The Hindu : Isha tames Sandy

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jan 23, 2004

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Isha tames Sandy

By Kamesh Srinivasan

NEW DELHI, JAN. 22. Isha Lakhani stood out with a fine exhibition of intense strokeplay, even as the rest of the Indian players crashed out in the $10,000 ITF women's tennis tournament at the DLTA Complex here on Thursday.

On a day when the second-seeded Rushmi Chakravarthi and the third-seeded Megha Vakharia failed to live up to their status, it was Isha who lifted the sagging morale in the Indian camp.

Isha beat the champion of last week, Sandy Gumulya of Indonesia, 6-0, 6-2 in the quarterfinals. The way Isha changed to the higher gear in the afternoon was in stark contrast to her tentative play earlier in the day, when she was down 4-5 against Sheethal Goutham.

Sheethal was playing close to her best in recent times, as she recovered from being 0-4 down to be serving for the set at 5-4. However, Sheethal was unable to sustain her good work for long and Isha raced away with the next nine games, to win 7-5, 6-0.

Rushmi was tested thoroughly in the pre-quarterfinals by the free-stroking I-Hsuan Hwang, a qualifier who was using the opportunity to compete among the professionals, prior to her commitment to play the ITF junior events over the next three weeks in Kolkata, Delhi and Chandigarh.

Though she won that encounter in straight sets, Rushmi lost to the energetic Giorgia Mortello of Itally. Rushmi was broken decisively in the ninth game of the first set, when she delivered a doublefault on the third breakpoint. In a see-saw battle in the second set, when Giorgia's single-handed backhands tended to misfire, Rushmi dropped serve in the 11th game, the fourth time she was dropping serve in that set, to lose her way.

A favourable call on her third breakpoint in the 12th game helped Giorgia to close out the match on the second matchpoint.

Isha and Giorgia will face two Thai girls, Thassha Vitayaviroj and Montinee Tangphong respectively, in the semifinals. Montinee put it across Shruti Dhawan, while Thassha put paid to the hopes of Iciri Rai.

The results (quarterfinals): Isha Lakhani bt Sandy Gumulya (Ina) 6-0, 6-2; Thassha Vitayaviroj (Tha) bt Iciri Rai 6-4, 6-4; Montinee Tangphong (Tha) bt Shruti Dhawan 6-2, 7-6 (7-1); Giorgia Mortello (Ita) bt Rushmi Chakravarthi 6-4, 7-5; Pre-quarterfinals: Isha Lakhani bt Sheethal Goutham 7-5, 6-0; Sandy Gumulya bt Lisa Tognetti (Ita) 6-4, 1-6, 6-2; Thassha Vitayaviroj bt Megha Vakharia 6-4, 6-4; Shruti Dhawan bt Sandhya Nagaraj 6-2, 6-3; Rushmi Chakravarthi bt I-Hsuan Hwang (Tpe) 6-3, 6-4.

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