Adyna upsets seasoned Archana

Maharashtra Herald, November 12, 2007

Suhrid Barua
suhridb@sakalherald.com

PUNE: Unheralded Adnya Naik created a flutter when she knocked out vastly experienced Archana Venkatraman in three sets 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 and reach the final qualifying round of the $25,000 NECC-ITF women’s tennis championships at the Deccan Gymkhana tennis courts on Sunday.
The opening set witnessed a gripping contest as both players struck sharp winners from both flanks. Adnya broke Archana’s serve and that was enough for her to close out the first set at 6-4. Down by a set, Archana had to bring all her experience into play in the second set. She broke Adnya’s serve to even things up, winning the second set 6-4.
Buoyed by her spunky performance, Adnya kept playing to her strengths, attacking from the baseline as well as coming up with clinical winners at the net to effect the crucial break of serve and clinch the decider 6-4 to chart her path into the final qualifying round.
In another all-Indian affair, Prachi Nadkarni was taken to the distance before ousting Geeta Manohar 7-6(7-2), 6-4. Another Indian Pooja Shree Venkatesha also kept her hopes alive of making the singles main draw, decimating hapless Pallavi Sharma 6-1, 6-0.
Meanwhile, three Indian players have been seeded in the singles main draw. Neha Uberoi is the highest seeded Indian player at No. 3. Talented Tara Iyer is seeded second while Isha Lakhani is seeded eighth and there is even a likely possibility of Tara and Isha running into each other in the quarterfinals.
Top seeded Su-Wei Hsieh of Taipei is the top seed for the championship. Sandy Gumulya of Indonesia is the second seed while last year’s winner Nungnadda Wannachuk of Thailand is seeded eight. Former India Davis Cup player Sandeep Kirtane will inaugurate the championship.
Results:(2nd Round Qualifying): Kelsey Sundaram (US) bt Nicola Mooney (Britain) 6-2, 6-4, Julia Parasyuk (Russia) bt PV Raja Rajeshwari (India) 6-1, 6-0, Kyung-Yee Chae (Korea) bt Arushi Sharma 6-1, 6-0 (India), Varatchaya Wongteanchai (Thailand) bt Sagarika Phadke 6-2, 6-2, Shalini Sahoo (India) bt Daria Bykodarova (Russia) 6-3, 6-1, Alexandra Kolesnichenko (Uzbekistan) bt Subbadharmi Sundaram (US) 6-1, 6-2, Sonal Phadke (India) bt Nupur Kaul (India) 6-3, 6-1, Arthi Venkatraman (India) bt Bhavani Ravishankar (India) 6-0, 6-1, Ashmitha Easwarmurthi (India) bt Deepna Vazirani (India) 6-4, 6-2 , Adnya Naik (India) bt Archana (India) Venkatraman 6-4, 4-6 , 6-3, GK Shweta (India) bt Shahin Ansari (India) 6-3, 6-4, Prachi Nadkarni (India) bt Geeta Manohar (India) 7-6(7-2) , 6-4 , Pooja Shree Venkateshan (India) bt Pallavi Sharma (India) 6-1, 6-0, Asha Nandkumar (India) bt Aishwarya Agarwal (India) 6-3, 6-3, Sweta Kumari (India) bt Prerna Prathap (India) 6-3, 6-2.