Date:09/12/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/12/09/stories/2004120903231900.htm

Sport - Tennis

Punam bows out

By Amitabha Das Sharma

KOLKATA, DEC. 8. Third-seeded Punam Reddy was forced to bow out with an injured elbow in the Tata Steel-ITF women's Circuit meet here on Wednesday, while some of the other seeds were made to work hard to reach the quarterfinals.

Punam, who was cruising to victory against unseeded compatriot Sheethal Goutham, ran into trouble after winning the first set in just 19 minutes. She had to take a medical break to get her left elbow examined by the doctor.

In the second set, Punam raced to a 4-2 lead with a break in the fifth game. However, the third seed aggravated her injury and lost four consecutive games, including two of her own service games, to lose the second set 4-6.

Punam, grimacing in pain while making returns, broke Sheethal in the opening game of the third set. She, however, failed to hold the advantage as Sheethal rallied to break back in the second and fourth games. Punam finally quit in the sixth game when she found the going tough, with Sheethal leading 4-1. The match lasted 91 minutes.

Ankita survives

Second-seeded Ankita Bhambri was in trouble against her senior and unseeded Shruti Dhawan, who put up a valiant fight and took the contest into the decider. But Ankita clinched the endurance test, which lasted 148 minutes, as a visibly tired Shruti made numerous unforced errors in the closing stages.

The second seed began in style, breaking Shruti twice and losing her service only once, to win the first set easily. In the second, Shruti got into the groove and started to hit well. Ankita was broken thrice and lost the set 2-6.

The second set left Shruti drained, helping Ankita to make a comeback. She did not let go the opportunity and broke Shruti twice while holding her own serves to prevail 6-4, 2-6, 6-2.

The longest contest of the day was between eighth-seeded Isha Lakhani and Parul Goswami. Southpaw Isha was given a scare by Parul who more than matched her opponent in a display of power and fitness. Parul took the first set 7-5, even as Isha tried hard but could win back only two breaks in the 54-minute set.

In the second, Parul led 5-3 and looked set for an upset. But, in an attempt to wrap up the match quickly, she served three double-faults in the ninth game. She never recovered from that and lost the next four games to let Isha claw back into the match.

Parul broke Isha in the second game but made numerous errors to lose the match. Isha now meets Katerina Polunina of Ukraine, who downed Karishma Patel, in the quarterfinals.

The other seeded players, including fourth-seeded Sai Jayalakshmy, fifth seed Sanaa Bhambri, sixth-seeded Wiliwan Choptang of Thailand and seventh seed Archana Venkataraman, moved into the quarterfinals with straight set wins.

The results (Indians unless specified):

Singles: Pre-quarterfinals: Katerina Polunina (Ukr) bt Karishma Patel 6-2, 6-2; Isha Lakhani bt Parul Goswami 5-7, 7-5, 6-2; Sheethal Goutham bt Punam Reddy 1-6, 6-4, 4-1 (retd.); Wiliwan Choptang (Tha) bt Po-Kuen Lam (Hkg) 6-3, 6-2; Sanaa Bhambri bt Krushmi Chheda 6-1, 6-2; Sai Jayalakshmy bt Chirashanthi Rajur 6-4, 6-1; Archana Venkataraman bt Preeti Rao 6-4, 6-2; Ankita Bhambri bt Shruti Dhawan 6-4, 2-6, 6-2.

Doubles: Quarterfinals: Rushmi Chakravarthi & Sai Jayalakshmy bt Geeta Manohar & Archana Venkataraman 6-1, 6-4; Wiliwan Choptang (Tha) & Shruti Dhawan bt Iciri Rai & Preeti Rao 6-3, 3-6, 7-5; Vandana Murali & Madhura Ranganathan bt Po-Kuen Lam (Hkg) & Samrita Sekar 6-3, 4-6, 6-3; Ankita Bhambri & Sanaa Bhambri bt Oormila Ram and Ragini Vimal 6-1, 3-0 (retd.).