The Hindu : Suchanan blunts Eva

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Feb 14, 2003

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Suchanan blunts Eva

By K. Keerthivasan

CHENNAI FEB. 13. Suchanan Viratprasert is a grinder. The second seed Thai has the ability to use the pace of her opponents to dictate the rallies. Suchanan blunted the hard-hitting Austrian Eva Eva 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 win in a minute less than two hours in the quarterfinals of the Madras Gymkhana Club ITF $10,000 women's tennis championship at the club courts here on Thursday. Suchanan was the last seeded player to reach the semifinals.

A winner of three ITF women's titles, the 20-year-old Suchanan, with a ranking of 421, was unable to take on the initial onslaught from the Austrian. Eva for her part was very impressive, belting forehand and backhand down the line winners at will. She wrapped the first set in a jiffy taking a 5-1 lead. Even though Eva was broken in the seventh game, there was no mistaking who called the shots.

The 20-year-old from Bangkok has strong legs, is able not only to retrieve well, but also direct the balls to the corners of the court. That aspect was more than evident in the eighth game. Directing every powerful shot of Eva to the corners. Suchanan broke her with an excellent forehand return that helped her finish the point. She then held her serve to take the match to the decider.

The third set saw the two players in attacking mood, and it was Suchanan who got the crucial break in the fifth game, which saw Eva commit two double faults.

Taking a 4-2 lead, the Thai was beginning to dominate the rallies even as Eva began to lose concentration on some close calls. Serving to stay in the match at 3-5, Eva saved one match point with a big first serve, but soon succumbed to the second when Suchanan's return, which was the feature of her game today, forced Eva to hit a backhand long.

Akgul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan, the seventh seed, bowed out to the German Varana-Marei Beller 2-6, 3-6. Beller had earlier put it across the top seed Rushmi Chakravarthi. The German lost serve only once while serving 5-1in the first set, otherwise she was totally in command.

Qualifier Ivanna Israilova of Uzbekistan reached the semifinals with a convincing 6-1, 6-2 win over Diana Julianto of Indonesia in 57 minutes.

Samrita Sekar, the only Indian remaining in the draw, made a quick exit losing 2-6, 3-6 to qualifier Elena Vesnina of Russia in 57 minutes. In the semifinals, qualifier Israilova will take on Suchanan, while Vesnina will meet Beller.

The results (quarterfinals): Singles: 2-Suchanan Viratprasert (Tha) bt Eva Eva (Aut) 3-6, 6-3, 6-3; Varana-Marei Beller (Ger) bt 7-Akgul Amanmuradova (Uzb) 6-2, 6-3; Ivanna Israilova (Uzb) bt Diana Julianto (Ina) 6-1, 6-2; Elena Vesnina (Rus) bt Samrita Sekar 6-2, 6-3.

Doubles (semifinals): Rushmi Chakravarthi & Sai Jayalakshmi bt Wilawan Choptang & Montinee Tangphong (Tha) 7-5, 7-6 (7-2); Akgul Amanmuradova & Ivanna Israilova (Uzb) bt Maki Arai (Jpn) & Suchanan Viratprasert (Tha) 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.

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