Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, April 1 Maharashtra's Madhurima Sawant and Sonal Patil recorded surprising victories over seeded opponents in the first round of the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Open Endurance ITF tennis tournament here on Wednesday.
Sonal continued her strong performance to defeat Germany's Anastasiya Kuparev, who was seeded fifth, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, in a match that lasted over two hours.
Madhurima, who received a wildcard entry, also defeated eighth-seeded Emma Van Poppel from the Netherlands 6-3, 6-2.
Indian qualifiers Amodini Naik and Jennifer Luikham also advanced to the next round with straight-set wins.
Top-seeded Zhibek Kulambayeva registered a comfortable 6-3, 6-0 victory over Danica Fernando, while second-seeded Indian Zeel Desai easily defeated Pooja Ingale 6-1, 6-2.
Sixth-seeded Ksenia Laskutova and fourth-seeded Elina Nepliy also advanced with ease.
