The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Patty Schnyder survives a scare

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Mar 08, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Patty Schnyder survives a scare

Kalyan Ashok

— Photo: K. Gopinathan

Patty Schnyder.

BANGALORE: As matches go, this must have been one of the toughest encounters at the Bangalore Open as the fourth seed and World No. 12 Patty Schnyder came through a test by fire to prevail over a fighting Akgul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan in three hours.

Amanmuradova staved off three match points down 6-5 in the decider, before Schnyder closed it in the tie-breaker. The valiant effort earned Amanmuradova a huge round applause.

For once, Schnyder who makes her rivals earn every point, had to do that herself.

Amanmuradova, the 6’ 3” girl from Tashkent, thus had her best run in a Tier II WTA event.

She had beaten last year’s champion Yaroslava Shvedova of Russia and fifth-seeded Agnes Szavay of Hungary before the pulsating clash with Patty Schnyder.

A strong baseliner, who packs quite a punch in her first serve, Amanmuradova said she was disappointed she could not keep up the pressure after breaking Schnyder early in the decider, where she led 3-1.

“She is a very good player and a lot more experienced than I. I played aggressively and I am satisfied with the overall performance and I am happy that I could stretch someone like Patty all the way which I did not imagine at the beginning of the tournament,” Amanmuradova said.

Heavy schedule

Amanmuradova felt she had had a heavy schedule as compared to Schnyder and that had drained her out.

“She had a bye into the second round and this was her second match, but I played six matches including the doubles and all my singles went to three sets. I felt mentally tired in the second set and though I tried to pick myself up, it proved tough. I also wish I could put more of my first serves in,” said the Uzbek girl ranked No. 78.

However, after her performance here, is set to climb up the chart.

If Amanmuradova was pleased with her spirited effort, Swiss southpaw Patty Schnyder was very relieved that she found her way back after a torrid time.

“It was a tough match for both of us and I had a slow start, but began hitting better. After going into the tie-break, I decided to rally and win the points and that worked out. After I won the first three, I was confident I could wrap it up,” she said.

Turning point

The turning point, according Schnyder, was the decider when she came back from 1-3 down.

“I then knew I could work my way up and my fitness level was good enough for the distance,” said the Swiss star, who twice requested on-court coaching.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport