Local girl Sharmadaa Baluu presented herself a perfect birthday gift by winning the Zuari Garden City ITF $10,000 women’s doubles title, along with Prarthana Thombare, but Chin-Wen Hsu of Chinese Taipei was the one to steal the limelight at the KSLTA courts here on a humid Saturday.
The fifth-seeded Hsu raced to her second singles win of the season with a 6-4, 6-4 defeat of the second-ranked Fatma Al Nabhani of Oman in less than two hours, with some terrific hitting down the lines. Hsu had won a $10,000 event in Saint Martin (Guadeloupe) in June.
Much was expected of Fatma in the final but the string of three-setters she played in the last few days seemed to have taken its toll.
And blisters on her right playing palm did not help the cause either. “I was tired and my legs would not move easily,” said the Omanese.
Though Hsu, who will turn 18 in 10 days time, had to play two finals on this day, she looked least ruffled.
Having ousted top seed Prarthana in the semifinals on Friday, Hsu was highly charged and oozing confidence.
“I wanted to finish it off quickly, especially after winning the first set 6-4,” said Hsu, after her singles win earlier in the day “and take the courts for the doubles much refreshed.”
Deep drivesAttacking Fatma with some deep drives on either flank, Hsu forced her opponent into making mistakes. Fatma too packs some punch in her forehand but on this day it was Hsu who dominated, pinning the Oman girl to the baseline and then passing her with some telling cross-court winners.
So dominant was Hsu that Fatma managed to hold her serve only in the seventh game although she did break the Taipei girl in the second and fourth games. Down 1-4, Fatma clawed her way back only to be stopped in her tracks by the hard hitting Hsu, who broke again in the ninth and then served for the set.
In the second set, games went with serves till 2-all before Hsu broke Fatma in the fifth and held on to her service games to clinch the set and match.
Hsu got 12 points and pocketed $1568 for her effort, while Fatma was richer by $980.
In doubles, Hsu and India’s Natasha Palha stayed in the game by winning the second set 6-0 after losing the first.
But Sharmadaa Baluu and Prarthana Thombare had the edge with Prarthana executing some fine interceptions at the net and Sharmadaa ripping up some brilliant winners from the backcourt to clinch the decider 10-6.
Sharmadaa and Prarthana won $637 while the Hsu-Palha combine pocketed $343.
The results (finals): Singles: Chin-Wen Hsu (Tpe) bt Fatma Al Nabhani (Oman) 6-4, 6-4.
Doubles: Sharmadaa Baluu & Prarthana Thombare (Ind) bt Chin-Wen Hsu & Natasha Palha (Ind) 6-4, 0-6, 10-8.
