The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Kyra tames Tian Ran

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, May 21, 2010
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Kyra tames Tian Ran

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Wild card Kyra Shroff tamed second-seeded Tian Ran of China 6-3, 6-4 in the girls' semifinals of the Central Bank ITF junior grade ‘II' tennis tournament at the DLTA Complex here on Thursday.

It was a morale-boosting victory for the 17-year-old Kyra, and sweet revenge for the tame defeat that she had suffered in Manila in a grade ‘I' tournament against the Chinese girl.

What stood out in Kyra, coached by former Davis Cupper and SAF Games champion, Prahlad Srinath, was her tenacity and intensity of focus.

Kyra was able to vary the pace in the rallies, and did not let the talented Chinese settle into any sort of rhythm. She was quite gutsy with her retrieves and when the openings came her way she was able to put it away, to give herself umpteen chances to clench her fist and let out a war cry.

Kyra will be up against the Chinese fourth seed Yang Zi, who battled for nearly three hours but conceded only five games to compatriot Yang Zhaoxuan who had shown the door to the top-seeded Eri Hozumi in an earlier round.

Yang Zi had twice beaten Kyra in as many meetings, and that includes a double bagel in the semifinals of a grade ‘III' tournament in Chandigarh in January.

It will be interesting to see how Kyra handles the challenge on Friday on the show court.

The other Indian hope, Ronit Bisht belied expectations and went down fighting 5-7, 5-7 to the tall and lean Chinese, the second-seeded Wang Chuhan.

Ronit Bisht did very well to recover from an early break in both the sets, but was unable to capitalise on his chances, as he was slightly more erratic than his opponent.

After stretching the contest from being down 3-5 in the first set, Bisht lacked the drive in the second set.

He did make it interesting by breaking back in the seventh game of the second set, but was unable to test his opponent any further.

The results (semifinals):

Boys: Ouyang Bowen (Chn) bt Liang-Chi Huang (Tpe) 6-4, 6-2; Wang Chuhan bt Ronit Bisht 7-5, 7-5.

Girls: Yang Zi (Chn) bt Yang Zhaoxuan (Chn) 7-5, 6-0; Kyra Shroff bt Tian Ran (Chn) 6-3, 6-4 .

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

Sport