Sunday, May 18, 2003
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Tennis
By Kamesh Srinivasan
Liza Pereira exults after winning a point against Ankita Bhambri en route to her victory in the final of the ITF women's tennis circuit second leg at the DLTA Courts in New Delhi on Saturday. — Photo: V.V. Krishnan
The 19-year-old Liza started on the wrong foot, getting broken at love in the first game, but hit consistently well and with considerable intelligence to ensure that she won the last game after two hours and 36 minutes. The end was a bit delayed, as Liza missed a good chance to wind up the show in the second set itself, when she had taken a 4-2 lead. The momentum swung, but there was no doubt about the superiority of Liza, especially when she saved two breakpoints to hold serve in the third game of the decider. There was some more hiccup when Liza missed a matchpoint and dropped serve in the seventh game of the third set, but Ankita could not hang in out there anymore, despite all the desperate calls of support. She served two doublefaults, and when Liza hit a forehand inside out winner to set up three more matchpoints, Ankita obliged by hitting a forehand wide. ``She played with power, but I played with power and intelligence'', said Liza, who did play very well, hitting her strokes with a lot of punch and delightful variation. For one who had dropped serve in the first game, Liza dropped only seven points in all on her serve in the next seven games. In contrast, Ankita had to save six breakpoints to hold serve in the second game, and dropped serve in the sixth and tenth games. Into the second set, Ankita saved a breakpoint in the second game, and dropped serve in the sixth game, as Liza converted the third breakpoint with a volley winner on the run. Liza missed a gamepoint in the seventh game after saving three breakpoints, but dropped serve following a doublefualt. This was one chance Ankita deserved for having tried her best till then, despite feeling considerable pressure of playing a final at home. The 16-year-old Delhi girl grabbed the chance with both hands to race away with the set, breaking Liza in the ninth game and serving out the set at love, firing an ace to set up three setpoints in the next. In the decider, Liza got off the blocks well, and fought bravely to tilt the balance in her favour, hitting fluent shots. She broke Ankita in the fourth game, converting the third breakpoint, and shouted by now the very familiar, "common now'', with a clenched fist. The contest was hotting up by now, and it required a wounded pigeon that had lost its way in the twilight to bring some relief to the tense atmosphere. One of the linesmen captured the pigeon, that sat right under the net at the middle, with a piece of cloth and put it on the umpire's chair on the adjacent court. Ankita too resembled an injured pigeon that had lost its way, as she failed to win one point on her serve in the next two games. She did break Liza in between, but that was just an aberration to the general flow. ``It is great to win a title. I have been playing well, though the results have not been coming that good recently. This gives me a lot of confidence'', said Liza, who had beaten the top-seeded Sonal Phadke before losing to the eventual champion Isha Lakhani last week in Indore. ``I was physically and mentally ready to fight it out till the end'', said Liza, who did play a superb match, keeping the umpire and the linesmen on their toes, with her sharp observations, that was a nice sideshow in itself. Ankita could have played better, but it was difficult for her to play a shackle-free game, the way Liza did across the net. She had lost the Asian junior championship final to Sania Mirza at the same venue, and there may be some coincidence to the results. It was indeed a double delight for Liza, following her doubles title the previous day with Isha Lakhani, and the Mumbai lass richly deserved all the accolades. Anyway, with two more weeks to go, there is a lot to play for in the circuit, yet. The winner collected $650 and the runner-up was presented $450. The results (final): Liza Pereira bt Ankita Bhambri 6-4, 4-6, 6-2.
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