The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Karishma beats Sonal Phadke

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Nov 10, 2005

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Karishma beats Sonal Phadke

Pune: Unseeded Karishma Patel of India toppled eighth seeded compatriot Sonal Pahdke 7-6 (7-0), 6-1 in the $10,000 ITF women's tennis tournament here on Wednesday. Another Indian, fourth-seeded Sai Jayalakshmi, overcame some anxious moments before downing a resolute Zeng Jie of the United States 6-7 (6-8), 6-1, 6-3 and moved into the last eight stage of the women's singles.

Ahmedabad-based Karishma, ranked 957th in the world, was in fine form as she dominated the game with her precise ground-strokes and produced forehand winners. She upset the rhythm of Sonal who was not only error-prone, but also committed unforced errors at crucial stages of the game.

Before Jayalakshmi could warm up, Zeng was up 5-1 in the opening set. But, the Chennai-based Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) manager came back into her own to break the rival. She not only restored parity but went up 6-5. Zeng then made it 7-6. The fast moving American put everything into her game and won the long drawn tiebreak 8-6 to take 1-0 lead.

Jayalakshmi bounced back in the second and wrapped it up 6-1 after dropping her serve once. She then broke her rival twice in the decider and pocketed it 6-3. "I could have won rather comfortably but took time to warm up to get into the flow while the American took the advantage."

The results (all Indians unless specified): singles (pre-quarterfinals): Punam Reddy bt Oormila Ram 6-3, 6-3; Prerna Mythri bt Alpay Ilge (G.Br) 6-1, 6-2; Sai Jayalakshami bt Zeng Jie (U.S.) 6-7 (6-8), 6-1, 6-3; Karishma Patel bt Sonal Phadke 7-6 (7-0), 6-1; Archana Venkatraman bt Sampada Katnade 6-2, 6-1; Ankita Bhambri bt Geeta Manohar 6-2, 6-3; Parul Goswami bt Arthi Venkatraman 6-3, 6-0; Isha Lakhani bt Rajur Chirashanti 6-1, 6-0. — UNI

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport