Bengaluru, Nov 28 (UNI) Renne Singla and Laalitya Kalluri scored upset victories to enter the second round of the qualifiers of the USD 15K KSLTA ITF World Women’s Tennis Tour Championship here on Sunday.
While Renne sent the fourth seed Smriti Bhasin home with a 6-4, 7-5 win, Laalitya won the battle of double faults against sixth seed Niditra Rajmohan in three sets 6-1, 2-6, 10-6.
Renne, the 17-year-old lass from Haryana, depended on her deep returns and waited for her older opponent to commit a mistake and soon raced to a 3-0 lead. Smriti bounced back winning the next two games.
However, Renne returned the favour to a 5-2 lead. Serving for the set, Renne not only lost her serve but the next game as well before serving out for the set 6-4.
The second set was even more keenly fought. After the rivals held their serve for the first four games, they broke each other twice and once again Renne served for the match at 5-3.
The 19-year-old Telangana girl, Smriti then restored parity by the 10th game only to lose her serve in the next game for Renne to complete the formalities.
In the other upset match, Maharashtra’s Laalitya was reduced to a mute spectator in the first set after winning the first game as her experienced opponent won the rest of the six games in a hurry.
The second set was almost a reverse of the first set, with Laalitya winning five games in a row after both were all square after the first four games. In the decider, Laalitya emerged as less error-prone player to make an entry into the final qualifying round.
The winners of the second round will get an entry into the main draw which begins on Tuesday.
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