Indian players experienced mixed fortunes as unseeded Archana Venkataraman advanced to the second round while No. 6 seed Sonal Phadke was shocked in the first round, as the main draw in the Mother's Recipe-ITF US$10,000 Women's Futures Tennis Tournament commenced at the Shivaji Park Gymkhana in Mumbai on Monday.
Venkataraman, ranked 619 in the Women's Tennis Association rankings, surprised qualifier Jenny Broughall of Great Britain 6-2, 6-4 in a match that lasted an hour-and-a-half.
In contrast, fancied Sonal Phadke surrendered meekly as she went down to unseeded Jie Hao of China 2-6, 0-6 in the opening tie of the main draw.
"Jie was consistent and aggressive and the surface suited her. I tried to slow down the pace in the second set, but it didn't work," said Phadke, who faced her Chinese opponent for the first time.
Barring the first game, Venkataraman held all her service games and broke Broughall in the fifth and seventh to take the first set.
In a tight second set, Venkataraman earned two early breaks for a 3-1 lead but the Briton broke back in the second and sixth games to level at 3-3. Both held serve for 4-4, but the Indian earned a crucial break in the 9th game for a 5-4 advantage before serving for the match.
Shivaji Park president and former India cricket captain Ajit Wadekar and former Asia No. 1 Yayuk Basuki of Indonesia inaugurated the tournament.
Results (Main Draw, 1st Round): Kumiko Iijima (Japan) bt Ji Sun Ha (Korea) 6-1, 6-1; Archana Venkataraman (India) bt Jenny Broughall (GBR) 6-2, 6-4; Jie Hao (China) bt Sonal Phadke (India) 6-2, 6-0; Yan Chong Chen (China) bt Diana Julianto (Indonesia) 6-1, 6-2.
