Kolkata: A bout of dengue had kept herself out last year but unseeded Sri Vaishnavi Peddi Reddy was back in her elements ousting top seeded Shweta Rana of Delhi in straight sets to storm into the quarterfinals of the National Grass Court Tennis Championship here today.
The Andhra girl, who finished runner-up to Rushmi Chakravorthy two years ago, will face eighth seed Nithyaraj Baburaj for a place in the semis tomorrow. Nithyaraj sweated three hours to go past Sneha Padamata in the longest match of the tournament.
Rupesh Roy produced another upset of the day when he overcame a stiff challenge from last year's runner up and seventh seed Saurav Sukul to set up a last eight clash against fourth seed Chandril Sood (UP) in the men's singles.
There was heartbreak for Vaishnavi as she had to skip her 'favourite' National grasscourts last year after being diagnosed with dengue during the Fenesta Open hard courts nationals in New Delhi. "I had health related issues that kept me out for about a year.
I never thought of going past one round. But now after making the quarters, it seems I'm back in the groove," said wild card entrant Vaishnavi. Vaishnavi broke Shweta early at 1-1 and then again at 5-3 en route to a 6-3 win in the opening set.
Looking even stronger, Vaishnavi cruised to a 3-0 lead and broke Shweta at 5-2 to wrap the issue without dropping any sweat. In a battle between two local heroes, Roy put up a fine display to overcome Sukul in a two-hour-12-minute battle that drew maximum crowd in the tournament so far.
Sukul was broken twice in the first set, which he eventually dropped 3-6. In the second, Sukul made a comeback by breaking Roy once at 3-2 and again at 5-2, thereby winning the second by 6-2. The decider saw a swing of luck after a 4-0 lead which Sukul took in about 15 minutes.
From there Roy pulled the gear and came back flawless, making it 4-4. In the tie-breaker, Roy was leading 6-0, from where Sukul played a few amazing shots to make it 5-6 but a forehand error from the later relieved Rupesh.
( Source : PTI )
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