The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Rushmi Chakravarthi back to winning ways

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, May 04, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Rushmi Chakravarthi back to winning ways

Principal Correspondent

Downs Magda Okruashvili

— Photo: Vipin Chandran

FAN CLUB: Rushmi Chakravarthi seems to have inspired a considerable fan following in Angamaly after her win.

ANGAMALY: Rushmi Chakravarthi was all poise and calm as she beat Georgia’s Magda Okruashvili 6-4, 7-5 to win the Federal Bank international women’s tennis tournament at the FISAT Stadium, near here, on Saturday afternoon.

The 17-year-old Okruashvili, a qualifier, was playing her maiden ITF circuit final here after a string of stunning wins.

Despite being the top seed, the chips were not exactly loaded in Rushmi’s favour. She had played two matches — the singles semifinal and the doubles final within five hours on Friday, and had pulled a muscle in her right leg which did seem to trouble her in the final.

But the 30-year-old veteran’s experience came in handy during the baseline battle on clay.

Each time the match appeared to get out of her grasp, Rushmi came with all the right answers — a big serve, a winning lob or a smart pass. She also produced shrewd variety to break her talented opponent’s rhythm at crucial junctures.

After she took the first set with a break in the third game, the next set turned out to be very close with the two trading breaks early. Later, Rushmi broke the Georgian in the ninth game but Okruashvili broke right back.

With the scores level at 5-5, Okruashvili seemed to feel the pressure and frequently hit long in the 11th game to concede yet another break.

Rushmi, on her turn, had no trouble serving the match out in the next game.

“I’m glad I pulled it off. I was not at my best, my right leg was troubling me,” said Rushmi, a Deputy Manager with the IOC, on her first ITF title after nearly three years.

“Had it gone to three sets, it would have been very close.”

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

Sport