The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Ankita makes semifinals

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 09, 2004

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Ankita makes semifinals

By Rakesh Rao

NEW DELHI, APRIL 8. Nursing a troubled forearm, Rushmi Chakravarthy made a painful exit from the Bank of Baroda $ 10,000 ITF Women's tennis tournament soon after an injured Shikha Uberoi pulled out of her quarterfinal match against Ankita Bhambri at the DLTA Complex here on Thursday.

On a day of straight-set results, favourite Chuang Chia-Jung advanced with a well-earned 6-3, 7-5 verdict against China's Yang Shu-Jing. A little earlier, Yang's compatriot Hao Jie won the battle of unseeded players by scoring a 6-0, 7-5 victory over Thailand's Wilawan Choptang.

Rushmi's 1-6, 2-6 defeat to fifth seed Montinee Tangphong was primarily due to some good work from the baseline by the Thai girl. The second-seeded Indian was never in the contest after being down 0-5 in the first set that lasted 25 minutes. With Rushmi struggling to put her forehand returns in place, Montinee had some easy pickings.

In the second set, Rushmi lost her serve twice to trail 0-3. She did manage to break Montinee at 15 in the fourth game, but dropped serve at love in the following game.

In fact, Rushmi, too, had her chances against Montinee's serve but her flawed returns allowed the Thai to wriggle out from 15-40 for a 5-1 lead. Even while Montinee was serving for the match, Rushmi had a break-back opportunity but she could do no better. Later, Rushmi retired from the doubles semifinal after losing the first set in the company of Sai Jayalakshmi.

Before Rushmi's campaign in the singles ended, Shikha withdrew from her quarterfinal match when she trailed 0-4 in the first set against Ankita. The fourth seed suffered an excruciating pain in the right para-vertebral area resulting in severe spasms that in turn led to the tightening of the back muscles. Shikha struggled to even bend her back while serving and, on one occasion, almost collapsed. Ankita now plays Chuang.

Later, Chuang overpowered an irrepressible Yang to enter the semfinals. If in the first set, Yang caught up with the top seed after being 1-3 down, in the second, she bridged a 2-5 deficit by saving a match-point while serving in the ninth game. In the 10th game, Yang broke Chuang at love to level the match and raised visions of forcing the decider. At this stage, Chuang raised her level by a notch, broke back at 15 and held at love to bring a sudden end to the proceedings.

The other quarterfinal saw Hao blank Wilawan in the opening set. This 45-minute set produced plenty of rallies and saw Wilawan win 15 points but could not earn a game. In the second, Wilawan looked better placed when she served for a 5-3 lead but Hao broke back to make it 4-4. The next three games went with serves before Hao converted her first breakpoint for a place in the semifinal.

The results: Singles (quarterfinals): 1-Chuang Chia-Jung (Tpe) bt Yang Shu-Jing (Chn) 6-3, 7-5; 7-Ankita Bhambri (Ind) bt 4-Shikha Uberoi (USA) 4-0 (conceded); Hao Jie (Chn) bt Wilawan Choptang (Tha) 6-0, 7-5; 5-Montinee Tangphong (Tha) bt 2-Rushmi Chakravarthi (Ind) 6-1, 6-2.

Doubles (semifinals): 1-Chuang Chia-Jung (Tpe) and Khoo Chin-Bee (Mas) bt 4-Wilawan Choptang (Tha) and Diana Julianto (Ina) 6-2, 6-4; 3-Yang Shu-Jing and Yu Ying (Chn) bt 2-Rushmi Chakravarthi and Sai Jayalakshmy (Ind) 6-1 (conceded).

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