Experience counts for nothing, if knowledge is not backed by execution.
Young and fearless Wang Qiang of China exemplified the point as she outplayed seasoned Yuliya Beygelzimer of Ukraine 6-1, 6-3 in the final of the Delhi of the ONGC-GAIL Delhi Open $25,000 ITF women's tennis tournament at the R. K. Khanna Stadium here on Sunday.
In front of a colourful and noisy crowd, the 22-year-old Wang showed considerable patience and poise in tackling the wily opponent on a slow surface. For the spectators, who had come to watch Somdev Devvarman win the men’s Challenger, it was a bonus as Wang played a high quality game.
A hint about the flow of the contest was known in the first game itself as Beygelzimer struggled with her game and dropped serve on the fourth breakpoint. Wang moved briskly and raced to a 5-0 lead.
The 30-year-old Beygelzimer, who has won 12 singles titles and numerous doubles titles, tried to attack but in vain. In fact, her approach backfired as she gave away lot of free points.
She managed to break Wang’s serve twice for token games, and the Chinese stepped up her game nicely to accelerate to the finish in an hour and a quarter.
Wang Qiang, who had already won the hearts of the spectators, floored them by saying
“I love you all”, much to lusty cheering. Beygelzimer was apologetic about not being able to give her best as she could not get her timing right.
Beygelzimer did change her racquet after being down 1-3 in the second set, on the advice of her coach from the stands, reaped immediate rewards.
However, the Chinese was ruthless to allow any resurgence as she played on a different gear to win the last three games, dropping a mere three points in all, after the two were on par at 3-3.
“Wang played good. I tried to be aggressive, but did not get my timing right. I thank the ATP physio for helping me play through the week despite all my fingers being injured,” said Beygelzimer. She collected 30 WTA points. The champion added 50 WTA points to her kitty.
The result (final): Wang Qiang (Chn) bt Yuliya Beygelzimer (Ukr) 6-1, 6-3.
