Zeel Desai fought hard for nearly three hours, but let the chances slip away against fourth seed Tereza Mihalikova of Slovakia, who prevailed 7-6(7), 2-6, 6-2, in the pre-quarterfinals of the Bhavna Swarup $25,000 ITF women’s tennis at the Services Club here on Wednesday.
The difficulty of competing against quality players was compounded by the vagaries of the grass courts, and thus four-time national champion Prerna Bhambri also lost her way from a winning position against second seed Nastja Kolar of Slovenia, who won 4-6, 7-5, 6-0.
The 19-year-old Zeel led 5-2 in the first set before letting Tereza escape after saving two set points in the eventual tie-break. Zeel was at her best in the second set, even as the Slovak struggled with dipping energy.
In the decider, after both took a few minutes off from the court, Tereza got a 3-0 lead and held on to the advantage. The 20-year-old Tereza fired 12 aces, while Zeel had 10 double faults including three in the last game.
The 395th ranked Tereza converted three of 10 breakpoints, while Zeel converted three of four. Both won 106 points each but Tereza won the ones that mattered.
The results: Pre-quarterfinals: Singles: Hiroko Kuwata (Jpn) bt Sowjanya Bavisetti 6-1, 6-4; Aldila Sutjiadi (Ina) bt Viktoria Morvayova (Svk) 6-3, 6-1; Natalija Kostic (Srb) bt Sai Samhitha 6-3, 6-1; Sarah-Rebecca Sekulic (Ger) bt Anna Siskova (Cze) 6-3, 6-0; Aleksandrina Naydenova (Bul) bt Melanie Klaffner (Aut) 6-0, 7-5; Tereza Mihalikova (Svk) bt Zeel Desai 7-6(7), 2-6, 6-2; Kyoka Okamura (Jpn) bt Karin Kennel (Sui) 6-3, 6-4; Nastja Kolar (Slo) bt Prerna Bhambri 4-6, 7-5, 6-0.
Doubles: Kyoka Okamura & Michika Ozeki (Jpn) bt Sravya Shivani Chilakalapudi & Snehal Mane 6-1, 5-7, [10-6]; Nastja Kolar &Slo) & Alexandra Riley (US) bt Albina Khabibulina (Uzb) & Ksenia Palkina (Kgz) 4-6, 6-4, [10-6].