No Sunfeast for India at WTA Kolkata

The Indian campaign at Kolkata's Sunfeast Open has come to an end with Sunitha Rao losing in the doubles semi-finals.

Rao and her Australian partner Monique Adamczak went down fighting 4-6, 7-5, 5-10 to Alberta Brianti of Italy and Mariya Koryttseva of Ukraine.

The 1 hour 38 minute match at the Netaji Indoor stadium went the distance but it was Brianti and Koryttseva who eventually prevailed in the tiebreak.

The $175,000 hardcourt tournament has been severely affected by the last minute withdrawal of India's highest-ranked tennis player Sania Mirza. Mirza, who is nursing a wrist injury, had won the doubles event last year in partnership with Liezel Huber.

Rao and Adamczak have assured themselves of at least $2140 in prize money by reaching the semifinals. In addition, Rao gets $2105 and 20 WTA points for reaching the second round of the singles competition.

In the first round, the duo defeated Indian American Neha Uberoi and Poland's Marta Domachowska 6-1, 6-4. They later had the benefit of a walkover over fourth seeded Italians Sara Errani and Flavia Pennetta after Errani backed out complaining of lower back pain.

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