The Hindu : Sport : Isha Lakhani goes down fighting

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Feb 17, 2006

Sport

Sport

Isha Lakhani goes down fighting

Nandita Sridhar

ON COURSE: Mara Santangelo overcame Tzipora Obziler to enter the quarterfinals of the WTA Bangalore Open. - PHOTO: K. BHAGYA PRAKASH

Bangalore: The scoreline may not suggest it, but this was a match that happened in slow motion. The rallies, thick with topspin from both ends, were played with no hurry, like a hypnotist trying to induce sleep. Consequently, the only source of entertainment came from an emotionally charged and pumped up Isha Lakhani, who seemed quite aware that WTA Tour matches don't happen everyday when you are ranked 488 in the world.

Isha lost 3-6, 3-6 to Ukraine's Yuliana Fedak in the second round of the Bangalore Open, but one's heart went out to the 20-year-old for giving it her best shot.

Clearly the more aggressive of the two, Isha did well to level after being down 0-3 in the first set. But she appeared a little too eager and ambitious in her shot-making besides letting a few line calls affect her composure.

She tried too hard and had to watch her shots fly outside the baseline, and once saw even her racket follow suit.

Some of her moments of eagerness seemed to blur the gap between the baseline and the service box, with Isha standing just a few inches outside it while receiving.

Her best shots were the ones down the line and she also had a few fruitful moments at the net. Her backhand was forceful, but the placements left a lot to be desired.

Fedak benefited enormously from her opponent's obvious lack of experience on the big stage and adopted the Camille Pin strategy of staying patient and calm, and in no big hurry to expose her weapons to the crowd (exactly four kids faithfully kept cheering her name).

Fedak let one or two sneak out when performing the match's final rites, but otherwise played a gentle hitting game, till Isha put a full stop to the encounter with an error.

``I lost because of lack of experience and lack of self-belief. I played well just in patches,'' said a dejected Isha. ``The self-belief will just have to come with more practice. I really worked on my serve earlier, but I just couldn't make it today. I will work on my serve and forehand,'' she added.

Isha served well initially, but as the match wore on Fedak easily spotted the direction of the ball and positioned herself well.

Santangelo moves up

Mara Santangelo and Jelena Kostanic ensured that there were no more seeded casualties by winning their respective second round matches. Third-seeded Santangelo was a 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 winner over Tzipora Obziler. ``I am very happy with the match. I tried to be more aggressive in the second and third sets, and that helped me,'' said Santangelo. When asked if there was pressure on her, as she's the highest seed left in the draw, the Italian said, ``I never think about the title, I just think about the next match.''

Sixth-seeded Kostanic sliced her way into the quarterfinals with a 6-1, 6-4 demolition of Kaia Kanepi.

Other results: Singles (second round): Maria Elena Camerin bt Alla Kudryavtseva 6-1, 7-5.

Doubles (second round):

Sania Mirza/Liezel Huber bt Martina Muller/Silvija Talaja 7-6(10), 2-6, 6-4; Anastassia Rodionova/Elena Vesnina bt Alona Bondarenko/Kateryna Bondarenko 7-6, 6-3; Mariya Koryttseva/Shahar Peer bt Su-Wei Hsieh/Tamarine Tanasugarn 6-3, 6-1; Melinda Czink/ Vania King bt Ivana Abramovic/Marija Abramovic 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.

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