Sunday, Sep 14, 2003
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Tennis
By Khalyan N. Ashok
Thailand's Suchanan Viratprasert who won the singles title in the Indian Oil Servo's $10,000 ITF women's Futures circuit championship in Bangalore on Saturday. — Photo: K. Gopinathan
Suchanan, the top seed, won 6-2, 6-1 in 54 minutes and exactly a week ago, she had won in a similar fashion against Chin- Bee Khoo of Malaysia at Delhi. The margin of her victory indeed came as a pleasant surprise for the girl from Bangkok, who is studying law. Megha (519) raised lot of expectations with the way she had fought her way into the final, and there was a good turn out on the stands to egg on the Indian girl. But the 19-year old southpaw seemed a spent force even before the toss. The marathon singles semifinal, and the doubles final on Friday, had left her sapped and there was nothing she could do right in the final. She came short on her strokes and simply couldn't get to the ball, let alone play a big stroke. She seemed to be in a daze, as Suchanan quickly snuffed her challenge with her hard-hitting groundstrokes and well timed volleys. The Thai ace served consistently and all that she had to do was to keep the ball right up there and allow Megha to make mistakes and the latter did that in plenty. "I know this was a big match, but I simply couldn't move and I was too tired to play the way I wanted. There were lot of mistimed strokes and Suchanan was simply too good,'' said a disappointed Megha Vakharia, who easily was the best Indian performer on the circuit. She now goes to Taskhent for the Asian championship, starting next week. Suchanan felt that it was a bad day at the office for Megha. "I expected Megha to play much better and she is a good player and she just didn't do well today,'' said Suchanan. Megha Vakharia did begin brightly as she took the first game without conceding a point and then had Suchanan trailing 0-30 on her serve. Suchanan rallied with two searing returns and held the serve after a deuce. Megha's slide started in the third game. After being 15-30 down, she levelled at 30-all with an ace. She allowed the game to slip into a deuce mode and Suchanan blasted a backhand winner to grab a break point and took the game forcing Megha to play wide from the back court. After dropping the serve, Megha was on the back foot all the time as Suchanan effortlessly charged around the court, belting winners at will to seize another break in the fifth game for a 4-1 lead. The second set proved no better as Suchanan stepped up the tempo and pounded her rival into total submission. She raced to a 4-0 lead and Megha, peering into the barrel at 1-5 tamely surrendered, dropping the set and match with a double fault. Suchanan was richer by $1,600, and she also claimed six points. The wins in India should see her climb up the ladder in an impressive manner. Megha won $ 1,000 and four points. Mr. A.M. Nanjudan, Chief General Manager of the Indian Oil Corporation, which sponsored the event, gave away the prizes. The result: Singles final: 1-Suchanan Viratprasert (Tha) bt 4-Megha Vakharia 6-2, 6-1.
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