The Hindu : Agony for Sonal, ecstasy for Ankita

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 26, 2002

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Agony for Sonal, ecstasy for Ankita

By G. Viswanath

Pune April 25. Sonal Phadke could not believe she had chucked three matchpoints and choked. She turned towards the vast emptiness of the P.Y.C. Hindu Gymkhana, buried her face in a sweat-soaked towel, heartbroken and tears welling up in her eyes.

Seeing her plight, Indonesian, Eveline Rusdianto, made a short dash across the court and offered to carry her kit bag. Sonal appreciated the foreigner's gesture, but shouldered the responsibility of lugging the bag herself.

The Mumbai girl, not seeded after the Mumbai leg, had reason to be distraught. It was a semifinal in which both players made errors galore, but Sonal, after a see-saw battle, enjoyed three matchpoints and the chance for a place in the final against fourth-seeded Sheetal Goutham.

But, one of the promising juniors in Indian tennis, Ankita Bhambri, about five feet something, stoked her passion, sharpened her skills, charged aggressively and concoted a a winning formula to turn the tables on Sonal in what was easily the most outstanding contest in four days of the Women's Masters.

Ankita, first down 0-5 in the first set, crawled back gradually but lost 4-6, dropping the tenth game, the third of her own serve. She had earlier dropped the second and fourth games.

The form of many players since the singles programme began on Tuesday has been like a rocking boat. Ranked players made inglorious exits and little-knowns made headlines. Sonal, beaten in the semifinals in Mumbai by Samrita Sekar and in Nagpur by Isha Lakhani, sensed an opportunity to wrap up the match as it neared the closing stages of the second set

that was markedly bizarre, yet gripping. Ankita had shown the first signs of being a fighter in the first hour of the second semifinal, after Sheetal had wiped out Medini Sharma's good memories of the Masters in less than an hour. Her wins against Archana Venkataraman and Sai Jayalakshmy, both ranked high in the circuit, were regarded as commendable feats. What is obvious is that Anikta has talent aplenty, what must happen in the course of time and as she grows is a further development in her game, the responsibility of which is partly AITA's.

It took some time for Ankita to find her feet on a sand-topped court that's described as `clay court'. The way she wriggled out of pressure and turned it on Sonal was admirable, her firm and fluent strokes, making things difficult for Sonal.

A sequence of double faults, that affected both right through the end, compounded matters. Sonal looked good as long as she brooked no opposition from Anikta, but the moment the latter, began unleashing shots from the back court, changed the pace and direction of her shots, Sonal lost grip on the match.

After a clutch of break points for both the players, Ankita put the ball in the middle of the net to trail by one set. The trend continued with Ankita very much in the fray, but the heat played its part, leaving both players physically drained.

Breaks and breakbacks became common, Sonal dropping her third, seventh and ninth service games and Ankita dropping the fourth, eighth and tenth. Sonal held the 11th to lead 6-5 and was on the verge of closing out the match. Even as she showed the urgency to change gears and raise her game by a few notches, Ankita hit five winners from a precarious 0-40 in the 12th game. Suddenly Ankita was playing near flawless tennis to win the tie-breaker at 7-1. Though she dropped a game — the third in the decider — she applied herself to the task, piled pressure on Sonal, consistently hitting

the ball hard and blocking and dropping return of serves. In the end both simply did not have the strength to put the ball inside the service box, but Ankita, showed a touch of class winning four points in a row on her serve to bring to an end an engrossing semifinal that lasted for two hours and 46 minutes.

The first semifinal between Sheethal Goutham and Medini Sharma began with the chair umpire and linesmen and around 25 spectators, made up of players, parents, officials and four workers who dutifully water the surface and prepare the court after every match.

Sheethal drawn in the lower half had an easy passage into the semifinals, defeating Krushmi Chheda and Geeta Manohar. She played immaculate tennis to bring Medini's winning streak to a bleak end. Describing Sheethal's game Medini said: "She plays a different game. She made no mistakes.''

Sai-Radhika duo triumphs

The Sai Jayalakshmy-Radhika Tulpule made up for their disappointments in singles defeats, by winning their fourth straight doubles title. They beat Samrita Sekar and V. Archana in three sets at 5-7, 6-1, 6-4. The winning pair will receive $350 and the runner-up $200.

The results:

Singles (semifinals): 4-Sheethal Goutham bt Medini Sharma 6-1, 6-0; Ankita Bhambri bt Sonal Phadke 4-6, 7-6 (7-1), 6-4.

Doubles (final): Sai Jayalakshmy/Radhika Tulpule bt Samrita Sekar/V. Archana 5-7, 6-1, 6-4.

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