Sport - Tennis   

Sania packs off Khoo

By A. Joseph Antony

Chin Bee Khoo of Malaysia (left) and Wilawan Choptang of Thailand, winners of the GVK-ITF doubles title at the Lal Bahadur stadium in Hyderabad on Saturday. They defeated the Indian duo of Shruti Dhawan and Sheetal Goutham in the final. — Photo: K. Ramesh Babu

HYDERABAD Sept. 21. Minutes before the first semifinals of the GVK-ITF women's circuit tennis tournament at the Lal Bahadur Stadium complex, S.P. Misra had a prediction. Sania Mirza would win the contest, the Davis Cupper said. Going a step further, he forecasted she'd take the title as well.

The Hyderabad lass lived up to his hunch, emerging a 4-6, 6-1, 6-1 winner over Chin Bee Khoo in their last four encounter. Some time later, another qualifier; Akgul Amanmuradova toppled second seed Sai Jayalakshmy 6-4, 7-6 (7-5).

Sania's flaying forehand failed to boom in the first set, the 15-year-old pinned down by Khoo's unerring topspin.

The Malaysian wrested the game on Sania's serve in the fifth, going up 3-2. Games then went hand in hand with serve, till Khoo clinched the set 6-4.

In the second, Khoo broke Sania in the very first game. The latter countered with topspin and broke right back to level 1-1, but not before the game went into deuce half a dozen times.

There was no looking back for Sania after that, while Khoo seemed resigned to her fate, conceding the set 1-6.

In the decider, Sania made her intention clear in the opening game itself.

Unable to halt the exuberance of youth, 25-year-old Khoo, tiring rapidly, managed to take just the third game, before making way for the winner.

Sai Jayalakshmy could not have got closer to the crown, what with favourite and close friend Rushmi Chakravarthi out of the way.

Sadly, she seemed at times to systematically squander her chances for a shot at the title.

Almost all through the way, the net became a hurdle to her ambitions. Some splendid serves interspersed with diagonal winners raised hopes, only to be dashed by some inherently defective strokes.

As S.P. Misra commented, she seemed to lack confidence and was holding back her shots.

"I've seen Sai playing much better. Today she was unable to close out after building up well,'' he added.

For the morrow, he assured a better showing from Sania.

"Like all good players, she should take an early lead and hang on to it,'' he suggested.

Amanmuradova could not believe she made the final in only her second ITF tourney.

She confessed she had no strategy in mind when taking the court, not having played Sai before.

Overconfidence let her down in the second set, where she trailed 2-5, before equalising and then taking the match on tiebreak.

The results: singles: semifinals: Sania Mirza (Ind) bt Chin Bee Khoo (Mal) 4-6, 6-1, 6-1, Akgul Amanmuradova (Uzb) bt Sai Jayalakshmy (Ind) 6-4, 7-6 (7-5).

Doubles: Final: Chin Bee Khoo (Mal)/Wilawan Choptang (Tha) bt Shruti Dhawan/Sheetal Goutham (Ind) 6-2, 6-2. Semifinals: Choptang/Khoo bt Ankita Bhambri/Sania Mirza (Ind) 6-4, 7-6 (7-0), Dhawan/Goutham bt Rushmi Chakravarthi/Sai Jayalakshmy (Ind) 6-2, 7-5.

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