Qualifier Sandeepti Singh Rao played as if in a dream, to knock out top seed Diana Marcinkevica 7-6(5), 6-2 in the pre-quarterfinals of the $15,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament at the Joygaon Academy on Thursday.
The 19-year-old Sandeepti stayed on par with her 30-year-old opponent and ran down every ball, hitting with considerable craft and intelligence.
It was like a home ground for Sandeepti, who has played only three international women’s tournaments so far and all at the same venue. She is yet to have a WTA rank but made the quarterfinals on debut last year from the qualifying event.
In matching her best result, Sandeepti, coached by Ankit Patel, was so much wiser and smarter, sporting admirable calmness, as she exasperated Diana, who was ranked a career-best 196 in 2014.
Winning the first set was the key. Sandeepti led 4-2 but trailed 5-6 and had to save a set point on her serve. In the tie-break, Diana led 5-4, but Sandeepti won the next three points to gain a stranglehold on the match.
In the second set, Sandeepti led 4-1 and cruised through without any fuss for the best win of her fledgling career. She had served an ace and converted six of eight breakpoints.
Diana later partnered Fanny Ostlund to beat Sandeepti and Bela Tamhankar in the doubles quarterfinals, but what mattered was Sandeepti’s ability to play a quality fare against a top player with such consistency in singles.
Sharmada Balu recovered from being 1-5 in the second set after losing the first to be on par but did not have the energy to stretch the fight till the end against the champion of last week, Tamara Curovic of Serbia.
Humera Baharmus battled past Julia Lovqvist 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 to set up a quarterfinal against Curovic.
Zeel Desai and Vaidehi Chaudhari also made it to the quarterfinals and will face Fanny Ostlund and Alexandra Iordache respectively.
Zeel and Vaidehi also avenged their defeat last week, by beating Sevil Yuldasheva and Alexandra Iordache in the doubles quarterfinals.
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