The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Karishma stands tall against Iciri

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jun 02, 2004

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Sport - Tennis

Karishma stands tall against Iciri

By Kamesh Srinivasan

NEW DELHI, JUNE 1. There was a lot of charm in the way the diminutive Karishma Patel timed her strokes against the towering Iciri Rai, making use of the opponent's pace to direct her shots with high velocity into the corners.

After two hours of toil on the synthetic surface that reflected the heat and turned the courts into a furnace, it was no surprise that qualifier Karishma Patel emerged a 7-6 (9-7), 2-6, 6-2 winner in the first round of the $ 10,000 ITF women's circuit tennis tournament at the DLTA Complex here on Tuesday.

Iciri has a big game — searing serves, whipping shots on either flanks and the agility to execute her shots. However, the 23-year-old Karishma, enjoying her return to the circuit after two years, stroked with elan to outsmart her powerful opponent.

The Bangalore girl who trains with C. G. K. Bhupathi, Iciri showed tremendous confidence as she broke back to level things after getting broken in the ninth game. In the tie-breaker, it was Iciri who had setpoint first but the unranked Karishma swung the match around.

In the second set, Iciri broke Karishma in the third and fifth games to level the match. However, in the decider, after an initial exchange of breaks, the 725th-ranked Iciri, who delivered 11 aces and eight doublefaults, was unable to sustain the challenge and Karishma reeled off four games in a row from 2-2 to set up a pre-quarterfinal clash with Naoko Horikawa of Japan.

It was another titanic struggle, lasting two hours and 36 minutes, when the Japanese girl outlasted the seventh-seeded Archana Venkataraman in the third set tie-breaker. Archana led 5-3 in the decider and had done well to force a tie-breaker after having allowed the Japanese to win three games on the trot.

Rather uncharacteristically, the gutsy Archana was unable to match the crafty Horikawa, who stroked with intensity during the latter stages of the contest to emerge victorious. For someone who had reached the singles semifinal and the doubles final last week, it must have been pretty disappointing for Archana to make a quick exit in both singles and doubles. It must, however, be said that the MBA holder from Bangalore tried her best with all the energy she could gather under trying conditions.

Sai Jayalakshmy was a class act as she subdued the Dutch girl, Dorian Driessen, for the loss of just three games in less than an hour. She will now be challenged by Sandhya Nagaraj in the next round.

Smooth sailing for Sheethal

Sheethal Goutham played with usual felicity, without giving too much pace for her tall opponent Punam Reddy, the National junior champion who is being supported by the Sanghi Industries. Sheethal may, however, be tested thoroughly by the second-seeded Ankita Bhambri, who served and stroked with confidence while racing to a 6-2, 6-4 victory, tormenting her opponent with six aces, including two to wind up the show in the last game.

Liza Pereira led 4-1 in the two sets but Rati Kumar fought gamely in stretching both the sets into the tie-breaker. Easily the better player, Liza was able to win the tie-breakers comfortably but she could have won the match a lot quicker than the two hours and 12 minutes she took under a hot sun.

Liza will meet Geeta Manohar, who handled the local girl Parul Goswami easily. Naina Karsolia, who took the place of Nikoleta Kipritidou of Greece after the eighth seed failed to report, was outplayed by Yi Chen of Chinese Taipei.

Rushmi Chakravarthi was troubled a bit by Ragini Vimal, who hits the ball well on both flanks, but the top seed powered her way through once she settled into her groove.

The results:

Singles (first round): Rushmi Chakravarthi bt Ragini Vimal 6-3, 6-0; Yi Chen (Tpe) bt Naina Karsolia 6-3, 6-1; Sai Jayalakshmy bt Dorian Driessen (Ned) 6-2, 6-1; Geeta Manohar bt Parul Goswami 6-4, 6-3; Liza Pereira bt Rati Kumar 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-3); Naoko Horikawa (Jpn) bt Archana Venkataraman 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-2); Sheethal Goutham bt Punam Reddy 6-3, 6-2; Ankita Bhambri bt Nudnida Luangnam (Tha) 6-2, 6-4.

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Orawan Lamangthong/Varanya Vijuksanaboon (Tha) bt Khushchehr Italia/Nandini Perumal 6-4, 6-4; Rushmi/Ankita bt Nudnida/Sagarika Phadke 6-1, 6-2; Vishika Chhetri/Ragini Vimal bt Lata Assudani/Rati Kumar 3-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-1.

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