Sport - Tennis   

Isha Lakhani enters quarterfinals

By Nandakumar Marar

Photo: Atul Kamble

India's Isha Lakhani in action against Shiho Hisamatsu of Japan in the pre-quarterfinals of the ITF women's circuit In Mumbai on Wednesday.

MUMBAI Nov. 5 Isha Lakhani pulled a fast one on Shiho Hisamatsu, setting up a tantalising quarterfinal clash with Sania Mirza in the $ 25,000 International Tennis Federation's women's Circuit event. The Mumbai left-hander swatted the top seeded Japanese out of her way 6-4, 6-3 in the singles pre-quarterfinal on Wednesday at the National Sports Club of India courts and now has one of India's hardest hitters firmly in the line of fire.

An accidental head injury to Megha Vakharia may have shaken up the bouncy local girl and a bit of grey matter up there. It also miraculously sharpened the unseeded strokemaker's focus against second seed Hana Sromova. The highly-rated Czech Republic player didn't know what hit her, the former coming back from a first-set loss to astonishingly cruise home 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 for a place in the quarterfinals phase.

Rushmi Chakravarthi grabbed one more spot in the last eight by sending out Verena Beller in straight sets to join Suchanan Viratprasert (third seed), Gabriela Navratilova (fourth), Akgul Amanmuradova (eight) and upstart Montinee Tangphong in the list of survivors with three more days to go, the casualties among Indians being Sonal Phadke, Sai Jayalakshmy-Jairam, Radhika Tulpule and Ankita Bhambri.

Isha made light of windy, humid conditions against the top seed Japanese, in keeping with her reputation on the Circuit of being a fiercely competitive rival. The Mumbai left-hander kept the ball in play in conditions not conducive for strokeplay, using a lot of topspin to collect points off a rattled Hisamatsu.

"I kept on getting better," quipped the winner, in high spirits and looking forward to the next match. She managed four breaks in the first, three in the second after starting off on the wrong foot by dropping the opening game in both sets.

Megha may have surprised herself by keeping the legs moving after stepping on court with a bandaged head. "I went to play so that I would avoid fines even after conceding, but felt quite well and kept on going," she admitted, wrapping up the first even after getting broken in the fifth. Thereafter both struck up a rhythm to fight hard for each point in the second, before the youngster broke away in the decider. She had planned to hit a few balls before conceding to avoid complications arising from the fall and surprise turned to delight when the points started trickling her way.

The Mumbai girl, surprised to be hitting after walking to the venue with medical papers to be handed over to match officials, concentrated hard despite a throbbing head, the funny feeling inside turning to delight as points kept piling up, the first set loss soon forgotten as she moved on court with new purpose.

The results (Indian unless specified):

Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Isha Lakhani bt 1- Shiho Hisamatsu (Jpn) 6-4, 6-3; 7-Sania Mirza bt Sonal Phadke 6-0, 6-0; 3-Suchanan Viratprasert (Thn) bt Sai Jayalakshmy-Jairam 6-3, 6-3; Montinee Tangphong (Thn) bt Radhika Tulpule 6-0, 6-2; Rushmi Chakravarthi bt 5-Verena Beller 6-2,7-6 (1); 4-Gabriela Navratilova (Cze) bt Ankita Bhambri 6-2, 6-2; 8-Akgul Amanmuradova (Cze) bt Maria Penkova 6-2, 6-2; Megha Vakharia bt 2-Hana Sromova (Cze) 4-6, 6-4, 6-1.

Doubles (second round): Gabriela Navratilova/Hana Sromova (Cze) bt Montinee Tangphong/Thassha Vitayaviroj (Thn) 6-2, 6-3; Akgul Amanmuradova (Cze)/Chin-Bee Khoo (Mal) bt Shruti Dhawan/Megha Vakharia 3-6, 7-5, 6-0; Rushmi Chakravarthi/Sai Jayalakshmy-Jairam bt Isha Lakhani/Liza Pereira 1-6, 6-2, 6-3; Sonal Phadke/Ankita Bhambri bt Geeta Manohar/Radhika Tulpule 6-4, 6-3; Sandra Sashidharan/Krushmi Chedda bt Karin Marties Lems/Nandini Perumal 6-2, 6-3; Sania Mirza/Suchanan Viratprasert bt Lata Assudani/Rati Kumar 6-2,6-2.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport

News: Front Page | National | Southern States | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary |

Stories in this Section

Cricket

• Kiwis have their task cut out
• Aussies do some image-building
• Is it good-bye to Old Trafford?
• Guha dies of heart attack
• Ganguly returns to nets
• Fleming-speak and the truth of the matter
• Vikram Rathour retires
  
  Tennis
  
• Isha Lakhani enters quarterfinals
  
  Football
  
• Salgaocar sails into semifinals
  
  Golf
  
• Indians tipped to do well
  
  Volleyball
  
• J&K edges out Chhattisgarh
  
  

Copyright © 2003, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu