Indian qualifier stuns 7th-seeded Dutch girl

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Little-known Indian qualifier Shalini Sahoo knocked out seventh-seeded Nicole Thyssen of the Netherlands, while another Indian Isha Lakhani easily won her first round on a day two other seeds were also shown the door at the $25,000 NECC-ITF women's tennis championships at the Deccan Gymkhana courts in Pune on Tuesday.

Shalini played fighting tennis to overcome Thyssen, ranked 236, 7-5, 2-6, 6-2 in a match lasting two hours 15 minutes.

Shalini took the hard-fought first set in 50 minutes, getting the decisive break in the 12th game. But she lost the second tamely, losing her serve thrice, Thyssen effecting the first break in the first game of the set.

In the decider, Shalini regained her touch and raced to a 5-0 lead, Thyssen, who struggled with a shoulder injury, could do little to stop Shalini from recording the biggest win of her career.

Left-handed Isha became the third Indian to enter the second round, beating Julia Glushko of Israel 6-3, 6-1. Delhi girl Ankita Bhambri is the other Indian to win her first round.

Another Indian wildcard, Rashmi Teltumbde, fresh from her double crown at the Grade 3 junior event in Malaysia and a member of the MSLTA Vision 2010 programme, went down to fourth seed Ksenia Palkina of Kyrgyzstan , 3-6, 5-7.

In the second round , Ankita will take on top-seeded Melanie South from Britain while Shalini meets wildcard from Uzbekistan Alexandra Kolesnichenko. Isha next plays eighth-seeded Jing jing Lu of China .

In the biggest upset of the day, Serbian qualifier Bojana Jovanosvski knocked out third-seeded Agnes Szatmari of Romania, who is ranked 201, in straight sets 6-3, 6-4, while in another upset 270th ranked Hsuan Hwang of
Taipei scored a 6-2, 7-5 upset win over fifth-seeded Liana Gabriela Ungur of Romania.

Results:

Melanie South (Brt) bt Jade Windley (Brt) 6-2, 6-4; Shalini Sahoo (Ind) bt Nicole Thyssen (Ned) 7-5, 2-6, 6-2;
Ksenia Palkina (Kgz) bt Rashmi Teltumde(Ind) 6-3, 7-5; Korina Perkovic (Ger) bt Sophie Ferguson (Aus) 7-5, 6-7 (7-4), 6-2; Kai-Chen Chang (Tpe) bt Julia Parasyuk (Rus) 6-4, 6-7 (7-4), 6-2; Hsuan Hwang (Tpe) bt Liana Gabriela Ungur (Rom) 6-2, 7-5; Natasha Khan (Brt) bt Florence Haring (Fra) 6-1, 2-6, 7-6 (7-4); Patrycja Sanduska (Pol) bt Silvia Disderi (Ita) 6-4, 6-2; Bojana Jovanosvski (Srb) bt Agnes Szatmari (Rom) 6-3, 6-4; Jing Jing-lu (Chn) bt Jade Curtis (Brt) 6-3, 6-1; Isha Lakhani (Ind) bt Julia Glushko ( Isr) 6-3, 6-1; Suchanan Viratprasert bt Vivian Senini (Bra) 6-4,6-2.

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