Happy birthday Sonal

By Nandakumar Marar

MUMBAI, JUNE 9. Samrita Sekar was a break up after the first game in each of the three sets against Sonal Phadke, but could not take off from there.

The top seed, celebrating her 19th birthday, was too experienced to let go such opportunities, surviving a forehand blitz, and carved out a 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 victory in the singles final of the ITF women's Circuit first leg on Saturday. She was rewarded with a paycheck of Rs. 29,500 and 16 circuit points, while the unseeded 17-year-old gained Rs. 20,500 and 12 points for a highly successful first leg.

Phadke lost the first set after a nervous start against an opponent she had beaten on all the previous five occasions the two had clashed, got her game together in the second and by the time the final stretched to the decider, the pressure had got to the young Sekar, playing her first ITF final.

``I played tentative at the start,'' admitted the lanky, lissome top seed from Mumbai, whose mother paced outside the Dr. G.A. Ranade courts, unable to bear the tension of watching her daughter contest a final. ``My mother gets tense and I get more tense watching her,'' remarked Phadke who had sorted out her rival by the time the second set began.

``She hits flat and long, has a good forehand. I realised that I needed to put more top-spin on my returns,'' said the top seed, for whom coach Sandeep Kirtane was a valuable ally.

Phadke had gained so much confidence in the third set that apart from gaining a crucial service break in the eight game, she clinched match-point with an ace. ``It just happened,'' exclaimed the champion, admitting that she needed to work on her serve.

The top seed was broken thrice in the first set, once in the second set and twice in the third. More importantly, every weak second serve saw Sekar launch herself into action, pummelling the forehands deep and long, hitting with such power that Phadke was left rooted on the baseline.

The forehand was the strapping Chennai girl's key weapon, winning her points till exhaustion induced errors in the decider. Phadke too felt the heat, despite pre-tournament preparations organised by the All India Tennis Association for a chosen few, but proved to be fitter and moved better on the baseline.

The birthday girl's experience came in handy, setting up points by channelling returns to her rival's suspect backhand, following up with surges to the net as Sekar's attempted passing shots, hit under pressure, ended up with the ball failing to clear the net on most occasions.

The first set lasted 35 minutes, the second 28 minutes while the decider was over in 32. Phadke gained eight service breaks, two in the first, three each in the next two as against six by Sekar. The difference between the two finalists was that, while the top seed varied her game and tried to prey on her rival's weakness, the challenger had only a fearsome forehand to fall back on in times of trouble.

* The results (final): 1-Sonal Phadke bt Samrita Sekar 4- 6, 6-2, 6-3.

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