Maharashtra Herald, November 13, 2007
PUNE: There was a semblance of dullness attached to the proceedings of the $25,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament being played at the Deccan Gymkhana tennis courts on Monday. A soporific ambience, coupled with a sparse crowd, greeted Parija Maloo and Vishakha Sheoran as the two players strode out to court 3 for the mid-afternoon match.
In an all-Indian contest Parija ultimately won 6-2, 6-4. Both players were lavish with their unforced errors but still did their best to make the match an interesting one. It was left to 750-ranked Parija to wrest the early initiative. She broke Vishakha’s serve with a whiplash forehand crosscourt winner even before her opponent had got the time to find her range of strokes.
A clinical down the line winner saw one more break of serve and Parija was through with the opening set, winning it at 6-2. The second set wore a similar look. Parija called the shots, breaking Vishakha’s serve with a ripping backhand winner in the fifth game to gain a slender 3-2 lead and was poised for an early victory. Vishakha may have been down and out, but she was in no mood to let Parija wipe the floors with her.
At 3-2 and down by a break of serve, the writing was clearly on the wall for Vishakha.
However, she mounted a doughty fightback, breaking Parija’s serve with an angular shot in the very next game to level things at 3-3. The joy of staying in the contest barely lasted for a minute. Three decisive errors flowed from Vishakha’s racquet as she dropped serve at love to surrender the advantage to Parija at 4-3. Parija held her nerves to wrap up the match, winning the second set 6-4 in the only women’s singles main draw match of the day.
Suhrid Barua
suhridb@sakalherald.com
suhridb@sakalherald.com
PUNE: There was a semblance of dullness attached to the proceedings of the $25,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament being played at the Deccan Gymkhana tennis courts on Monday. A soporific ambience, coupled with a sparse crowd, greeted Parija Maloo and Vishakha Sheoran as the two players strode out to court 3 for the mid-afternoon match.
In an all-Indian contest Parija ultimately won 6-2, 6-4. Both players were lavish with their unforced errors but still did their best to make the match an interesting one. It was left to 750-ranked Parija to wrest the early initiative. She broke Vishakha’s serve with a whiplash forehand crosscourt winner even before her opponent had got the time to find her range of strokes.
A clinical down the line winner saw one more break of serve and Parija was through with the opening set, winning it at 6-2. The second set wore a similar look. Parija called the shots, breaking Vishakha’s serve with a ripping backhand winner in the fifth game to gain a slender 3-2 lead and was poised for an early victory. Vishakha may have been down and out, but she was in no mood to let Parija wipe the floors with her.
At 3-2 and down by a break of serve, the writing was clearly on the wall for Vishakha.
However, she mounted a doughty fightback, breaking Parija’s serve with an angular shot in the very next game to level things at 3-3. The joy of staying in the contest barely lasted for a minute. Three decisive errors flowed from Vishakha’s racquet as she dropped serve at love to surrender the advantage to Parija at 4-3. Parija held her nerves to wrap up the match, winning the second set 6-4 in the only women’s singles main draw match of the day.
No comments:
Post a Comment