The Hindu : Masters wears an open look

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, May 26, 2003

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Masters wears an open look

By Kamesh Srinivasan

NEW DELHI MAY 25. Shruti Dhawan had won the $5000 ITF women's circuit Masters title as far back as in 1998, when she was 16 years old. To find the tall Chandigarh lass trying to figure out the art of winning the Masters yet again, may be a bit intriguing.

But then, that is the reality in Indian women's tennis. Except for the likes of Sai Jayalakshmy, Rushmi Chakravarti, Radhika Tulpule and Megha Vakharia who have graduated out of this circuit that offers $20,000 in prize money over a four-week period but very few WTA points, the rest have been caught in the whirlpool of trying to stay afloat.

Of course, the top rung players of the country like Nirupama Vaidyanathan who is trying to rebuild her ranking in the US, Manisha Malhotra, busy sharpening her doubles skills in Europe, and Sania Mirza who has ventured out on the international junior circuit, cannot even think of competing at this level any more. They will lose a lot more than what they can hope to gain.

In the 16-draw Masters event to be played at the DLTA Complex here from Monday, there are six players who have won 15 titles between them from 30 finals at this level.

And if you note that this is only the eighth circuit in India, the only nation in the world that proudly hosts such a circuit in the first place, you will admit that some of the players have really been trapped to excel at this level alone.

When we talk of the level, we should remember that there are hardly any foreigners in such circuits and the cream of Indian players are also busy elsewhere. That effectively means that the standard is below that of the national championship.

Coming back to Shruti, the 21-year-old has won two titles including the Masters from six finals so far. She will start against Anupama Rajur on the morrow.

Shruti had reached the final of the first leg in Indore when she fell to Isha Lakhani in straight sets, and has since been struggling to strike wonted form against quality players like Ankita and Sonal, while thrashing the less resourceful ones with contempt.

The Chandigarh girl who can be a handful if she plays to potential, will meet the winner of the match between Sheethal Goutham and Archana Venkataraman in the quarterfinals.

Now, both the Bangalore players, Sheethal and Archana, have a rich experience of tackling opponents at home. Sheethal has won five titles, including two in the Masters, from eight finals. In fact, one of her three runner-up position was against Radhika Tulpule in the last Masters final, when Sheethal had swept the titles in the first three legs.

Unfortunately, the 21-yar-old Sheethal is not in her best health or form. She has been hampered by a painful back, which has however been responding to treatment recently.

Archana Venkataraman is a tough customer who can make life miserable for the best of players on her day. She combines defence with a calculated attack. The 24-year-old has weathered many a storm on the court despite her limited resources, but has not won a title at this level though she has reached three finals.

Archana had lost to Liza Pereira twice over the last two weeks in the semifinals, and to Isha Lakhani in the first leg in Indore. Quite undoubtedly, it requires a champion material to overcome the craft of Archana.

The 19-year-old Liza has had a wonderful circuit so far, and richly deserves to be seeded No.1. A title, a runner-up slot and a semifinal appearance prove that she has been the most successful. She will start against Yamini Thukkaiandi whom she had beaten twice over the last two weeks.

Liza may have a tough customer to tackle as she plays the winner of the match between Jung-Yoon Shin of Korea and Kamini Murugaboopathy, in the quarterfinals. Kamini had teased Liza in the second leg before going down 6-7 (1-7), 5-7. If anything, the Chennai left-hander has the game to cause a stir in the Masters, which may otherwise be dominated by the Mumbaikars.

The second-seeded Isha Lakhani has been below par over the last two weeks, perhaps biding her time to be at her best in the Masters. The 18-year-old Isha will start againt Ragini Vimal, and may run into Sonal Phadke in the quarterfinals.

The 20-year-old Sonal has won five titles like Sheethal from eight finals, and knows what it takes to win the Masters, as she had accomplished that task as far back as in 2000, the third to do so after Shruti and Sai.

More than anything, Sonal has been hitting with confidence and accuracy. She had beaten Isha in the third leg, but the match between the two may throw up a lot of sparks.

Delhi girl Ankita Bhambri has been seeded third and figures in the second quarter, with a first round match against Preeti Rao. If she pulls through, Ankita will play the winner of the match between Madura Ranganathan and Sandhya Nagaraj.

The 16-year-old Ankita has won one title, that too the Masters in Pune last April, from three finals. She has a winning game, but it is like a Rubik's cube, and Ankita does not know how to put it all together to form the winning pattern.

She had finished runner-up in the Asian junior (under-18) championship, and Ankita was also part of the team that finished fifth in the world from among 80-odd countries in the Junior (under-16) Fed Cup last year. Ankita has the credentials to provide her the confidence to come good yet again.

Overall, it is anybody's game, and it will be interesting to see as to who emerges as the master of them all.

The winner gets $800 and five WTA points, and the runner-up will get $500 and four WTA points. The semifinalists, quarterfinalists and first round losers will get $350, $225 and $125 apart from two, 1.5 and one WTA points respectively.

In a bid to give a little more recuperation time to the players who have battled the heat and dust over three weeks, apart from their strong opponents, the first round matches will be spread equally over Monday and Tuesday. The finals will be played on Friday.

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