Alina Korneeva brought out her best game to beat Shrivalli Bhamidipaty in the WTA tennis tournament in Mumbai on Wednesday, February 7, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Kamesh Srinivasan
Shrivalli Bhamidipaty matched the 16-year-old Russian sensation Alina Korneeva for nearly two hours and 30 minutes before losing 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 in the pre-quarterfinals of the L&T Mumbai Open WTA tennis at the CCI on Wednesday.
Shrivalli got off to a flier with an early break and hitting her strokes with conviction. She won the first set after Korneeva failed to serve it out at 5-4.
Shrivalli fought well in the second set also after trailing 1-4. She hit fluently on both flanks and was able to get to the drops and place them nicely beyond Korneeva’s reach.
In the climax of the third set, Shrivalli did not let the 134th ranked Korneeva convert two match points at 5-2. But the strong-built Russian — who was world No. 1 junior last year, having won two Junior Grand Slams — was able to serve it out on the next chance.
The two other Indians in the second round, Rutuja Bhosale and Sahaja Yamalapalli will play their matches on Thursday.
The results: Pre-quarterfinals: Darja Semenistaja (Lat) bt Amandine Hesse (Fra) 2-6, 6-4, 6-4; Arianne Hartono (Ned) bt Arina Rodionova (Aus) 6-4, 6-4; Storm Hunter (Aus) bt Laura Pigossi (Bra) 6-3, 6-3; Alina Korneeva bt Shrivalli Bhamidipaty 5-7, 6-4, 6-4.
Doubles: Quarterfinals: Zhibek Kulambayeva (Kaz) & Sohyun Park (Kor) bt Carole Monnet & Ekaterina Yashina 7-6(4), 6-1; Pre-quarterfinals: Natalia Dzalamidze (Geo) & Panna Udvardy (Hun) bt En-Shuo Liang & Chia Yi Tsao (Tpe) 4-6, 6-4, [10-7]; Dalila Jakupovic (Slo) & Sabrina Santamaria (USA) bt Vaishnavi Adkar & Sahaja Yamalapalli 6-3, 7-6(1).
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