The Hindu : Sport : Hingis, Rezai advance

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Hingis, Rezai advance

Nandita Sridhar

The Frenchwoman has it easy; the Swiss sweats it out

PHOTO: AFP

BREEZING THROUGH: French player Aravane Rezai had an easy round against Tatiana Poutchek of Belarus.

Kolkata: What the Sunfeast Open 2006 has managed to do more than anything else is showcase the multiple utility of the often under-utilised drop-shot. There was Tatiana Poutchek's version, which was something of a desperation shot against a player on a rampage — even if it meant losing the point — and then there was Martina Hingis's version — subtle, well-disguised and effective.

Against Aravane Rezai, the thigh-slapping racket-smashing Poutchek's lack of pace proved her undoing. Rezai was simply unstoppable, winning 6-1, 6-2, in the second round of the Sunfeast Open WTA event, at the Netaji Indoor Stadium, on Wednesday.

Rezai's combination of big serving and harder hitting did the trick against the Belarusian. With no major weapon of her own, Poutchek tried summoning tricks that were alien to her, one of which was the drop-shot. She found her bearings only towards the end of the first set when Rezai sent a couple of shots out. The second set was no different for both. A well-directed ace sealed it for the fourth seed.

"I played very well today, she also played well, but the better player today won I guess," said Rezai. The entire crowd was behind the Frenchwoman as she went on to set up a potential quarterfinal clash with Sania Mirza.

A thriller

But before that, Sania will have to deal with Germany's Sandra Kloesel, who defeated Russian Galina Voskoboeva 7-6(5), 5-7, 6-4 in a thrilling three-setter. Squandering a matchpoint in the second set, Kloesel had it extremely difficult contending with the bombs that her opponent served. The crucial third set saw both players engage in heated exchanges of groundstrokes. Unfortunately for Voskoboeva, she had errors creeping into her game at the worst of times — in the last game of the match.

"I am playing here for the first time, and I'm really looking forward to playing Sania next," said Kloesel.

Meanwhile, Martina Hingis did what she usually does to win matches, albeit sweating a lot more than usual. Getting off to a semi-slow start in the first set, the Swiss had no difficulty in prevailing over Israeli Tzipora Obziler 6-2, in the first set. Obziler, whose fighting qualities probably feature ahead of any tennis skill on her CV, played her heart out in the second, helped largely by a huge serve. Hingis eventually prevailed 6-2, 7-5.

Other results: Singles: Second round: Tamarine Tanasugarn (Tha) bt Abigail Spears (USA) 2-6, 6-3, 6-2. Doubles: Second round: Hana Sromova (Cze) & Angelique Widjaja (Ina) bt Rushmi Chakravarthi (Ind) & Sandy Gumulya (Ina) 6-1, 6-0; Casey Dellacqua (Aus) & Sunitha Rao (USA) bt Chia-Jung Chuang (Tpe) & Tamarine Tanasugarn (Tha) 6-2, 4-6, 7-6(6); Yuliana Beygelzimer (UKR) & Yuliana Fedak (Ukr) bt Akgul Amanmuradova (Uzb) & Iroda Tulyaganova (Uzb) 7-6(6), 5-7, 3-0 (conceded); Nicole Pratt (Aus) & Anastassia Rodionova (Rus) bt Arantxa Parra Santonja (Esp) & Abigail Spears (USA) 6-4, 6-4.

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