By Our Special Correspondent
Canada's Eugenie Bouchard battled to a 6-2, 7-6 victory over India's Karman Kaur Thandi in the second set of the WTA Chennai Open 250 round-of-16 at the SDAT Stadium here on Wednesday.
Karman's departure ended India's challenge in the singles draw. The country's No.1 Ankita Raina lost to Tatjana Maria in the opening round on Tuesday. Bouchard was untroubled for much of the first set and looked to run away with it before the India No.2 fought back and won two games. Inconsistency cost Karman as the former world No.5 closed out the set 6-2.
After racing to a one-set lead, Karman made hard work of the former Wimbledon runner-up, who was cheered on by the home crowd. From 2-2, the 24-year-old Indian won three games on the trot and looked set to push the match to a decider.
She got a much-needed break to take the lead in the fifth game and looked in command before losing the plot. After errors crept into her game, the 'local' hope surrendered her advantage with some spirited play - she squandered two set points to let Bouchard back into the set.
The Canadian, now ranked in the 900s and on a comeback trail, used her experience to bounce back and level the score at 5-all. After the duo held their serves, Bouchard was all Indian in the tie-break and quickly made it 7-2.
Bouchard said after the match, "It was fun to play even though people were rooting for her (Karman). When asked how her comeback was going, the Canadian said, "Look... its one small step at a time."
Meanwhile, the two seeded players bowed out at the pre-quarterfinal stage. Fifth seed Rebecca Pettersson of Sweden lost in straight sets to Czech Republic's Linda Fruhvirtova, while Japan's Nao Hibino lost in straight sets to China's No.6 seed Qiang Wang.
RESULTS: Singles: Second round: E Bouchard bt Karman 6-2, 7-6; L Fruhvirtova bt R Peterson 6-4, 6-2; N Hibino bt Q Wang 6-2, 6-3.
Comments