Bammer rallies past Morigami

Sixth-seeded Sybille Bammer fought her way back from one set deficit to overpower Japan’s Akiko Morigami 2-6, 6-3, 7-5 in the first round of the Bangalore Open US$6, 00,000 WTA Tier II tournament at the KSLTA courts here on Monday.

Morigami comfortably won the first set 6-2 with sheer domination on the court against her higher seed opponent.

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Despite losing a set, Bammer kept his nerves cool and recollected his resources to recover well and got back the grip of the match.

Bammer led 5-3 in the second set after breaking unseeded Morigami's serve in the eighth game and later served out the set. World No. 20 Austrian again got the crucial break point in the third game of the decider before dropping her own serve in the sixth and eighth games.

Morigami committed series of unforced errors that eventually helped Bammer to recover and won the first round match that lasted for more than two hours.

"Akiko is a high-quality player and she gave me a tough fight," Bammer said after winning her first round match.

Meanwhile, defending champion Yaraslova Shvedova of Russia was shown the door by Uzebekistan’s Akgul Amanmuradova. The Uzbek sealed the issue in her favour with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 scoreline.

Indian wild card entrant Shikha Uberoi lost 1-6, 4-6 to fifth-seeded Agnes Szavay of Hungary without posing any challenge to her opponent. Also India’s Sunitha Rao faltered at the final hurdle of the qualifying round, as she meekly surrendered 2-6, 1-6 to Tiantian Sun of China.

In the doubles event, the Indian sisters duo of Ankita Bhambri and Sanaa Bhambri put up a brave fight against Japanese pair of Ayumi Morita and Junri Namigata before going down 6-4, 4-6, 4-10. Japan’s Aiko Nakamura rallied from a set down to beat Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand 6-7 (5), 6-1, 6-2.

RESULTS

First round: Singles: Sybille Bammer (Aut) bt Akiko Morigami (Jpn) 2-6, 6-3, 7-5; Akiko Nakamura (Jpn) bt Tamarine Tanasugarn (Tha) 6-7(5), 6-1, 6-2.

Doubles: Shuai Peng & Tiantian Sun (Chn) bt Vesna Manasieva & Vesna Zvonareva (Rus) 6-3, 6-4; Ayumi Morita & Junri Namigata (Jpn) bt Ankita Bhambri & Sanaa Bhambri (Ind) 4-6, 6-4, 10-4; Yung-Jan Chan & Chia Jung Chuang (Tpe) bt Emmanuelle Gagliardi & Patty Schnyder (Sui) 6-3, 5-7, 10-6.

Qualifiers (Final Round): Tiantian Sun (Chn) bt Sunitha Rao (Ind) 6-2, 6-1; Angelika Bachmann (Ger) bt Mathilde Johansson (Fra) 6-3, 7-5; Agnes Szatmari (Rou) bt Melanie South (GBr) 6-4, 2-6, 7-6(6); Monica Niculescu (Rou) bt Anne Keothavong (GBr) 6-2, 6-0.