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17-year-old Karman Kaur Thandi brought delight to Indian fans by stunning the 16th seed and Junior World No. 20 Katharina Hobgarski of Germany 6-3, 7-6(3) in the first round of Junior Girls’ Singles at the US Open on Monday.
After sizzling through the first set by virtue of a single break, Thandi continued her dominance in the second set as well and went up 5-2 against the German. But nerves showed up for the Indian and she failed to successfully serve out the match twice, despite holding a match point at 5-4.
Hobgarski who reached the Australian Open Girls’ Doubles final and has two Grade I singles titles to her credit in 2015, forced a second set tie-break. Thandi regrouped just in time to play a confident tie-break and clinched the match after 1 hour 27 minutes.
Thandi, who was declared the Under-16 2014 WTA Future Stars champion last year, has been enjoying a rich vein of form lately and has climbed to a career-high 80 in the ITF Junior Rankings. She recently reached the round of 16 and the semi-finals in two back-to-back Grade I tournaments in the USA and Canada right before coming to the US Open.
Karman Kaur Thandi will meet World No. 28 Evgeniya Levashova of Russia in the second round.
Yadlapalli exits
Meanwhile, Karman’s compatriot Pranjala Yadlapalli – who was seeded 15th – did not have the same fate as she crashed out in the first round on Monday. Yadlapalli lost 6(1)-7, 3-6 to unseeded Valentini Grammatikopoulou of Greece in a 1 hour 24 minute contest.
