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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Black day for Sunitha Rao at Sunfeast Open

Dressed all in black, Britain's Anne Keothavong spelt doom for Indian hopes at the Sunfeast Open - defeating Sunitha Rao in straight sets 6-3, 6-2.

The second round match was a lot closer than the scoreline suggests and Rao, India's highest-ranked tennis player after Sania Mirza, played her best against the 144-ranked Keothavong.

Rao, 211 on the WTA list, managed to break the Briton's serve twice. She even had a better first-serve percentage and less doublefaults. But it was Keothavong who prevailed in the 80-minute battle at Kolkata's Netaji Indoor stadium.

Keothavong sent down 7 aces compared to zero for Rao and was the stronger player on crucial points. A string of unforced errors didn't help Rao much - she mishit at least two easy lobs during the match.

The result catapulted Keothavong into the record books as the first British woman to advance to a WTA Tour quarterfinal in 14 years.

But there is still hope for India in the doubles competition of the $175,000 hardcourt tournament.

Rao and Australia's Monique Adamczak have assured themselves of at least $2140 in prize money after securing a semifinal berth.

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 Errani had withdrawn after complaining of lower back pain.

Top seeds Vania King of the US and Alla Kudryavtseva of Russia put paid to the only other Indian hope by beating Tara Iyer and Canada's Aleksandra Wozniak 6-1, 5-7, 10-4 in the doubles quarter-finals.

Tara Iyer crashes out of Sunfeast Open

Wildcard Tara Iyer crashed out of the 2007 Sunfeast Open with a 6-3, 6-1 loss to seventh seed Italy's Flavia Pennetta while Sunitha Rao and her Australian partner entered the doubles semifinals thanks to a walkover.

Iyer, ranked 354 on the WTA list, was broken five times in an hour-long match though to her credit she also broke the 69-ranked Pennetta's serve once in the first set.

Pennetta, 25, had been ranked as high as 16 in the world early last year. And the 19-year-old Iyer did give the Italian some anxious moments in the first set.

Iyer's first round defeat means that Sunitha Rao is now the only Indian left in the singles draw of the $175,000 hardcourt tournament at Kolkata's Netaji Indoor stadium.

The Florida-based Rao, ranked 211 in the world, was scheduled to play 144-ranked Briton Anne Keothavong in the second round.

In the doubles event, Rao and Australia's Monique Adamczak assured themselves of at least $2140 in prize money after securing a semifinal berth.

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

But Ankita Bhambri and Rushmi Chakravarthi were humbled 6-1, 6-1 by the top-seeded duo of American Vania King and Russia's Alla Kudryavtseva. The quarterfinal opponents for King and Kudryavtseva will be Tara Iyer and Canada's Aleksandra Wozniak who had advanced earlier.

Kyra Shroff and Ashvarya Shrivastava also crashed out in the opening round, going down 6-1, 6-1 to Italy's Alberta Brianti and Ukraine's Maria Koryttseva.

Sunitha Rao advances at Sunfeast Open

Sunitha Rao kept the Indian flag flying high at the Sunfeast Open, carving out a hard-fought 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 win over lucky loser Indonesia's Sandy Gumulya.

The Florida-based Rao, ranked 211 in the world, had a disastrous first set against the 316-ranked Gumulya but recovered to win the next two at Kolkata's Netaji Indoor stadium.

The battle of 21-year-olds saw Rao emerging triumphant in her first match win since making it to the third round of the US Open qualifiers in August.

Next up for Rao is a toughie against Britain's Anne Keothavong, who's ranked 144 in the world. The two have never played each other before but Keothavong will be on a high having dispatched 71-ranked Italian Sara Errani 6-4, 6-4 in her opening match.

The $175,000 hardcourt tournament is missing star attraction Sania Mirza after the world no. 27 withdrew at the last minute with a wrist injury.

The Tier III WTA event has one other Indian woman still in the running in the singles with wildcard Tara Iyer taking on seventh seed Italy's Flavia Pennetta (rank 69) in her opening match later today.

In the doubles, Iyer in partnership with Canada's Aleksandra Wozniak defeated the Russian pair of Julia Efremova and Ekaterina Ivanova 6-4, 7-5 in the first round.

There was no such luck for the Indian pair of Sanaa Bhambri and Isha Lakhani. The duo fell tamely 6-2, 6-0 to the fourth seeded Italians Errani and Flavia Pennetta.

No Sania for Sunfeast, Sunitha best hope

The Sunfeast Open in Kolkata has been hit hard by the withdrawal of Sania Mirza. The 20-year-old Indian was laid low by a wrist injury and will not be playing for a while. Mirza's ranking of 27, her career best, may also take a beating in the coming weeks.

As for the Tier III WTA event, Wimbledon finalist Marion Bartoli (rank 12), Slovakian beauty Daniela Hantuchova (rank 11) and Russia's Maria Kirilenko (rank 35) will be the top draws for a tournament won by the likes of Anastasia Myskina and Martina Hingis in previous years.

The Indian campaign will be led by Sunitha Rao (rank 211) who had been due to face Mirza in the first round. Rao will now battle lucky loser Sandy Gumulya of Indonesia.

The 21-year-old Rao was bundled out in the third round of the US Open qualifiers and has also lost her only match since - a qualifier at Bali. But Gumulya (rank 316) should not pose much of a problem for her.

In first round action at the Netaji Indoor Stadium on Monday, qualifier Neha Uberoi was routed 6-2, 6-2 by Kirilenko. Uberoi, playing for the US, could not display the form she showed beating Rushmi Chakravarthi in straight sets on Sunday.

Against Kirilenko, Uberoi was done in by five doublefaults in a match which lasted for just over an hour. The world no. 267 broke Kirilenko once in the second set but the Russian retaliated with three breaks of serve for a total of five in the match.

In another match, Indian wildcard Kyla Shroff was blanked 6-0, 6-0 by eighth seed Yung-Jan Chan of Chinese Taipei (rank 81). The 14-year-old Shroff may well be India's future but it will certainly take a lot more exposure in international tournaments.

Wildcard Tara Iyer, the only other Indian apart from Rao still in the fray, takes on seventh seed Italy's Flavia Pennetta (rank 69) in her opening match.

Siblings Ankita and Sanaa Bhambri, Isha Lakhani, Shivika Burman and Ashvarya Shrivastava had all fallen by the wayside in the qualifying rounds of the $175,000 hardcourt tournament.

Sania Mirza will not be seen in action even in the doubles event which she had won with Liezel Huber as the top seeds last year. This year, none of the three Indian pairs in the event are seeded. In addition, Sunitha Rao and Tara Iyer are pairing up with foreign players.