Neha, Kyra lose in one-sided contests

Kolkata: Host nation's Kyra Shroff and Indian origin girl Neha Uberoi failed to find their bearings against higher ranked opponents and went down virtually without a fight in the opening round of the WTA USD 175,000 Sunfeast Open here on Monday.

Uberoi, who is representing the United States, found fourth seeded Russian Maria Kirilenko too hot to handle and made a series of unforced errors to lose 2-6 2-6 in 62 minutes at the Netaji Indoor stadium centre court here.

Later, wild card entrant Kyra was virtually given tennis lessons by eighth seed Chinese Taipei's Yung-Jan Chan, who won 6-0 6-0 to set up a second round battle with Jamila Gajdosova of Slovakia.

Kyra, the promising 14-year-old, saw nothing go right for her during the 45-minute tie.

She later said that it was a learning experience. "It is great to play in such a tournament, it is also a great experience to play such a good player I have learned a lot from this match," she said.

Neha, who came through the qualifiers, seemed a bundle of nerves and had no answers to the good serves and precise shots unleashed by the world number 35.

The 21-year-old Neha lost serve in the opening game and suffered the same fate in the seventh to lose in 32 minutes.

The second set began with Neha committing two consecutive double faults to concede serve to the Russian, who would now lock horns with compatriot Ekaterina Ivanova in the second round.

Neha, however, let lose some good cross-courts to break back in the fourth game and restore parity at 2-2.

That spurred on the Russian, who raised her game by a few notches to win four games on the trot and script Neha's exit from the singles.

Earlier, Australia's Casey Dellacqua and Ivanova moved into the second round by carving out contrasting victories.

World number 85 Dellacqua took only 69 minutes to breeze past Canada's Aleksandra Wozniak 6-2 6-3 in an opening round clash.

Ivanova, on the other hand, had to fight a three-setter before getting the better of Briton Naomi Cavaday 6-3 2-6 6-2 in another centre court match.

Dellacqua and Wozniak traded breaks in the first two games of the match, before the Aussie demolished her opponent in the third and fifth games to open a 4-1 lead.

The left-hander Dellacqua kept up the pressure and again broke Wozniak in the sixth game before retaining serve in the seventh to pocket the set.

The second set saw the 22-year-old Aussie, who had reached the second round here last year, break Wozniak in the third and fifth games, while the Canadian reduced the margin by breaking in the fourth.

However, the 104-ranked Wozniak dropped the serve in the ninth to concede the set and bow out of the competition.

Dellacqua will take on the winner of the first round tie between ninth seed Russian Yaroslava Shvedova and Israel's Cziora Obziler for a place in the quarterfinals.

In another match, Jamila Gajdosova of Slovakia brushed aside the feeble challenge from French girl Youlia Fedossova 6-3 6-4.