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Indian girls in World Jr tennis finals

April 27, 2007 20:02 IST

The Indian under-14 girls' team qualified for the finals of World Junior tennis competition after blanking Uzbekistan 3-0 in a quarter-final match of the Asia/Oceania zone qualifier in Delhi on Friday.

The finals will be played in the Czech Republic in August.

India last qualified for the finals in 2005 and finished 10th among 16 teams.

Rishika Sunkara gave India 1-0 lead, edging past Alisa Ogrodova 6-2, 7-5 in the first singles of the morning.

India's number one player Aishwarya Agrawal then faced little resistance from Karolina Chernaya in the second singles match before winning 6-3, 6-1.

Later, in the inconsequential doubles match, the pair of Rishika Sunkara and Nova Patel defeated Karolina Chernaya and Nigina Abduraimova 6-4, 6-3.

Indian captain Vibhor Sharma was pleased with his team's performance and said he had expected the result.

"It feels good when your strategy works. We had observed the game of Uzbekistan players and accordingly I told Rishika to play defensive against Alisa's erratic play. Karolina lacked movement on the court and that helped Aishwarya's aggressive style," said Sharma.

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