The Hindu : Sport : King conquers Camille Pin

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Feb 18, 2006

Sport

Sport

King conquers Camille Pin

Nandita Sridhar

OOZING TALENT: Vania King, the youngest player in the fray, entered the semifinals defeating Sania Mirza's conqueror Camille Pin. - PHOTO: K. BHAGYA PRAKASH

Bangalore: Vania King would have felt the pinch of stepping into Sania Mirza's shoes when she faced Camille Pin, whose only weapon of destruction is a tennis ball that takes its own sweet time to reach the opponent's racquet.

However, with some solid tennis, the 17-year-old King stormed into the semifinals of the WTA Bangalore Open with a 6-2, 7-6(7) victory over the Frenchwoman at the KSLTA Kingfisher Stadium here on Friday.

A refreshing change from the never-in-a-hurry-to-finish-the-rally baseline marathons, the King-Pin encounter saw the former display wonderful improvisation.

On the other hand, Pin's shots would have aptly fitted the description of a sub-continent cricket pitch — slow and low. Her lobs, too, weren't as deep as the ones she produced against Sania.

Patience pays

More than the power of her strokes, it was the way the American tested Pin's retrieving capabilities and patiently waited for the right ball to go in for the kill that helped her take a stranglehold on the match.

King struggled in the second set, suffering from leg cramps and fatigue, but fought on with sheer guts and determination, especially during the see-saw tie-break where she saved two set points and pulled through to clinch the set and match.

Pin, who had put a stop to the Sania mania and the Vania v Sania wordplay, might never scale great heights in tennis, but is more than capable of creating plenty of head-scratching moments for any top player on the Tour.

"I am extremely happy to reach my first WTA Tour semifinal. I was exhausted and cramping in the second set, and if I had not won that set and the match then, I would have given up," said King.

She had earlier made it to the second round of the 2005 U.S. Open after getting a wildcard for the qualifiers. Ranked 140, she is a youngster to watch out for, given the wide range of shots at her disposal.

"Sania is a much more powerful hitter, but Vania has a good all-round game," said her victim Pin.

Camerin pulls out

Croatia's Jelena Kostanic was the second player to reach the semifinals after Maria Elena Camerin pulled out with a gastroenteritis problem. The scoreline read 4-2 in Kostanic's favour at that stage.

"I do feel bad for her, but I have no problems that the match was so short. I am happy that I am through to the semifinals. I've been playing a lot, but I would have preferred playing a full match," said Kostanic.

In another quarterfinal, Melinda Czink choked, screamed and sulked, but still progressed to the last four, overcoming 2005 Hyderabad Open finalist Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine in a two hour 31 minute marathon 6-2, 6-7(4), 7-6(6).

Czink struggled with her serve in the second set after easily claiming the first, losing her cool when she was ahead 4-2. The final set tie-break was evenly contested with both players coming up with winners and errors alternately. Czink looked like giving up when Bondarenko saved a

matchpoint, but an unforced error from the latter sealed the issue in her favour.

"I am happy that I played a tough match. I love to play matches everyday. I was nervous and felt the pressure, which was why I could not wrap it up early," said Czink.

Santangelo beats Fedak

Italian Mara Santangelo beat Yuliana Fedak 6-4, 6-3 in the last singles quarterfinal of the day to complete the semifinal line-up. The third seed, the highest seed left in the tournament, meets King and Kostanic clashes with Czink in the other semifinal encounter.

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