Bengaluru, Feb 8: Unheralded Sonashe Bhatnagar not only scripted a come-from-behind victory but sent the sixth seed Vanshita Pathania home to enter the pre-quarterfinals of the Rs 1-lakh AITA Women’s Championship being held at the PBI-CSE Tennis Academy, Padukone-Dravid Centre for Sports Excellence.
In a first round tie held here on Monday, the 20-year-old Sonashe was down by four set points, trailing 4-5 against her accomplished rival. She fought back to not only win the game but went on to win the next two games as well to take the first set 7-5.
With the game and more importantly confidence back at her side, she gave little chance to her opponent in the second set going 3-0 up after achieving a break in the second game. Vanshita managed to win just one game in the set when she held her serve in the fourth, giving the Reva University student a much deserved victory.
Results Round of 32 (Seedings in prefix and states in parenthesis)
Sonashe Bhatnagar (KAR) bt 6-Vanshita Pathania (KAR) 7-5, 6-1; 5-Chilumula Nidhi (TS) Megha Mutukumaran (TN) 6-1, 6-0; Apeksha Solanki (KAR) bt Utsah Karla (KAR) 4-6, 6-1, 6-1; Nidi Buvila (KAR) bt Ekta Suresh Ingle (MAH) 6-1, 6-0; Mushratanjum Shaik (TS) bt Pragathi Prasad Narayan (KAR) 6-4, 6-1; 2-Soha Sadiq (KAR) bt Veda Varshita Ranabothu (TS) 6-0, 6-1; 3-Sravya Shivani C (KAR) bt Bala Gayathri Snighde (TS) 6-3, 6-0; Yashaswini Singh Panwar (MP) bt Yashika Venu (KAR) 6-4, 6-1
