Tuesday, Jun 04, 2002
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Tennis
By Kamesh Srinivasan
The fluent-stroking Deepa kept her nerves under check in the climax, when she slipped from 5-1 to 5-4 in the decider, to score a memorable victory. Having beaten Radhika Mandke for another impressive win in the first round last week in the first leg of the circuit in Chandigarh, Deepa would look to improve on her record when she meets the second-seeded Radhika Tulpule. Lata had done well to recover from 2-4 in the first set, and came up with two winners including a drop to tilt the balance in the tie-break. However, she could not maintain the tempo in the second as Deepa played freely to pocket the set with breaks in the eighth and tenth games. In the third set, Lata looked tired and Deepa breezed through to a position of strength at 5-1, after being 4-0. She suffered a bout of nerves and surrendered two service games rather tamely. Lata was unable to capitalise on the favourable turn of events, and netted a backhand in dropping her serve and the match in the tenth game. ``I thought that it was just one game. But I got carried away by her shots. I am happy to be in my second pre-quarterfinal. Radhika is a tough player, but I will try to play my best'', said the 12th standard student of Prakash Higher Secondary School. Radhika Tulpule did start tentatively but stroked well enough to score a 6-3, 6-0 triumph over Alice Joy. She may have to move much better to sustain her aspirations of going all the way to the title. There was another girl who used the first match to sharpen herself for a tough second round. It was the 5 feet 10 inch tall Iciri Rai of Bangalore. The 11th standard student of Vidya Niketan School, and a trainee of C.G.K. Bhupathi for the last five years, Iciri served seven aces in blowing off qualifier Pallavi Sharma 6-1, 6-1. Iciri will, however, have the unenviable task of challenging the champion of the Chandigarh leg, Sheethal Goutham. If she plays to potential, Iciri can tease Sheethal, who is a hard nut to crack in the domestic circuit. Sheethal was her cool self as she warmed up with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Naina Karsolia, even as a bunch of spectators at the back of the court tried unsuccessfully to strike a conversation with her during the match, trying to elicit details of her fare last week. Later, Sheetal was quick to point out that the courts were behaving differently after the grass had been trimmed overnight. The talented Preeti Rao was the first to get out of the courts, as she blanked Pragya Yadav. Preeti may give a good match against the top-seeded Sonal Phadke, who will play her first round against qualifier Ragini Vimal on the morrow. The seventh-seeded Liza Pereira wiped out the foreign challenge, by dismissing Olexandra Verkhnyatska of Ukraine, 6-1, 6-1. She will meet Arthi Venkataraman, the software engineer from Bangalore, who got past qualifier Parul Goswami for the loss of five games. Medini Sharma had little difficulty in beating wild card entrant Varsha Meena, and will await the winner of the match between Geeta Manohar and Nivedita Venkatesh. The tournament was inaugurated by the Minister of Public Works Department of Uttar Pradesh, Ms. Anuradha Choudhary, who goaded the girls to fight on equal terms with men in her vibrant speech. The results: Singles (first round): Preeti Rao bt Pragya Yadav 6-0, 6-0; Medini Sharma bt Varsha Meena 6-1, 6-1; Iciri Rai bt Pallavi Sharma 6-1, 6-1; Sheethal Goutham bt Naina Karsolia 6-2, 6-1; Liza Pereira bt Olexandra Verkhnyatska (Ukr) 6-1, 6-1; Arthi Venkataraman bt Parul Goswami 6-4, 6-1; Deepa Chakravarthy bt Lata Assudani 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 6-4; Radhika Tulpule bt Alice Joy 6-3, 6-0. Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Archana Vekataraman/Arthi Venkataraman bt Dipa Engade/Pallavi Sharma 6-0, 6-1; Geeta Manohar/Ridhina Parekh bt Priyanka Parekh/Ragini Vimal 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-4); Nandita Chandrasekar/Preeti Rao bt Nandini Perumal/Sandra Sashidharan 3-6, 6-3, 6-4; Anupama Rajur/Chirashanthi Rajur bt Naina Karsolia/Varsha Meena 6-2, 6-1.
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