The Hindu : Samrita stuns Radhika

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 05, 2002

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Samrita stuns Radhika

By Nandakumar Marar

MUMBAI APRIL 4 . Radhika Tulpule became the biggest casualty as the women's singles reached the semifinal phase in the $ 5000 International Tennis Federation women's circuit.

The second seed from Pune, known to put pressure on opponents with an aggressive serve-and-volley game, found herself at the receiving end of some power-hitting by Samrita Sekar. The eighth-seeded Chennai girl played to her strengths to carve out a 72-minute 6-4, 7-5 quarterfinal victory at the Shivaji Park Gymkhana hard courts.

With top seed Suwei Hsieh of Chinese Taipei absent from the first leg and the second seed knocked out, Sai Jayalakshmy remains the highest seed in the fray at number three. The latter too appeared to be heading for exit after losing 0-6 in the first set against unpredictable Archana Venkataraman, seeded number six, but scrambled back to win the next two and confirm her place in the semifinals against Sheetal Goutam.

Radhika did not do justice to her number two seeding. Her timing was a major problem, at times the ball flying off the racquet edge, connecting with a jerk of her body instead of going with the flow. Being a rhythm player who loves to be assertive, moving in behind deftly-hit strokes on both flanks, the second seed ended up in awkward positions on the baseline, as Samrita grew in confidence.Samrita managed a break back in the third after dropping the second game, then pulled ahead 5-4 with a break in the ninth to bag the first set, despite two double-faults in the final game.

Samrita was stretched only when forced to move along the baseline, caught wrong-footed on a few occasions when Radhika produced a few deceptive volleys from memory. Otherwise, the pace she was able to generate on the forehands, hit with brute power, was enough to do the damage. Towards the closing stages of the match, the eighth seed gained enough confidence to attack her rival's serves, managing breaks in the fifth, ninth and 11th.

"I had difficulty getting my timing right. I had to serve really well, otherwise she would end up getting a break," confessed Radhika, promising to make up for her non-performance in the next two ITF legs.

Sai Jayalakshmy took a nap in the first set against her sixth-seeded rival, dropping all three service games to lose 0-6, double-faulting twice in the third and fifth. Archana appeared in good nick in the second set, the placement and timing in her strokeplay on a high, compared to earlier matches.

With the national champion biding her time for the tide to turn, it became a battle of wits between two experienced combatants, neither willing to concede any soft points. Archana blinked first, dropping serve in the fourth, only to break back in the fifth, then losing serve again in the sixth as Sai found her bearings again.

From this point onwards, the match moved to another level, both players willing to run down every ball. After taking the second set at 6-2, the third seed continued in the same vein to end on a winning note.

The results:

Women's singles quarterfinals: 5-Sheetal Goutam bt Krushmi Chedha 6-4, 6-1; 3-Sai Jayalakshmy bt 6-Archana Venkataraman 0-6, 6-2, 6-2; 4-Sonal Phadke bt 7-Liza Pereira 6-3, 6-1; 8-Samrita Sekar bt 2-Radhika Tulpule 6-4, 7-5.

Women's doubles (second round): S. Sekar/A. Venkataraman bt Vandana Murali/Iciri Rai 6-1, 6-1; S. Goutam/L. Pereira bt K. Chedha/Medhini Sharma 7-5, 6-4.

Semifinals: Sekar/A. Venkataraman bt S. Goutam/L. Pereira 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.

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