Chakravarthi, Mirza through to quarters

DCWG
Delhi 2010 is springing up with a lot of surprises and upsets as local girl Rushmi Chakravarthi upset English top seed Katie O'Brien 1-6, 7-6, 7-5 here at the R.K.Khanna Tennis Stadium on Wednesday. This is the competition's biggest upset so far.

 
O'Brien came into the event struggling with a right shoulder injury. England Team Captain Paul Hutchins admitted O'Brien's poor preparation was a factor in the defeat.

"She's had a bad shoulder for a few weeks, so she hasn't played any tennis since she's been here," Hutchins said. "The lack of practice was definitely a contributing factor."

The unranked Chakravarthi, who now plays sixth seed Olivia Rogowska (AUS) in the quarterfinals, was delighted to have caused an upset on her home turf.

"It was difficult as I'm not playing on the circuit, so it was one of the best wins of my career," she said.

Fifth seed Heather Watson (Guernsey) worked hard for her 7-6, 6-3 victory over Poojashree Venkatesha (IND). After the match, Watson complained of stomach problems.

"I've been sick for the last couple of days, so I was pretty happy with the way I fought through,"  Watson said.

Watson now has a challenging quarterfinal awaiting her against top seed Anastasia Rodionova from Australia.

Aussie Sally Peers notched up the fastest win of the competition so far when she defeated Aminath Irufa Mahir from the Maldives 6-0, 6-0 in 26 minutes. The second set took ten minutes, with Peers dropping just one point.

Peers will plays seventh seed Anna Smith from England in the quarterfinals.

Medal contender Sania Mirza wasted little time in booking her place in the quarterfinals. She defeated Brittany Teei from the Cook Islands 6-0, 6-2 and will play eighth seed Kiwi Marina Erakovic.

Men's Singles

Local top seed Somdev Devvarman set up a quarterfinal meeting with Rubin Statham from New Zealand with a 6-0, 6-1 win against Amresh Jayawickreme from Sri Lanka.

Second seed Aussie Peter Luczak also progressed, ousting Rohan Bopanna 6-2, 7-6 to set up a meeting with Welsh Josh Milton.

Matt Ebden from Australia and English James Ward seeded third and fourth respectively, also reached the quarterfinals. Ebden now plays seventh seed Joshua Goodall from England while Ward meets fifth seed Aussie Greg Jones.