The Hindu : Sport : Ankita struggles to overcome Sonal

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Thursday, May 24, 2007
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Ankita struggles to overcome Sonal

Nandakumar Marar

MUMBAI: Ankita Bhambri faced a known rival in local challenger Sonal Phadke, the Ranade Tennis Complex hardcourt was a familiar surface, yet she needed a lot of time to get a grip on herself in the $10,000 MSLTA ITF women's circuit tennis championships second round singles tie on Wednesday.

The second seed from Delhi battled demons within and almost got knocked out before cutting down on the errors for a 6-7(4), 7-5, 6-3 verdict.

Ankita's next opponent, fifth seed Marinne Giraud, is a tough nut to crack and will hold the edge in case the match slips into the decider. The Indian played without the usual fluency against Sonal, a skilful hitter of the ball and adept at moving her rival around with groundstrokes.

The second seed lost the first set in the tie-breaker, marked by errors from Ankita as Sonal focussed on retrieving and picked up points. The former recovered a bit of poise and timing in the second set to win 7-5, then opted for attack in the decider as the extreme humidity and long hours on court affected mobility.

Australia's Cassandra Barr, mixing passing shots with telling forehands, extended her progress into the quarterfinals with a hard-earned win over hard-hitting Sweta Solanki. The young Indian walloped the ball, matched the third seed from Melbourne in terms of power, fell short on control and experience.

Poojashree Venkatesha stretched Nicole Riner to three sets before bowing out in another second round match.

The results: Singles: Second round: Rushmi Chakravarthi bt Parija Maloo 6-2, 6-0; Nicole Riner (Swi) bt Poojashree Venkatesha 6-7(5), 6-4, 7-5; Cassandra Barr (Aus) bt Sweta Solanki 6-1, 6-0; Megha Vakaria bt Kelsey Sundaram (USA) 6-2, 6-3; Isha Lakhani bt Geeta Manohar 6-2, 6-3; Marinne Giraud (Mri) bt Adnya Naik 6-0, 6-0; Georgia Mortello (Ita) bt Mariana Muchi-Torres (Ven) 3-6, 6-4, 7-5; Ankita Bhambri bt Sonal Phadke 6-7(4), 7-5, 6-3.

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