Shrivalli Bhamidipaty stayed calm and stroked fiercely at the crunch as she survived two match points to beat Arthi Muniyan 2-6, 6-1, 7-5 in the first round of the $15,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament at the Tennis Project, Baliawas, on Tuesday.
Arthi played remarkably well, but from 4-2, 40-15 in the decider, she wavered a bit with the intensity of her strokes to let Shrivalli, who had won the national crown at the same venue last year, back into the match.
At 5-3 on her serve, Arthi had two match points, but erred with her strokes, even as Shrivalli fired on all cylinders, not worried about the result.
Once she got a foot hold, Shrivalli served big and stroked with authority as she raced away with the last three games, dropping three points in all.
It was a lost opportunity for Arthi but the match revealed the true character of Shrivalli, who had skipped the event last week in Jhajjar, and her fearless attitude.
Yubarani Banerjee beat sixth seed Mihika Yadav in straight sets, while Akanksha Nitture overcame Nidhi Chilumula in three sets. Shruti Ahlawat recovered from a slow start to outclass Shreya Tatavarthy in three sets. The young Shruti, a top-100 junior player, will take on the winner of the match between second seed Anna Ureke of Russia and Soha Sadiq.
The results: Singles (first round): Akanksha Nitture bt Nidhi Chilumula 6-1, 4-6, 6-2; Sathwika Sama bt Prathyusha Rachapudi 6-3, 6-4; Farhat Aleen Qamar bt Anjali Rathi 6-2, 6-1; Shrivalli Bhamidipaty bt Arthi Muniyan 2-6, 6-1, 7-5; Yubarani Banerjee bt Mihika Yadav 6-2, 6-4; Shruti Ahlawat bt Shreya Tatavarthy 2-6, 6-1, 6-0.
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Punnin Kovapitukted (Tha) & Anna Ureke (Rus) bt Nandini Dixit & Dakshata Patel 6-1, 6-2; Vaidehi Chaudhari & Zeel Desai bt Priyanshi Bhandari & Laalitya Kalluri 6-0, 6-0; Ilaria Sposetti (Ita) & Niditra Rajmohan bt Prerna Bhambri & Nidhi Chilumula 1-6, 6-2, [10-6].
Qualifying singles (third and final round): Jagmeet Kaur bt Priyanshi Bhandari 6-2, 6-0; Vanshika Choudhary bt Avishka Gupta 6-4, 6-3; Suhitha Maruri bt Prathiba Narayan 6-0, 6-1; Bela Tamhankar bt Sydney Stone (Aus) 6-2, 6-1; Pooja Ingale bt Dakshata Patel 6-2, 6-1; Smriti Bhasin bt Sanjana Sirimalla 5-7, 6-4, [12-10].
