Friday, May 09, 2003
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Tennis
By Nandakumar Marar
Liza Pereira used it as an ally, telling herself to remain focused even though her blistered feet felt as if on fire. The tremendous effort at self-control worked in the Mumbai girl's favour, the fifth seed notching up a career high in the $ 5000 International Tennis Federation's women's circuit first leg after a marathon struggle lasting two hours, 40 minutes on the Indore Tennis Club courts, with the decider going into the tie-breaker. Liza ended up on the right side of a 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-2) scoreline on Thursday, the singles quarterfinal casualty being top seed Sonal Phadke, a popular player in central India. The match was so intensely fought that by the end both had been drained of even aggressive intent, leave alone lung power. The two girls are Mumbai based, know what to expect though were uncertain whether they could handle the heat. The fifth seed faced matchpoints on serve twice in the decider, after having survived an ordeal by fire to overcome a first set loss, but had the guts to pull through. "I don't even remember the previous time I had beaten her, doing so today and that too in this Indore heat makes it special. I have not been winning important matches in ITF events for the last four to five years, though my father keeps pushing me. So in a way, his support played a big part in this win over Sonal," Liza said. She made up her mind to go all the way after clawing back to 4-4 from 1-4 down in the decider. "I saw no point fighting back to reach this stage and then losing. It would have negated all hard work put in till then," said the fifth seed, coached by Janardhan and Shivshankar, recollecting the ups and downs in the longest match of this BSNL-sponsored event so far. Three breaks cost her the first set, then came the resurgence in the second where setpoints saved on serve in the 10th gave her breathing space. Both girls were at each other's throats, roaring in approval after each hard-earned point, usually after fast-paced rallies on a fast decoturf surface. Sonal wielded the backhand with felicity, hitting the lines with shots off both flanks even as Liza waded into forehand volleys, lashing winners past her incredulous rival. "Sonal likes to really slow down the pace, then suddenly change gears, so I was prepared when it came. I think she got stuck in the pace and I was able to get that one extra shot in," Liza said. If she can maintain energy levels for one more day, the semifinal match against Isha Lakhani may become entertaining. The vocal sixth seed managed a relatively smaller upset by slamming the door on third seed Archana Venkataraman in straight sets, winning 6-1, 6-3 in just over an hour. Another furious exchange of shots and ire, directed at the opponent and match officials, in that order.
Shruti packs off Ankita
Ankita Bhambri was another seed to stumble on a day of surprises, losing in three sets to Shruti Dhawan. She will not complain about the late afternoon heat, but a net problem leading to a 20-minute stoppage in play between the first two sets put the fourth seed off rhythm. Leading 6-3 in the first and 2-3 down in the second, Ankita wrapped up the first game after resumption, drawing level 3-3 on serve but struggled to get back the momentum thereafter. The big-hitting Shruti, three places below at No. 7, slammed the ball around to win the second set tie-breaker and went on to wrap up the decider comfortably to record a 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-1 win for a hard-earned semifinal place opposite Sheetal Goutham, who was her usual efficient self. The chair umpires took a lot of heat too, due to three out of four games going the other way, apart from being forced to depend on enthusiastic but raw line judges. The presence of at least experienced (if not qualified) personnel to make crucial line calls in an ITF event will put the semifinalists in a better frame of mind on the penultimate day. The results: Women's singles (quarterfinals): Liza Pereira bt Sonal Phadke 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-2); Isha Lakhani bt Archana Venkataraman 6-1, 6-3; Sheetal Goutham bt Preeti Rao 7-5, 7-6; Shruti Dhawan bt Ankita Bhambri 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-1. Women's doubles (second round): Shruti/Sheetal bt Priyanka Parekh/Ragini Vimal 6-3, 7-5; Preeti/Iciri Rai bt Lata Assudani/Rati Kumar 6-1, 6-0; Ankita/Sonal bt Anupama/Chrishant Rajur 6-2, 6-4; Liza/Archana bt Deepa Chakrabarty/Isha 6-2, 2-6, 6-1.
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