The Hindu : Megha continues her summit climb

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Feb 21, 2003

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Megha continues her summit climb

By Kalyan Ashok

BANGALORE Feb. 20. Mumbai's Megha Vakharia continued her dream run in the $10,000 Reliance ITF Women's Circuit tennis championship as she moved a step closer to the summit, beating Monntinee Tnagphong of Thailand 6-0, 6-7(3-7), 6-4 in the quarterfinals at the KSLTA Stadium here on Thursday.

Megha thus emerged the lone Indian contender in the fray with the third seed, Sai Jayalakshmi having lost her quarterfinal tie to qualifier Julia Vorobieva of Russia at 5-7, 2-6.

In the semifinals, Megha takes on Vorobieva and fourth seed Da Jung Hong of Korea will meet fifth seed Akgul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan.

The two Indians came up with contrasting fare. While Megha, true to her spirit, stayed afloat, warding off a second set scare from her Thai rival, Sai Jayalakshmy sunk to defeat with a lacklustre display.

Megha's show in the 110-minute tie was marked by a positive attitude matched with an aggressive game. She served consistently right through and made just one double fault and though she conceded quite few points in the second and third sets with unforced errors, Megha had the ability to hit back at the right moments with good mix of shots. She was a bit fazed in the mid match when Tangphong kept her on the leash with deep groundstrokes, but Megha returned the compliments and forced the Thai back.

In the first set, Megha gave nothing away. Her task in the set was made easier by Tangphong who was mired in the quicksand of double faults. She made five in the first four games, which saw her lose the grip on the set totally as a free stroking Megha, firing on both flanks, grabbed the set without conceding a game.

Tangphong, stung by that whitewash, hit back in the second. She played deep and had Megha spraying her returns out and broke the Indian in the first game. Megha slammed her way back in the second game with some solid returns levelled at 1-1 all. The next few games went with serves before Megha forced her way to a 40-0 lead on her rival's serve in the sixth game. She then messed it up with a few mishits and allowed Tangphong to force a deuce. The Thai then blasted away a forehand winner to seize advantage and then had Megha swiping over the sidelines and held the serve.

Tangphong clearly regained her confidence at that stage and kept the pressure on Megha, but both managed to hold their serves and the set spilled in to a tiebreaker. Tangphong called the shots in the tiebreaker as she raced to a 5-2 lead and closed the set at 7-3.

The decider was basically a battle of nerves and Megha, showed a better temperament and kept her rival on the move, varying her pace. Cracking her rival in the first and third games, she took a 4-2 lead and wrapped up the show at 6-4.

Rushing back to lobby, the first thing that Megha did was call her parents back home. She certainly deserved that moment of joy and after a mediocre run last season.

Juila Vorobieva's victory over Sai Jayalakshmy was pretty patchy. The Russian was intent only on clobbering away her returns and serving hard. There wasn't much of a game plan. She made a good deal of unforced errors in the bargain but it did not really matter as long as she kept the hot pace and had Sai on the back foot.

Sai did play well in patches, hitting few solid returns, but her first serve was a disaster. She sent down 11 double faults, which virtually negated all other good strokes that came off her racquet.

In the first set, both traded breaks all the way before Vorobieva hung on to her serve in the 11th game and broke in the 12th for the set with Sai dropping the serve with a double fault. The Russian teenager held all the aces in the second set as broke Sai thrice (second, sixth and eight games) to take the set match.

In the other quarterfinals, the big built Amanmuradova, stopped Elena Vesnina of Russia at 6-4, 6-3, while in a marathon 145-minute contest marked by prolonged rallies, Da Jung Hong subdued the eighth seed, Wilawan Choptang of Thailand 3-6, 6-2, 7-5.

In doubles, Sheetal Goutham and Shruti Dhawan entered the semifinals, beating Iciri Rai and Preeti Rao 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 while the Uzbek pair, Akgul Amanmuradova and Ivanna Israliova blasted their way past Wilawan Choptang and Monntinee Tangphong at 6-1, 6-1.

The results (Indians unless specified; prefix denotes seedings): Singles (quarterfinals): Megha Vakharia bt Montinee Tangphong (Tha) 6-0, 6-7 (3-7), 6-4; Julia Vorobieva (Rus) bt Sai Jayalakshmy 7-5, 6-2; 5-Akgul Amanmuradova (Uzb) bt Elena Vesnina (Rus) 6-4, 6-3; 4-Da Jung Hong (Kor) bt 8-Wilawan Choptang (Tha) 3-6, 6-2, 7-5.

Doubles (quarter-finals): Akgul Amanmuradova/Ivanna israliova (Uzb) bt Wilawan Choptang/Montinee Tangphong 6-1, 6-1; Shruti Dhawan/Sheetal Goutham bt Iciri Rai/Preeti Rao 3-6, 6-2, 6-3.

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