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Rediff correspondent

19-YEAR-OLD Karishma Patel of Ahmedabad pulled the rug from under favorite Isha Lakhani's feet in the third leg of the ITF women's satellite tennis tourney, which commenced at the Poona Club courts, here today. The final scoreline after the end of a scintillating three-hour tussle read 6-7 (7-1), 7-6 (7-5), 6-1 in Karisma's favour.

Karishma who is basically a baseline player committed many unforced errors to give her opponent the first set. The second set saw both players bartering breaks, and at one point trailing, 4-5, the 14-year-old Isha of Mumbai was at deficit, down 15-40 but came back in a spectacular fashion to win the game. In the tie-break though, leading 4-1, Isha could not capitalise and lost her concentration to give Karishma the upperhand who easily took the set 7-4. The final set was a cakewalk for Karishma taking it 6-1 and set up a pre-quarterfinals encounter with third -seeded Megha Vakharia.

In another engrossing match Chennai teenager Yamini Thukkaindi quelled the challenge of Deepa Chakrabarthy of Ahmedabad 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-5).

Results (Round I): Lisa Pereira bt Nadini Perumal 7-6 (7-1), 6-2; Sricharanya Thiagarajan bt Marutha Devi 6-3, 7-6 (7-5); Karishma Patel bt Isha Lakhani 6-7 (7-1), 7-6 (7-5), 6-1; Aparna Singh bt Kalpita Raje 6-4, 6-2; Radhika Mandke bt Rati Kumar 6-3,6-1; Sheetal Gautham bt Nona Wagh 6-3, 6-2; Sonia Shelar bt Shraddha Loddha 7-5, 6-1; Ronak Shah bt Rekha Natarajan 6-2, 6-7 (7-1), 6-3; Sonali Sanap bt Karishma Mulay 6-1, 6-2; Yamini Thukkaindi bt Deepa Chakrabarthy 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-5).