The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Prerna Bhambri wins maiden title

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Sunday, Jun 26, 2011
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Prerna Bhambri wins maiden title

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Prerna Bhambri blasted her way to the title as she outplayed the top-seeded Keren Shlomo of Israel 6-2, 6-3 in the final of the $10,000 ITF women's tennis tournament at the DLTA Complex here on Saturday.

On a day of dramatic turns, when Doordarshan television crew was left stranded without electricity and had to be mute spectators rather than give ‘live' coverage of the match, the 18-year-old Prerna stole the thunder with an electrifying exhibition of her entertaining strokes. A student of Jesus and Mary College, Prerna did coach Aditya Sachdeva proud, in winning her maiden title at this level. He was not on hand to witness the ward's triumph, but Prerna did what he had asked her, “play your game and be confident''.

Indeed, Prerna was confident though she admitted that there was no pressure on her as she had lost to Keren rather tamely in the quarterfinals last month in Hyderabad.

Prerna led 4-0 in the first set, and more importantly maintained the momentum to take a 3-0 lead with a break in the second game of the second set.

That was crucial and the Delhi girl accelerated to a smooth finish as she dropped only six points in all in her next three service games.

Unlike in the first set, when she double-faulted twice to drop serve in the fifth game, in losing a bit of the initiative, Prerna did not give any chance for Keren to get back into the match in the second set. In both the sets, Prerna's serve was too good, as she did not drop a point in the first two service games in the first set, and dropped only one point in all in the first two service games in the second.

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