The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Megha has it easy

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Feb 04, 2006

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Megha has it easy

Kamesh Srinivasan

MUZAFFARNAGAR: Megha Vakharia proved too smart for Czarina Mae Arevalo of Philippines and the 21-year-old Mumbai girl raced to a 6-3, 6-3 triumph in the semifinals of the Bhavna Swarup memorial $10,000 ITF women's tennis tournament at the Services Club grass courts here on Friday.

The only girl to keep the Indian hopes alive, the third-seeded Megha dropped serve twice — once each in the two sets — but served and stroked increasingly well as the match progressed to outwit the stocky Filipino who had a nice touch but not the athleticism to match the diminutive Indian.

Czarina's impressive serve, which had seen her outplay the second-seeded Nicole Clerico for the loss of just one game earlier, seemed to have deserted her and she lost serve five times during the match. She was also erratic with her usually reliable groundstrokes.

Setting the tone

It could have still been tricky for Megha, but she saved four breakpoints to set the tone early in both sets to ensure an easy passage into the final. She needed just an hour to dispose of the challenge from Czarina, who treated the sparse gathering to some delightful shots on both flanks before bowing out.

Paarul bows out

In contrast to Megha's successful effort, fifth-seeded Paarul Goswami cut a sorry figure, losing to the eighth seed Ksenia Palkina of Kyrgyzstan in straight sets 6-1, 7-5.

Paarul struggled with her serve throughout the match, though she put up a fight in the second set. The 19-year-old Paarul, who reached the final of a similar tournament in Pune in November, held serve only once in the entire contest — in the sixth game of the second set. Worse, she did not have a gamepoint in any of her other nine service games.

The 16-year-old Palkina who has made it to her fourth singles final, including two in the international junior circuit, on the trot in five weeks of stay in India, went for her shots as she knew that she could outslug the Indian girl who hardly stepped past the baseline into the court let alone approach the net.

The results (semifinals): Ksenia Palkina (Kgz) bt Paarul Goswami 6-1, 7-5; Megha Vakharia bt Czarina Mae Arevalo (Phi) 6-3, 6-3.

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