India's Sunitha Rao bowed out of the $ 170,000 WTA Pattaya Open in Thailand, going down in straight sets to Russian Ekaterina Bychkova in the second round on Thursday.
Sunitha Rao advanced to the semi-final of the ITF Futures tennis tournament in New Delhi.
Qualifier Sunitha Rao put up a good fight before bowing to fifth seed Alona Bondarenko in the third round of women's singles at the US $200,000 DFS Classic in Birmingham on Friday. The Indian, at 160 in the WTA charts, was up against world No 29 and put up a spirited fight before losing 3-6, 7-5, 6-1 in a little over two hours.
The 21-year-old US-born player was accommodated into the main draw of the WTA Sunfeast Open that begins in Kolkata on September 18.
The Indian ace is scheduled to hit the practice court on Sunday before taking the final call on playing the Sunfeast Open.
The US-based Indian player lost 4-6, 4-6 to China's Zi Yan in the final qualifying round of the US Open.
The US-based Indian player advanced into the final round of the US Open qualifiers on Thursday.
Sunitha, a Florida-based US citizen ranked 181 in the world, played brilliantly making good use of her flowing forehands to progress to the next stage with a 6-4 2-6 7-5 win over Russian eighth seed Manasieva Vesna.
India's second-best woman tennis player defeated higher ranked Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic in straight sets to advance to the second round of the US $200,000 WTA DFS Classic tournament in Birmingham on Monday. The US-based Indian, who is placed 100 rungs below Kvitova in the WTA charts, won the first round contest 7-6(6), 6-4 in little under two hours.
Sunitha Rao shrugged off a poor start to beat Kristina Kuvoca of Slovakia in a tough three-setter and advance to the singles second round of the US $50,000 ITF women's tennis tournament in Boston, USA. The United States-based Indian, seeded fifth, rallied to beat her Slovakian opponent 1-6 6-4 7-6(4) in the first round of the hardcourt event.
Prakash Amritraj and Sunitha Rao lost by indentical scores in their respective first round qualifying matches at the US Open.
Mirza and Huber spanked Australia's Casey Dellacqua and US-citizen of Indian origin Sunitha Rao 6-1, 6-4.
The government on Friday slammed the door on foreign-based players like Prakash Amritraj and Sunitha Rao and made it clear that only Indian citizens would represent the country in future international events. The decision leaves the tennis quartet of Prakash Amritraj, Sunitha Rao, Shikha and Neha Uberoi-- all US citizens -- at the crossroads even though Shikha had said on Thursday she is ready to surrender her American passport to continue playing for India.
Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi compete in the second round of the men's doubles.
Tennis players Sanaa Bhambri and Rushmi Chakravarthi feel only Indian citizens deserve to hold the tri-colour in international sporting events, an opportunity that has been denied to them by foreign passport holders of Indian origin in the past. The duo got a place in the Fed Cup team at the expense of Sunitha Rao and Shikha Uberoi -- both US citizens -- who were rendered ineligible for selection due to the new government policy.
Indian challenge in the ladies singles event at the Australian Open will once again be confined only to Sania Mirza as Sunitha Rao crashed out of the qualifying event losing her first round match in Melbourne on Thursday.
Sunitha Rao kept alive the Indian challenge in the $ 50,000 ITF women's tennis event by advancing to the singles quarterfinals while compatriots Ankita Bhambri and Isha Lakhani crashed out after losing their second round matches in New Delhi on Wednesday.
India begins their campaign in the Asia/Oceania Zone Group I Federation Cup with a relatively easy tie against Indonesia in Bangkok on Wednesday.
India on Wednesday announced a four-member team with Sania Mirza as the spearhead for the Fed Cup Asia/Oceania Group I & II matches scheduled in Bangkok from January 28-February 3.
Sunitha Rao quelled the challenge of American Gail Brodsky in straights sets to storm into the quarter-finals of the US $50,000 ITF women's hardcourt tennis tournament in Boston. The fifth seeded Indian won the second round match 6-3, 7-5.
India will have a shot at an Olympic medal in the women's doubles tennis competition as well with Sania Mirza and Sunitha Rao getting a wild card entry to compete at the quadrennial extravaganza. A senior official at the All India Tennis Association said they have received the official confirmation from the International Tennis Federation (ITF).
India Fed Cup captain Enrico Piperno says players like Sunitha Rao and Shikha Uberoi should not worry about losing their US passports if they really want to represent India in international tennis events.
India's decision to rest star player Sania Mirza in the opening match itself against Indonesia backfired as they lost 1-2 in the Asia/Oceania Zone Group 1 Federation Cup tournament in Bangkok on Wednesday.
A half-fit Sania Mirza and rookie Sunitha Rao tried every tricks in the book but still could not avert a defeat against top seeded Russian duo of Svetlana Kuznetsova and Dinara Safina in the second round of the women's doubles tennis event of the Beijing Olympics on Wednesday night.
The Ukrainian player beat the conqueror of top seed Marion Bartoli to enter the last eight stage in the WTA Sunfeast Open.
Sunitha Rao and Prakash Amritraj failed to advance in the Wimbledon qualifiers, both going down the second round on Wednesday. Sunitha, India's second-highest ranked player, lost 4-6, 2-6 to 15th seed Russian Olga Poutchkova. On Tuesday night, Amritraj put up a spirited performance but lost to 13th seeded Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky 3-6, 6-1, 3-6.
The Indian ace lost l3-6, 0-6 to New Zealand's Marina Erakovic in the second round of the DFS Classic grass-court tournament. US-based Rao beat wildcard Naomi Cavaday of Great Britain 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 after an hour and 50 minutes.
The Hyderabadi girl also gained two spots to 38 in the latest doubles' rankings.
Sunitha Rao remained the lone Indian hope in the $ 15,000 ITF women's tennis event by advancing to the quarterfinal after compatriot Sanaa Bhambri bowed out in the second round in Greater Noida on Wednesday.
Sunitha Rao and her French partner Aurelie Vedy went down fighting against top-seeded Chinese combination of Chun-Mei Ji and Sheng-Nan Sun in the doubles final of the $ 50,000 ITF women's event in New Delhi on Friday.
A rusty Sunitha Rao ovecame a jittery start while Isha Lakhani and Ankita Bhambri benefitted from the retirement of their opponents to advance to the second round of the $ 50,000 ITF women's tennis event in New Delhi on Tuesday.
The Indian tennis ace, however, maintained her doubles ranking at 23.
India finished fourth in the Fed Cup zonal competition after losing 0-3 to Uzbekistan.
India were relegated to the Fed Cup Asia/Oceania Zone group II after top seeds Australia blanked them 3-0 in their third and final group I match in Bangkok on Friday.
India were beaten 1-2 by New Zealand in their second match of the Asia/Oceania Group I Federation Cup match in Bangkok, on Thursday.
The Indian star also maintained her doubles ranking to be at 18th spot in the latest rankings.
Also moving up was Mahesh Bhupathi, who improved two notches to 18th in the men's doubles rankings.
In doubles, Sania also moved up one place to be 25th with 1321 points.
She helped India recover from an early deficit and edge out hosts New Zealand 2-1 in their third rubber of the Fed Cup Asia-Oceania Zone Qualifiers.
Sunitha Rao and Shikha Uberoi scored impressive wins as India beat Kazakhstan 3-0 in their opening rubber of the Fed Cup zonal qualifiers.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances