-3, (10-7); Akanksha Nitture (Ind) bt Bela Tamhankar (Ind) 6-4, 5-7 (11-9); Humera Baharmus (Ind) bt Sahira Singh (Ind) 6-2 0-6 (15-13); Joell Nichole (Ind) bt Gyeong Seo Lee (Kor) 3-6, 6-2 (10-7).