Sheetal's date with success

By Nandakumar Marar

INDORE, JUNE 15. Sheetal Goutham's sharp tennis brain proved more potent than Sonal Phadke's sharper strokeplay. The happy-go-lucky Bangalore girl managed two victories over her in-form rival - in the singles semifinals and doubles final - in a span of five hours, besides completing a doubles semifinals match in between on Friday, the penultimate day of the International Tennis Federation's Women's Circuit second leg. At the end of it all, Sheetal still had energy left to scamper from the court to the communications centre, located 50 metres apart, to make the phone call home.

Sheetal's eventful day began with a 7-6(6), 6-2 victory over top seed Sonal in the singles semifinals, the biggest upset of the third leg. Then she turned her attention to some unfinished business, winning one set in the company of Liza Pereira to beat the pair of Radhika Mandke/Amanda Parson-Siegel in the women's doubles semifinals carried over from Thursday. After a break for lunch, the Bangalore girl was back on court at the Emerald Heights International School for the doubles final with her Mumbai partner, winning again 6-3, 7-5 against the No. 1 pair of Sonal Phadke/Karishma Patel.

All in a day's work for Sheetal, who will return to the court on Saturday for a crack at the singles title against Archana Venkataraman, the second seed, who beat sister Arthi in straight sets.

Injuries and exhaustion have upset the plans of many players on the ITF Women's Circuit, but the third seed from Bangalore is unlikely to be on the casualty list after playing for almost the entire Friday. Sheetal is a canny hand at tiring out opponents, making them retrieve lobs and scamper across the court for every point while she waits for the right moment to strike. Sonal struggled to break out of the shackles in the singles semifinals and by the time she sorted out her opponent's gameplan it was too late.

Lobbing her way to victory

Sheetal used the windy conditions to her advantage, lobbing backhand returns high and across, the spin on the ball making it bounce out of her opponent's reach. Sonal tried to get into position for a return, but after three or four such lobs, found herself stranded way behind the baseline when Sheetal charged to the net for the kill, finishing the point with deft placements. The only time the third seed got into trouble was when forced to run down balls hit to her backhand, Sonal making her scamper across to reach well-timed forehand crosscourt volleys, hit on the rise and with authority.

The top seed dropped her second service game to trail 1-3, caught up in the sixth 3-3 and eighth 4-4 as the set moved into the tie- breaker where Sheetal called the shots. Sonal took a long time to get over the first-set loss, by which time her rival had already taken a 5-1 lead, aided by breaks in the first and fifth games. With a handful of spectators egging her on, the defending champion staged a minor recovery to cut down the deficit to 2-5, but by then had committed too many unforced errors under pressure, giving her rival the confidence to serve out the match.

Sonal returned to the court after a break for the doubles final, with Karishma as her partner. The two went on the offensive against a well-settled Liza Pereira/Sheetal Goutham combination, but ended up on the losing side even after fighting back in the second set to level at four-all, after being 1-4 down. Sheetal's netplay and angled returns, complemented by Liza's volleying, proved decisive in the face of all-out aggression by the top- seeded pair. The doubles champions increased their ITF Circuit points tally by 12, while the runner- up got eight points.

The ITF second leg is sponsored by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited and organised by the Indore Tennis Association.

The results:

Singles (semifinals): 3-Sheetal Goutham bt 1-Sonal Phadke 7-6 (6), 6-2; 2-Archana Venkataraman bt 5-Arthi Venkataraman 6-2, 6- 1.

Doubles (final): 2-Sheetal Goutham/Liza Pereira bt 1-Sonal Phadke/Karishma Patel 6-3, 7-5; Semifinals: Sheetal Goutham/Liza Pereira bt Radhika Mandke/Amanda Parson-Siegel 6-1, 6-2; Sonal Phadke/Karishma Patel w.o. Samrita Sekar/Preeti Rao.

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