Sport - Tennis   

Wilawan upsets Diana Costa

By Kalyan Ashok

MYSORE Sep. 9. Despite the on-going Cauvery stir and spells of showers queering the pitch, the top seed Rushmi Chakravarthi, began her campaign in the $ 10,000 McDowell ITF women's Circuit tennis championship on a rousing note with a 6-2,6-2 victory over a seasoned contender,Shruti Dhawan at the Vontikoppal courts here on Monday.

The opening day's minor upset was the defeat of the eighth seeded Diana Costa of Portugal, who went down to her Thai Rival, Wilawan Choptang 2-6,4-6.

The big fight of the day was expected to be the Rushmi-Shruti clash, but it turned out to be a lopsided contest barley lasting 62 minutes. Shruti would have definitely preferred a hard and bouncy court to test Rushmi, but the clay court at Vontikoppal, which became even slower due to the damp conditions, made her to struggle to reach for the ball.

Shruti made too many unforced errors, which cut her chances, to stay in the match, though her stroke play improved considerably midway though the match. She hit her returns long and struggled with her first serve too while a smooth stroking Rushmi, the highest ranked player,at 373, played a consistent game from the back court and belted some huge forehand winners .

The 25-year -old Rushmi, who was finalist in an ITF Futures at Algiers, got off to a great start , breaking Shruti in the very first game of the match .Shruti was under pressure right from that moment as she struggled to hold her serve in the third game also, where she was stretched to four deuces before Rushmi put a backhand out. Rushmi charged ahead to a 4-1 lead, breaking Shruti again in the fifth game, but Shruti struck back in the sixth game breaking Rushmi to cut the deficit to 2-4.

Her hopes of squaring the decisively set score , however went up in smoke as she went down 30-40 on her serve in the seventh with a double fault and Rushmi cracked her again with a backhand winner for a 5-2 lead and wrapped up the set at 6-2.

The second set also fell into the same pattern with Rushmi calling the shots all the way, though Shruti came up with some great returns especially in the third game. Rushmi,with breaks in the first and seventh games rode to a a comfortable victory.

" I lost the tempo early in the match and it became difficult to get back'', said Shruti Dhawan.

Wilawan Choptang, the stocky 18-year-old Thai , played a sensible baseline game to outsmart the eighth seeded Diana Costa of Portugal 6-2,6-4 .The 19-year old girl from Lisbon, had her chances, but she was not quick enough and spate of errors which flowed from her racket did her in, though a sharp shower gave her an hour's reprieve with defeat staring at her face as she trailed 4-5 in the second set.

In rain hit ties at the Mysore Tennis Club courts, The second seeded Sai Jayalakshmy, proved too good for her young rival from Bangalore Iciri Rai and won 6-1,6-3. The lanky 17 year-old Iciri, who was a wild card, was sure up against a very tough and seasoned rival and though she tried to pull her game up, she was riddled with errors on the first serve and returns and went down to Sai.

The third seed, Radhika Tulpule coasted to a 6-1,6-1 victory over the wild card,Arti Venkatraman , who was no where near her best .

In the other matches, Mi Ran Shin of Korea overpowered qualifier, Preeti Rao 6-2,6-4 and Kamini Murugabhoopathy beat Medhini Sharma 1-6,6-1,6-1 and Akgul Amanmuradova, the towering Unzbekistan qualifier, blasted another qualifier, Rati Kumar 6-0,6-1.

In an unfinished tie, Archana Venkatraman led Korean qualifier Eue Hee Sung 7-6 (7-1) with the second set tied at 2-all. Archana trailing 3-5, stormed back to take the first set on a tie-breaker .Soon bad light forced the stoppage of play.

Earlier the championship was inaugurated by the Mysore City Mayor,T.B.Chikkanna while Mr. Subbukrishna ,President of the Vontikoppal Club welcomed.

The Cauvery stir, made the task of players to reach Mysore a bitter experience, thanks to stoppage of train and bus services. Many struggled to reach Mysore, on whatever available transport and in fact, KSLTA ferried some of the players and a section of the media, from Bangalore, in a van with police escort.

The results: ( Indians unless specified,prefix indicate seedings):First Round:

1- Rushmi Chakravarthi bt Shruti Dhawan 6-2,6-2; 3-Radhika Tulpule bt Arati Venkataraman 6-1,6-1; 2-Sai Jayalakshmy bt Iciri Rai 6-1,6-3; Mi Ran Shin (Kor) bt Preeti Rao 6-2,6-4; Wilawan Choptang (Tha) bt Diana Costa (Por) 6-2,6-4; Akgul Amanmuradova (Uzb) bt Rati Kumar 6-0,6-1; Kamini Murugaboopathy bt Medhini Sharma 1-6,6-1,6-1.

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