Chennai Open: Karman-Rutuja qualifies for the second round

They fight back from a set and break down to qualify.

Karman Kaur Thandi shrugged off a second-round singles exit in the Chennai Open at the hands of Eugenie Bouchard. Karman paired up with Rutuja Bhosale to beat Prarthana Thombare and Indonesian Jessy Rompries in the Women’s doubles first-round fixture.

Wildcards Bouchard and Karman treated the vocal crowd around Centre Court to a fantastic encounter that lasted two hours and 13 minutes. The Canadian won the first set 6-2 and came back from 5-2 down in the second set to force a tie-breaker, saving two set points in the process. Bouchard clinched the tie 6-2 7-6. The Former World No.5 is on the road back to recovery after a shoulder surgery, which kept her out of action for 17 months.

Karman had little time to recover. After Jimenez Kasintseva withdrew due to a left hip injury, alternatives Karman and Rutuja were called up as a last-minute entry into the doubles draw. The SDAT Stadium in Nungambakkam played host to a Court 1 classic. Rutuja-Karman recovered from 3-6 2-5 down to mount a spectacular comeback against Thombare and Rompies, eventually winning 3-6 7-6 (5), [10-4] in just under two hours. The victorious Indians will face top-seeds Gabriela Dabrowski and Luisa Stefani in the quarterfinals.

Ankita Raina saw her Chennai Open campaign end after a doubles defeat. Raina and Van Der Hoek lost to the all-Russian pairing of Anastasia Gasanova and Oksana Selekhmeteva 1-6 4-6.

Big Upsets

There were two big upsets in the singles Round of 16 games. Fifth-seeded Swede Rebecca Peterson lost to Linda Fruhvirtova 4-6 2-6. The 17-year-old Fruhvirtova hails from Prague and qualifies for her second career WTA quarterfinal. Sixth seed Wang Quiang was blown away by Japan’s qualifier Nao Hibino 2-6 3-6 in Court 1. Seventh seed Rebecca Marino overcame Katarzyna Kawa 7-5 6-3.

The top-seeded Brazilian-Canadian doubles dup of Stefani and Dabrowski beat Katie Swan and Despina Papamichail 6-4 6-1. Second seeds Kaitlyn Christian and Lidziya Marozava were defeated by Anna Blinkova and Natela Dzalamidze in a three-set thriller that ended 7-5 1-6 8-10.

The all-Indian pairing of Riya Bhatia and Sharrmadaa Baluu tasted defeat at the hands of Peangtarn Plupuech and Moyuka Uchijima, losing 2-6 5-7. Sharmadaa Baluu returns to the court after a 5-year break. The Australian-Dutch pair of Olivia Tjandramulia and Arianne Hartono defeated the Australian-Russian pair Astra Sharma and Ekaterina Yashina 6-3 6-1 on Court 2.