The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Birthday girl Aishwarya stars in Indian win

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 25, 2007
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Birthday girl Aishwarya stars in Indian win

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Aishwarya Agrawal celebrated her birthday in style by winning both her singles and doubles matches as India beat New Zealand 3-0 in the World Junior Cup Asia-Oceania under-14 girls tennis championship at the DLTA Complex here on Tuesday.

It was a dream start for the host, as Aishwarya played an all-round game with considerable intensity to breeze through the first singles, in just 47 minutes, dropping one game, to Leela Jayne Beattie.

Later, she was brought in for the doubles as well, against the original plan, and Aishwarya responded by combining well with Rishika Sunkara to clinch the third rubber for India in the second set tie-break.

Nova slugs it out

The fluent start could be well appreciated only later when Nova Patel went through a long-drawn encounter against the tall left-hander Briar Margot Preston. Returning to the circuit after ill-health, Nova was still able to put her best foot forward and fight hard, especially in the decider after she had allowed her opponent to draw level after being ahead 4-1. Eventually, Nova finished strongly for a 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-4 triumph in a marathon match that lasted two hours and 25 minutes.

It was only understandable that the Indian coach Vibhor Sharma replaced Nova for the doubles with Aishwarya.

Korea beats Kazakhstan

India will meet Kazakhstan in its second league match on Wednesday. Kazakhstan tumbled to a 1-2 defeat after winning the first singles against Korea, the fourth team in the pool.

The results: Pool `A': Indonesia bt Hong Kong 3-0; Uzbekistan bt Malaysia 3-0.

Pool `B': Thailand bt Chinese Taipei 3-0; Japan bt Sri Lanka 3-0.

Pool `C': Australia bt Philippines 3-0; China bt Singapore 3-0.

Pool `D': India bt NewZealand 3-0 (Aishwarya Agrawal bt Leela Jayne Beattie 6-0, 6-1; Nova Pael bt Briar Margot Preston 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-4; Aishwarya/ Rishika Sunkara bt Briar Margot Preston/ Emily Jane Fanning 6-4, 7-6(5); Korea bt Kazakhstan 2-1.

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