Mahak, Zeel advance to 2nd round in Pune Open

National champion Mahak Jain advanced to the women's singles second round of the USD 25,000 Pune Open ITF event, along with fellow wild card Zeel Desai, after contrasting wins here today.
A petite Mahak struggled past Ramya Natarajan 7-5 1-6 6-1 while Nationals finalist and India junior number one Zeel Desai brushed aside the challenge of qualifier Shivani Ingle 6-2 6-1.
Also progressing to the second round was qualifier Sai Samhita Chamarthi, who outplayed Dhruthi Venugopal 6-0 6-3.
Bunyawi Thamchaiwat of Thailand knocked out India's Rishika Sunkara 4-6 6-0 6-1 while Singapore's Stefanie Tan outclassed Sowjanya Bavisetti 6-0 6-2.
Natasha Palha presented a good fight before losing 5-7 3 -6 to fifth seeded Pei-Chi Lee of Taipei.

In a major upset in the doubles, Prerna Bhambri and Nidhi Chilumula beat top seeded pair of Karman Kaur Thandi and Ana Veselinovic of Montenegro 4-6 7-6(7) 10-7.

Results:
Singles, First round:
Stefanie Tan(SGP)
bt Sowjanya Bavisetti(IND) 6-0 6-2
Pei-Chi Lee [5](TPE) bt Natasha Palha(IND)
7-5 6-3
(WC) Zeel Desai (IND)bt Shivani Ingle(IND)
6-2 6-1
Bunyawi Thamchaiwat(THA) bt Rishika Sunkara (IND) 4-6 6-
6-1
(WC)Mahak Jain(IND) bt Ramya Natarajan(IND) 7-5 1-6 6-1
Sai Samhitha Chamarthi (IND) bt D Venugopal(IND) 6-0 6-3.