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Asian women’s tennis: Chaudhari holds nerve to overcome Chilumula, qualifies for semi-final
In the two-hour quarter-final battle, Vaidehi Chaudhari overcome Nidhi Chilumula 6-4, 7-5
For Ahmedabad girl, Vaidehi Chaudhari coming strong with forehand and backhand game in the second set after being down 5-1 helped her to overcome Nidhi Chilumula 6-4, 7-5 to enter the semi-final of $3000 FinIQ–ATT Asian Ranking Women’s tennis championship at Metrocity Sports Club, Kothrud on Friday.
All India Tennis Association (AITA) women ranked 23, Chaudhari wrapped up the first set 6-4 in 45 minutes. For Chaudhari, everything was going right with crosscourt shots and drop shots.
“The start was good for me and initially I was hitting the ball nicely but in the second set I got nervous and gave chances to my opponent to score points,” said Chaudhari.
Chilumula ranked 18 in AITA women’s ranking got into the groove and broke opponent in the second game of the second set to open the set with 2-0 scoreline.
Chaudhari kept making an unforced error which allowed Chilumula to take a 5-1 lead.
“I was going strong and it could have been my set but I kept playing loose shots which gave Chaudhari a comeback to wrap up the match,” said Chilumula.
After 5-1 down in the second set, Chaudhari brought her act together and started to control the match with furious winners which allowed her to secure a victory.
In the last four matches of the tournament Chaudhari will take on the former national champion, Sai Samhitha Chamarthi, who gave a lesson in tennis to young Riya Uboveja winning 6-1, 6-0.
In the other quarter-final matches of the day, Soha Sadiq stopped Vanshita Pathaniya 6-3, 7-5 while Prathiba Narayan Prasad outsmarted Pune girl and wild card Bela Tamhankar 6-3, 6-1 to make it to the last four.
