Trailing by a set, the first year law student from Coimbra, Portugal, Barbara Luz dug deep into her reserves of strength to turn the tables on Ankita Raina 2-6, 6-3, 6-1 in the singles final of the $10,000 Jubilee Hills International Centre-International Tennis Federation tournament here on Saturday.
It was an encore of her triumph a week ago, where she had subdued the same rival in almost identical fashion in the Sreenidhi international tournament showdown.
If Barbara lost the first set, it was mostly through mistakes of her own making. Her error-prone game found too many of her hits flowing from the sweet spot of her racquet, straying into the tramlines or going long.
Sharp returns
Not to take credit away from Ankita, the Indian girl kept her returns sharp, leaving little room for her taller and slightly slower opponent to retrieve them.
In the second set, Luz intelligently interspersed her high lobs with fast and flatter returns, thus having Raina on the run most of the time.
By the decider Luz was on overdrive, a backhand slice executed off a low return exemplifying control and steady domination. So were her down-the-line drives powered with precision. A trainee of Joao Cunha E Silva, Luz signed off in style too, firing two aces and a service winner in the concluding game that she won without dropping a point.
The result: Barbara Luz (Por) bt Ankita Raina (Ind) 2-6, 6-3, 6-1.
