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Prerna quells Karman challenge in Gulbarga tennis

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Gulbarga: Top seed Prerna Bhambri had to dig deep into her reserves to quell the challenge of 17-year-old Karman Kaur Thandi to enter the quarter-finals of the Gulbarga Open here on Wednesday.

The World No.476 had to raise the level of her game many notches at the $10,000 event to stay ahead of the Toronto-based World No.778 in the second round. Bhambri proved a notch better to prevail 6-3, 7-6(5).

The first set saw Thandi make a few unforced errors that allowed Bhambri to break her in the fourth game which was enough for her to claim the first set, holding onto her serves carefully.

The second set saw the rivals trade serves in the first two games and then began the struggle for supremacy. Aces were pounded, passing shots whizzed by and cross-court winners were hit with tenacity as Bhambri and Thandi looked for that one break, ensuring they held serves.

With each screaming themselves into focus, the set was pushed into the tie-breaker.

Here too the players traded the first two points and then held serves until Bhambri found herself on match point at 6-5. The top seed grabbed the opportunity to push Thandi to the left of the court with a crisp return of serve and then found the court open, hitting a forehand down-the-line winner to Thandi’s right to clinch the tie.

“I knew her game and knew that I had to raise my game. She hits hard and loves to attack. I had to make those adjustments and it worked for me. It was a tough game. She is a good player. I had to play her game and began attacking and that worked,” said the top seeded Bhambri.

Third seed Druthi Tatachar became the first casualty of the event when she went down tamely to Thai Tamachan Momkoonthod 2-6, 4-6.

Last week’s finalist Riya Bhatia, seeded No.8, bowed out with a 4-6, 2-6 defeat to unseeded Sai Samhitha Chamarthi.

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Sunil Gavaskar gives his opinion of GT allrounder Rahul Tewatia

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The left-handed batsman from Haryana is garnering praise from all quarters for the way he’s finishing games regularly in the most exciting IPL season.

Gavaskar reckons Tewatia’s whirlwind knock in Sharjah (in IPL 2020) where he smashed West Indies pacer Sheldon Cottrell for five sixes in an over, gave him the confidence that he belongs to the big stage.

Speaking on Cricket Live on Star Sports, Gavaskar said, “That assault on Sheldon Cottrell in Sharjah gave him the belief to do the impossible and the confidence that he belongs here. We saw the impossible (he did with the bat) the other day as well. There’s no twitching or touching the pads (which shows a batter’s nervousness) when he bats in the death overs. He just waits for the ball to be delivered and plays his shots. He’s got all the shots in the book, but most importantly his temperament to stay cool in a crisis is brilliant.”

Gavaskar has also nicknamed the 28-year-old cricketer the ‘ice-man’ and lauded Tewatia’s ability to remain unruffled during the tense moments.

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