Pune, (Samajweekly) Wild card entrant Tejasvi Kate knocked out fourth seeded Emma Van Poppel of the Netherlands 4-6, 6-2, 10-5 to enter the final round of qualifying for the $25,000 KPIT-MSLTA ITF WTT Cup tennis championships on Sunday.
A student of the Ramkrishna More College in Akurdi, left-handed Tejasvi showed grit and determination, stroking the ball freely on both the flanks to down her higher ranked opponent and make it to the final round of the qualifiers.
In other second round qualifying matches, Radhika Yadav thrashed Ariana Dharmadhikari 6-0, 6-1 while Sravya Shivani Chilakalapudi cut short the progress of former national champion Sharmada Balu, who is making a comeback, 6-2,6-1.
Junior player Renne Singla registered a 6-3, 6-0 win over Himadri Kashyap while Soha Sadiq secured an easy 6-1, 6-1 win over Bela Tamhankar.
The final-round qualifying matches will be played on Monday. Eight players will qualify for the main draw of the event from these qualifying matches.
In all, 46 players signed in for the qualifying draw in the first $25000 prize money event of the year in India.
Results:
Second Qualifying Round (women):
Radhika Yadav (Ind) bt Ariana Dharmadhikari (Ind) 6-0, 6-1; Sravya Shivani Chilakalapudi (Ind) [2] bt Sharmada Balu (Ind) 6-2,6-1; Renne Singla (Ind) bt Himadri Kashyap P. (Ind) 6-3, 6-0; Soha Sadiq (Ind) bt Bela Tamhankar (Ind) 6-1, 6-1; Tejasvi Kate (Ind) bt Emma Van Poppel (Ned) [4] 4-6, 6-2, 10-5; Pratyusha Rachapudi (Ind) [7] bt Sudipta Kumar (Ind) 6-2, 6-3.
