Resilient Isha packs off Zhang

Maharashtra Herald, November 17, 2007

Suhrid Barua
suhridb@sakalherald.com

Pune: If the organisers of the $25,000 NECC-ITF women’s tennis tournament needed a kick, Isha Lakhani provided it by pulling off a thrilling three setter against Ling Zhang of Hong Kong at the Deccan Gymkhana tennis courts here on Friday. The match, which was played on court two to facilitate National broadcaster Doordarshan get a better vantage point to beam the match live, panned out to be a disappointment initially as Isha, the lone Indian survivor, got off to a sloppy start, dropping her serve in the second set to surrender the initiative to Zhang, who exuded oodles of vim and vigour early on.
The 518-ranked Hong Kong girl was precise with her groundstrokes and consolidated her dominance over Isha, effecting another break in the fifth game to pocket the first set 6-1. Trailing by a set, Isha had a mountain to climb. The eight-seeded looked steady with her serves as she led 4-3 with games going on serve.
In desperate pursuit of a break, Isha took the bulls by the horns in the eight game and extended it to deuce on five occasions, pounding two brilliant double-handed backhand winners to stay in the contest. The long game frustrated Zhang as she slammed a forehand wide to hand Isha a lifeline.
The Indian then made a mess of her serve, allowing Zhang bounce back at 5-4. Isha literally snatched the game from Zhang with a couple of robust service returns, leaving the latter save two game points at 15-40. Zhang muffed an opportunity to save her serve when she smacked an overhead wide to tilt the second set in Isha’s favour.
The third set was a piece of cake for Isha. She broke Zhang in the second set and raced away to a 3-0 lead. She hastened celebrations, producing a break in the sixth game to have a stranglehold over the match.
Isha made heavy weather of the victory march as the sixth game went to deuce four times before she closed out the match for a 1-6, 6-4, 6-1 romp. "I was slow off the blocks. She (Zhang) was hitting the ball flat, so it was difficult to retrieve it. But I was more solid later and got more winners in," a bucked Isha said after the match.
Isha will lock horns with second-seeded Sandy Gumulya of Indonesia, who overcame Alexander Panova of Russia 7-5, 6-3. The 265-ranked diminutive lass broke Panova once to bag the first set. The second set was hotly contested. Gumulya broke Panova to gain the headstart. But the Russian showed remarkable resilience to reel off three straight games, including two breaks and raised visions of a decider.
But Gumulya nullified all such aspirations, breaking Panova in the fifth game en route to winning four straight games to open up a 5-3 lead. Gumulya was relentless as she broke her for the fourth time to wrap up a 7-5, 6-3 victory. "I was playing defensively in the beginning and she (Panova) was taking advantage of it. I became more aggressive and that worked," Gumulya said. The soft-spoken Indonesian has played Isha before twice with both winning once.
Meanwhile, Varatchaya Wongteanchai of Thailand and Ling Zhang of Hong Kong won the doubles title, pipping the Indonesian pair of Wynne Prakusya and Angelique Widjaja 1-6, 7-5, 10-5.