The Hindu : Shruti subdues Samrita

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jun 18, 2002

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Shruti subdues Samrita

By Kamesh Srinivasan

NEW DELHI JUNE 17. They play the circuit to strengthen the basics. Quite surprisingly, many of them forget the basics along the way and struggle with their game, even at this level, after showing their prowess at higher levels.

Shruti Dhawan provided a classic example as she grappled with her game, before scoring a 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 victory over Samrita Sekar in the pre-quarterfinals of the $ 5,000 ITF women's tennis circuit Masters at the DLTA Complex here on Monday.

The Chandigarh girl, finalist in the second and third legs, started well to run up a 3-1 lead, but got confused thereafter, and ended up trying everything without success.

Being a good striker, Samrita smacked her shots flat and fierce to compound Shruti's problems and ran away with the first set with breaks in the fifth and seventh games.

Samrita sustained the momentum in the second set and broke for a 3-2 lead. It was here that the Chennai girl got carried away. Two double faults and two unforced errors saw her being broken at love in the sixth game.

Shruti, now quite cool and relaxed, played a steady game to race through the rest of the match, without much resistance from her younger opponent.

Shruti allowed Samrita only one more game as she stroked with confidence, even as the latter gave up quickly, unable to bear the tension and the heat.

``I think I was trying too many things, too early. Once I relaxed, it became easy. She also played badly in the end,'' said the 20-year-old Shruti, the first to win a Masters title among the Indians, which she did on the same courts in 1998. Shruti has also done well at the $ 10,000, both at home and abroad.

Geeta made to toil

Shruti will meet Geeta Manohar, who slogged for two hours to scrape through to a 5-7, 6-1, 6-4 triumph against Kamini Murugaboopathy. Geeta was up 5-2 in the first set, but let things drift, even as Kamini played freely to take five games in a row and the set. But there was no doubt who the better athlete was, and Geeta played with resolve to assert herself in the second and third sets.

It was a close affair in the decider, but Kamini, who recovered from 0-3 to 4-3, erred in the ninth game where she served a double fault and was broken. Geeta then served out for the match at love.

In other matches, Ankita Bhambri was stretched a bit by Lata Assudani. The latter did not have the required athleticism or strength of will to capitalise on a 5-2 lead, and failed to do justice to her stroking ability.

Ankita meets Medini Sharma in the quarterfinals. The latter recovered from 4-5 in the second set to win in straight sets. It was Medini's fighting qualities that stood out as she saved five breakpoints to hold serve in the third game of the second set. She broke Deepa in the 10th and 12th games, when the latter had game points in her favour.

Top-seeded Sheethal Goutham showed her uncanny ability to execute her game plan as she teased and tormented Archana Venkataraman on way to a 6-0, 6-2 win.

The champion of the first three legs, Sheethal clashes with Sonal Phadke, who handled Iciri Rai's challenge well to cruise home for the loss of four games. The tall Iciri played well to collect one WTA point. The lessons will stand her in good stead more than the ranking point.

Radhika Tulpule and Liza Pereira set up a quarterfinal clash, with easy wins over Priyanka Parekh and Preeti Rao respectively.

The players will have an additional day to plan their strategy for the singles quarterfinals, as play will be restricted to doubles on Tuesday.

The results (pre-quarterfinals): Sheethal Goutham bt Archana Venkataraman 6-0, 6-2; Sonal Phadke bt Iciri Rai 6-1, 6-3; Ankita Bhambri bt Lata Assudani 7-5, 6-2; Medini Sharma bt Deepa Chakrabarthy 6-1, 7-5; Liza Pereira bt Preeti Rao 6-2, 6-2; Radhika Tulpule bt Priyanka Parekh 6-1, 6-0; Geeta Manohar bt Kamini Murugaboopathy 5-7, 6-1, 6-4; Shruti Dhawan bt Samrita Sekar 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.

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