The Hindu : Sania too good for Ankita

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Dec 15, 2002

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Sania too good for Ankita

By Kamesh Srinivasan

Tai-Wei Liu of Chinese Taipei and India's Sania Mirza, winners of the boys' and girls' crowns, respectively, in the GAIL Asian junior tennis championship in New Delhi on Saturday. — Photo: V.V. Krishnan

NEW DELHI DEC. 14. Sania Mirza on one leg brought Ankita Bhambri on her knees, with a 6-3, 7-5 victory in the final of the GAIL Asian junior tennis championship at the DLTA Complex here on Saturday.

By accomplishing what everyone had expected her to do, the 16-year-old Hyderabad girl also became the first Indian girl to clinch the prestigious title.

In the boys' section, the second-seeded Tai-Wei Liu of Chinese Taipei clinched the crown, beating Hyun-Joon Suk of Korea 6-2, 6-3 in less than an hour. It was a sweet triumph for the left-handed Liu, as he had lost from a position of command in the final of the edition to Sunil Kumar at the same venue.

Though the boys' final was spectacular, it was the girls' final that captured the imagination of the sparse gathering. Both Sania and Ankita played their strokes nicely and served hard.

It was Sania's overwhelming confidence, and her ability to hit hard, accurate and with considerable intelligence that tilted the balance in her favour. She moved well despite a heavily strapped knee, and played an all-round attacking game, pouncing on the slightest of openings to drive home her authority.

To be fair to Ankita, the Delhi girl played well within her limitations, especially in terms of mobility. She played much better in the second set, after being down 1-4, even as Sania allowed her some room to fight by putting a sitter wide in the sixth game.

Ankita broke Sania in the seventh and ninth games, but was unable to capitalise on the fine chance to stretch the match into the decider. In the most dramatic tenth game, both Sania and Ankita played their cards well. However, Ankkita lost out when she missed a setpoint.

It was to the credit of Sania that she kept her composure despite things not going her way, and smashed two winners, and a favourable chord fetched her the break-back in that tenth game.

Sania served smoothly to take a 6-5 lead, and was up two matchpoints when Ankita put a shot out, on a point replayed following a bad over-rule by the chair umpire.

The athletic Sania pounced on the second serve, and smashed it at an acute angle with a breathtaking forehand crosscourt in converting her first match point. In the same motion, she marched to the net, signalling her triumph to her mother in the stands with a clenched fist, letting out a joyous shout in the process.

``I am glad that I won the title that everyone expected me to win. It means a lot to me. Considering that it is the first by an Indian girl, I am very happy," said Sania, quite pleased with her achievement.

It was a fine effort by Ankita to have made a fight of it against a superior opponent, after having lost to Sania the last time, rather tamely, winning four games in the latter's backyard in Hyderabad in a women's professional tournament a few months back.

The results (finals): Boys: Tai-Wei Liu (Tpe) bt Hyun-Joon Suk (Kor) 6-2, 6-3.

Girls: Sania Mirza bt Ankita Bhambri 6-3, 7-5.

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