CWG Tennis: Sania, Somdev in singles quarters (Roundup)

NEW DELHI - India’s Sania Mirza and Somdev Devvarman stormed into the singles quarterfinals of the Commonwealth Games tennis competition here Wednesday.

Sania also reached the women’s doubles semifinals with Rushmi Chakravarthi while Somdev, partnering Rohan Bopanna, reached the doubles querterfinals.

But the day belonged to Rushmi, who scored a sensational 1-6, 7-6 (2), 7-5 upset over third-seeded Katie O’Brien of England to enter the women’s singles quarterfinals.

Later in the evening, Rushmi and Sania, seeded fourth, defeated Scotland’s Mhairi Brown and Jocelyn Rae 6-1, 7-6 (2).

It was, however, the end of the road for Bopanna and Poojashree Venkatesha in the singles. Bopanna lost 2-6, 6-7(5) to second seeded and 31-year-old Australian Davis Cupper Peter Luczak.

Bopanna has already lost in the mixed doubles event but is still in contention in the men’s doubles. He and Somdev beat Scotland’s Jamie Murray and Colin Fleming 6-3, 6-1 for a place in the last eight. They next play Australia’s Matt Ebden and Greg Jones.

Somdev, the top seed, took just 41 minutes to send Sri Lanka’s Amresh Jayawickreme packing 6-0, 6-1 in the men’s singles second round. He plays New Zealand’s Rubin Statham in the quarterfinals. Sania scored a sublime 6-0, 6-2 victory over Brittany Teei of Cook Islands in women’s singles.

“I am excited to win my first match. I still need to deliver a lot. It is going to get tougher each day. The ball is heavy here, it flies a lot, and you have to use your wrist. I am happy my wrist is holding up,” said second-seeded Sania, who next plays New Zealand’s Marina Erakovic, seeded eighth.

In contrast, it was hard work for 616th ranked Rushmi, who stunned 144th-ranked O’Brien in two hours.

“It’s the first time I have played her and she’s seeded, so it was a tough one. I have not been a regular on the circuit any longer, so it was one of the best wins of my career,” said Rushmi.

The 32-year-old is now up against sixth-seeded Olivia Rogowska of Australia.

Poojashree, who raised hopes after her flawless win in the first round, went down 6-7(6), 3-6 to fifth-seeded Heather Watson of Guernsey.

It was never expected to be an easy match for Bopanna, who has carved a niche for himself as a doubles specialist. But following the 30-year-old Banglorean’s power-packed performance against the top-ranked Brazilians in the Davis Cup last month, and the hot and humid home-conditions here, an upset was on the cards.

The Indian struggled to find his rhythm and made a stream of errors. Bopanna’s backhand proved to be his undoing. His booming serve was the silver lining in his 106 minutes struggle where he hit 11 aces though he made seven double faults.