Top seed Chia-Jing Chuang of China and India's No. 2 seed Rushmi Chakravarthi crashed to lesser-known opponents in the quarter-finals, on a dramatic day in the Mother's Recipe-ITF US$10,000 Women's Futures Tennis Tournament at the Shivaji Park Gymkhana in Mumbai on Thursday.
Chuang, ranked 305 in the Women's Tennis Association rankings, went down to a supremely confident Melanie South of Great Britain 1-6, 4-6.
Chakravarthi, the highest ranked Indian at 357 in the WTA rankings, lost to unseeded Yan Chong Chen of China 1-6, 3-6 in just 49 minutes, as the home challenge came to an abrupt end.
The Indian lost her way after enjoying rewarding opening rounds in a competitive main draw as she surprisingly allowed Chen breaks in the second, fourth and eighth games of the opening set.
Though Chakravarthi broke back in the third and seventh, Chen was always in command. The Chinese, ranked way down at 713 in the WTA rankings, sustained her grip in the second set as well, while Chakravarthi had no answer to her opponent's all-round performance.
Melanie South always looked a winner from the start in her quarter final against Chuang. Her positive approach and sharp focus was the feature of her win over the off-form Chuang.
Though South swept the opening set, Chuang broke the Briton in the first game of the second set to raise visions of a close contest. But South broke back at love in dramatic fashion in the sixth game of the second set before earning a another crucial break in the 10th with a brilliant backhand return that took her to match-point and sealed the win as Chuang sent a shot long.
Results:
(Main Draw, Singles Quarter-finals): Melanie South (Great Britain) bt Chia-Jung Chuang (Chinese Taipei) 6-1, 6-4; Shu Jing Yang (China) bt Satomi Kinjo (Japan) 6-4, 6-3; Yan Chong Chen (China) bt Rushmi Chakravarthi (India) 6-3, 6-1; Montinee Tangphong (Thailand) bt Jie Hao (China) 1-6, 6-4, 7-5.
