The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Rushmi downs Tongsalee

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 15, 2005

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Sport - Tennis

Rushmi downs Tongsalee

Nandakumar Marar

MUMBAI: Rushmi Chakravarthi rallied to defeat Napaporn Tongsalee 3-6, 6-0, 6-4 to confirm an Indian entry in the $ 25,000 ITF women's tennis tournament singles final. The sixth seed will take on qualifier Shruti Dhawan in Friday's semifinal.

Shruti ended the aspirations of Sai Jayalakshmy Jayaram in another quarterfinal cruising to victory after initial hiccup. The 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 verdict over the conqueror of top seed Nina Bratchikova should serve as a confidence-booster for this Chandigarh-based girl now toughened by the European circuit.

Rushmi, connecting the ball sweetly right through this week, needed to do more than keep the ball in play for points. Napaporn, ranked higher up the ladder at 306, troubled the sixth seeded Indian with subtle variations in strokeplay. The Indian lost six games in a row after being 3-0 up in the first set.

The rallies got longer in the next two sets, three breaks and consistent hitting helping Rushmi bounce back. Games went with serves in the decider till the seventh, the Indian asserting herself with solid first serves and searing groundstrokes to notch another break in the ninth. After winning three-setters against Isha Lakhani, Megha Vakharia and the Thai third seed in back-to-back ties so far, Shruti may prove to be a more predictable rival.

The results (Indians unless specified):

Quarterfinals: 2-Chin-Wei Chan (Tpe) bt Julia Vorobeva (Rus) 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-5; Shruti Dhawan bt Sai Jayalakshmy Jayaram 3-6, 6-1, 6-1; 6-Rushmi Chakravarthy bt 3-Napaporn Tongsalee (Thn) 3-6, 6-0, 6-4; Andrea Hlavackova (Cze) bt Thassha Vitayaviroj (Thn) 5-7, 7-5, 7-5.

Doubles: quarterfinals: Nina Bratchikova (Rus)/Francesca Lubiani (Ita) bt Yurika Sema/Natsumi Hamamura (Jpn) 6-4, 7-6 (6); Chin-Wei Chan (Tpe)/Julia Vorobeva (Rus) bt Sheetal Goutham/Sonal Phadke 6-4, 6-1; Sai Jayalakshmy-Jayaram/Rushmi Chakravarthi bt Krushmi Chedda/Kavitha Krishnamurthy (Can) 6-0, 6-3; Ivanna Israilova (Uzb)/Napaporn Tongsalee (Thn) bt Wilawang Choptang (Thn)/Shruti Dhawan 6-1, 7-6 (4).

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