The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Shikha Uberoi begins in style

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Sep 20, 2005

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Sport - Cricket

Shikha Uberoi begins in style

S. Dinakar

Kolkata: This is the festival season in Kolkata and the Puja celebrations have already begun. Entertainment programmes are being staged in different parts of the city. There is music, dance, and a blaze of colour lighting up the nights.

The Sunfeast Open is being appropriately held in this part of the year in an ancient city with a heartbeat and a soul. It only adds to a lively, fun-filled ambience.

India's Shikha Uberoi made a winning start to her quest outplaying Japan's Ryoko Fuda 6-1, 6-3. In a first round duel between two baseliners, Shikha's greater consistency saw her through.

Too many errors

The 151st-ranked Indian girl also returned well and broke Fuda in the third, fifth and seventh games of the first set. Though she hit some stinging shots on both flanks, the Japanese girl made too many unforced errors for her comfort. Shikha also appeared to have adjusted to the slower pace of the surface at the Netaji indoor stadium better than her 185th-ranked opponent.

Fuda did break Shikha in the first game of the second set, but the Indian girl evened things up in the sixth. Fuda's failure to hold serve in the eighth game meant Shikha was soon serving for the match. She did not falter at the final hurdle.

In a first round contest sprinkled with breaks, Puerto Rico's Vilmarie Castellvi eliminated Switzerland's Emmanuelle Gagliardi 6-4, 6-4. Castellvi is ranked 173 to Gagliardi's 100 and it was an upset of sorts. After both players failed to hold serve at the beginning of the match, Castellvi raced to a 5-2 lead. Despite a mini fightback from Gagliardi, Castellvi was able to close out the set. Gagliardi attempted rushing the net to counter Castellvi's passing shots in the second set but the Puerto Rican managed to find a way through.

It was a busy day for Sania Mirza. She spent time with school children, had an intense practice session, and participated in the event's opening ceremony.

Busier times await the competition's emotional favourite. Sania begins her campaign by meeting Japanese qualifier Junri Namigata in the first round on

Tuesday evening. Though surprises are commonplace on the Tour, Sania is a couple of levels above her 283rd-ranked opponent.

Day two will also feature an intriguing clash between Neha Uberoi and Sunitha Rao. Both seek a Federation Cup berth. Both will not be found wanting in motivation.

In doubles action, the third seeded Aussie-Thailand pair of Nicole Pratt and Tamarine Tanasugarn was knocked out by Chia Jung Chuang and Rika Fujiwara in straight sets.

The Chief Minister of Bengal, Buddadheb Bhatacharjee, inaugurated the tournament by knocking balls on the centre court with Indian Davis Cup star Mahesh Bhupathi.

The results:

First round: Vilmarie Castellvi (Pur) bt Emmanuelle Gagliardi (Sui) 6-4, 6-4; Shikha Uberoi (Ind) bt Ryoko Fuda (Jpn) 6-1, 6-3.

Doubles (first round): Arantxa Parra Santojna & Antonella Serra Zanetti bt Chin Wei Chan & Su Wei Hsieh 7-6, 2-6, 6-3; Chia Jung Chuang & Rika Fujiwara bt 3-Nicole Pratt & Tamarine Tanasugarn 6-3, 6-2; Melinda Czink & Yuliana Fedak bt Rushmi Chakravarthi & Junri Nagimata 7-6, 6-4.

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