The Hindu : Sport : It's mission accomplished for China

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Apr 24, 2005

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Sport

It's mission accomplished for China

Kamesh Srinivasan

— Photo: Rajeev Bhatt

SHOWING HER CLASS: Shikha Uberoi outplayed Jin-Hee Kim in the second singles.

NEW DELHI: It was mission accomplished for China, as it humbled Australia 2-0 to clinch the lone qualifier's spot for the World Group play-off in the Fed Cup Asia-Oceania group `I' tennis competition at the R.K. Khanna Stadium here on Saturday. For India, without Sania Mirza, a third place was a triumph in itself as it beat Korea 2-1 in the play-off.

China proved too good for seven-time champion Australia, even with out the services of its No. 1 player, the 42nd ranked Na Li who rushed back to sort her visa to play WTA tournaments in Europe.

Olympic doubles gold medallist, 145th-ranked Tian Tian Sun, gave China a flying start humbling the 111th-ranked Evie Dominikovic 6-3, 7-5 in the first singles. The stage was then set for the 69th- ranked Jie Zheng to show her class against the 52nd-ranked Samantha Stosur.

A handful

The hard-hitting Zheng, used to the slow pace of the centre-court after having played Rushmi Chakravarthi the previous day, proved more than a handful for Stosur, though the Aussie fought hard by breaking back twice in the second set.

The absence of the ninth-ranked Alicia Molik and the 92nd-ranked Nicole Pratt hurt Australia's chances even before it took the court for its first zonal competition since Fed Cup started in 1963.

In the third place play-off tie between India and Korea, the huge gathering enjoyed a superb performance from Shikha Uberoi and Rushmi who humbled the Koreans 6-3, 6-3.

While Rushmi sported a smile at a job well done, Shikha jumped for joy. After all, India had justified its third seeding, earned through Sania Mirza's high ranking.

Earlier, the 22-year-old Shikha showed what she was capable of in the second singles.

She shrugged off her indifferent game and hammered the Korean No.1 Jin-Hee Kim 6-3, 6-1 in 57 minutes, cracking fluent winners especially on her forehand and coming in nicely for a few crisp volleys.

Though the 276th-ranked Korean had a weak serve, Shikha failed to convert four breakpoints in the second game. Thereafter Jin-Hee Kim managed to hold serve only once in the whole match, in the sixth game of the first set.

Shikha got broken in the third game of the first set following two double-faults, but it was just an aberration. She had one ace and 12 winners that would have definitely brought back her confidence. Once she saved a breakpoint in the fifth game of the first set, Shikha was on course for a morale-boosting victory.

Ankita Bhambri played well in patches, but got broken five times in eight service games to be able to make a fight of it against Ye-Ra Lee, a talented junior. It must have been disappointing for Ankita, but the Delhi girl will stand to gain from the bitter experience.

New Zealand and Chinese Taipei stayed back in group `I' for next season, as they knocked down Singapore and Kazakhstan with ease into group `II'. Uzbekistan and Philippines had earlier qualified for group `I'.

The results: Final: China beat Australia 2-0 (Tian Tian Sun bt Evie Dominikovic 6-3, 7-5; Jie Zheng bt Samantha Stosur 6-3, 6-4).

Third place: India beat Korea 2-1 (Ankita Bhambri lost to Ye-Ra Lee 6-1, 6-3; Shikha Uberoi bt Jin-Hee Kim 6-3, 6-1; Rushmi Chakravarthi and Shikha Uberoi bt Kyung-Mi Chang and Jin-A Lee 6-3, 6-3).

Relegation play-off: New Zealand beat Singapore 2-0 (Paula Marama bt Shao Fang Ong 6-1, 6-0; Marina Erakovic bt Yun-Ling Cassandra Ng 6-0, 6-0).

Chinese Taipei beat Kazakhstan 2-0 (Hsiao-Han Chao bt Tatyana Ignatchenko 6-4, 6-3; Yi Chen bt Mariya Kovaleva 6-2, 6-0).

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