Gutsy Isha gets past Sonal

By Kamesh Srinivasan

NEW DELHI, SEPT. 12. She is a little bundle of energy, and has the guts to fight it out. Isha Lakhani emphasised her intensity of focus and the unbridled desire for success yet again, as she put out the fourth-seeded Sonal Phadke 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 in the pre- quarterfinals of the India Tennis Centre 10,000-dollar ITF women's tournament at the DLTA Complex here on Wednesday.

Playing on the faster courts, the 16-year-old Isha was unable to adjust quickly once Sonal bounced back from 0-3 in the first set to take it with a flurry of well-directed shots. However, the left-handed Isha recovered her composure with her energetic strokeplay, even as Sonal relented in her attack and relaxed the punch in her strokes.

Once she found her way back into the match, Isha proved a difficult customer as she ran all over the court to not only retrieve whatever Sonal threw at her, but hit some of them back beyond the reach of her athletic opponent.

In the decider, Isha recovered from a break in the first game to take a 4-1 lead. Sonal responded by playing at her best in the sixth game and held serve by saving four breakpoints.

Isha was by now in charge of the situation and let out the war cries for the umpteenth time on taking a 5-2 lead with her calculated play. Sonal managed to hold serve in the next game as well, but Isha served out the match, conceding one point in the ninth game, smacking a backhand crosscourt winner on matchpoint to put her stamp of authority. Having lost to Sonal in the semifinals of the third leg in the 5000-dollar circuit in June at the same venue, it was indeed a sweet revenge for Isha, though she had to toil for it for two hours and seven minutes. She will now run into a player of considerable potential, and equally vulnerable, Sania Mirza.

The 14-year-old Sania enjoyed playing on the faster set of courts, and moved well to outwit the seventh-seeded Geeta Manohar for the loss of four games.

Sania's forehand is as a good a weapon as you may come across at this level, but Isha has the overall game and the temperament to make a match of it.

Samrita Sekar played well in the climax and served particularly impressively, in clinching a 7-6 (7-3), 6-7 (3-7), 6-4 victory over Karishma Patel, the semifinalist of last week in Chennai.

In a contest that spanned two hours and five minutes, the 17-year-old Samrita was able to play her strokes with ease at crucial points. Karishma played with confidence, but her limitations in terms of reach proved decisive in the final analysis.

Yet, the match was a fine advertisement for Indian women's tennis as the contest reached the climax at 4-4 in the third set, as both fought every inch. Samrita had little trouble holding serve, and broke Karishma with sharp strokes that brooked little resistance, for a smooth finish.

Samrita will have the unenviable task of playing the second- seeded Rushmi Chakravarthi, who dropped three games in getting past S.K. Tara. In fact, Rushmi had dropped only one game in her first round, and can be a difficult opponent for anyone in this tournament.

Sai, Shruti cruise

Sai Jayalakshmy and Shruti Dhawan cruised through, in contrasting styles. The top-seeded Sai, improving with every outing, played a notch below her best in getting past Liza Pereira for the loss of seven games, while the third-seeded Shruti warmed up for the task ahead with a 6-0, 6-1 triumph over Nischela Reddy.

Sai will be up against the champion of last week, Radhika Tulpule, who had a good rest as she got a walkover from Ipok Senoglu of Turkey, and Shruti will have Prariyawan Ratanakrong of Thailand to handle in the quarterfinals.

The 17-year-old Thai had sound basics and punched her shots with relish in her encounter against Rebecca Dandeniya of Britain.

It was to the credit of the Briton that she was able to pull back into the contest in the second set after trailing 2-4, but the Thai established her class beyond doubt in the decider when she wafted her way through with diligent strokeplay.

There may be only one foreigner left in the field, that too with a none too impressive ranking of 954, but Prariyawan who lost first round on clay in Chennai, has the ability to prosper here.

It should be interesting to see how Shruti and company respond to the immediate challenge.

The results:

Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Sai Jayalakshmy bt Liza Pereira 6-4, 6-3; Shruti Dhawan bt Nischela Reddy 6-0, 6-1; Prariyawan Ratanakrong (Tha) bt Rebecca Dandeniya (GBR) 6-1, 4-6, 6-1; Sania Mirza bt Geeta Manohar 6-2, 6-2; Samrita Sekar bt Karishma Patel 7-6 (7-3), 6-7 (3-7), 6-4; Rushmi Chakravarthi bt S.K. Tara 6-2, 6-1; Isha Lakhani bt Sonal Phadke 3-6, 6-2, 6-3; Radhika Tulpule w/o. Ipok Senoglu (Tur).

Doubles (quarterfinals): Sai Jayalakshmy and Rushmi Chakravarthi bt Sania Mirza and Sonal Phadke 6-0, 7-5; Prariyawan Ratanakrong (Tha) and Geeta Manohar bt S.K. Tara and Karishma Patel 6-3, 7-6 (7-3); Shruti Dhawan and Radhika Tulpule bt Rebecca Dandeniya (GBR) and Pichaya Laosirichon (Tha) 6-1, 6- 3.

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