Aparna animates her home crowd

By Kamesh Srinivasan

GWALIOR, OCT. 16. The local fans had something to cheer about, though they did not get a glimpse of a foreigner, except on the practice courts, on the opening day of the $ 10,000 ITF women's tennis tournament at the Jiwaji Club complex here on Monday.

Aparna Singh, winner of the Ekalavya award, the highest honour for sports in the State, kept the gathering in good humour with a 5-3, 4-1, 1-4, 1-4, 4-2 victory over lucky- loser S. Marutha Devi in an hour and 40 minutes.

The 18-year-old Aparna, a steady player from the backcourt, could not have hoped to cross the first round had her original opponent, Dragica Joksimovic of Yugoslavia, arrived for the tournament.

Anyway, Aparna has assured herself of 200 dollars and one WTA point, and that is all she may get as she has been drawn to meet the winner of the match between fourth-seeded Anna Nefedova of Russia and Isha Lakhani. The latter rushed here from Delhi, skipping her commitments in the national sub-junior championship, for fear of being fined by the ITF.

There were some other interesting matches. The eighth- seeded Archana Vekataraman was teased by Shalini Thakur before she prevailed 4-5 (5-7), 5-3, 5-3, 4-2. Archana will meet Nandita Chandrasekar who downed Preeti Rao, a fellow qualifier from Tamil Nadu 5-4 (7-5), 5-4 (7-5), 4-0. In an even battle, in which both the girls hit with a flourish on either flank, Nandita's fluent strokes in the tie-breaker clinched the issue for her.

Shruti Dhawan defeated Harsimran Kaur, her erstwhile hitting partner from Chandigarh, after a poor start. Harsimran started with a bang, winning the first game at love, but Shruti, on a high recently with her all-round game, asserted herself in the next three sets.

Jyotsna Vasisht, the U.S.-based Indian, also had a poor start, but adjusted to the conditions in time to win in four sets against Riddhina Parekh.

``I was just trying to get used to the courts and the conditions. The balls are coming a little slow, but the high bounce suits my game,'' said Jyotsna.

The 21-year-old may have to be at her sharp best, as she is likely to meet the second-seeded Andrea van den Hurk in the second round, unless Nona Wagh shocks her in the first.

Another qualifier, T. Yamini started off losing the first set to Nandini Perumal, but conceded a mere three games afterwards in winning the backcourt battle. Sonal Phadke and Geeta Manohar were the only ones to win in straight sets.

Of the four losers in the qualifying event three have already got in to the main draw as lucky losers. The third was Sai Swapna, who got to play Radhika Tulpule late in the evening under the lights, as Patrycia Bandurowska of Poland failed to report.

Radhika was leading 5-4 (8-6), 1-1 before the match was called off because of inadequate light, to be continued on Tuesday. Radhika was 1-4 down in the tie-break before she pulled herself ahead.

Though there were only ten matches scheduled for the day, the last match spilled into the evening, as only two courts were being used for competition.

Only Samrita Sekar has not made the main draw as yet, among the eight players who featured in the qualifying event. Her turn may come on the morrow.

The Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs of Madhya Pradesh, Mr. Bala Bachchan, inaugurated the tournament.

The results (first round): Geeta Manohar bt Vishika Chhetri 4-0, 4-1, 4-2; Sonal Phadke bt Arthi Venkataraman 4-2, 4- 1, 4-1; Aparna Singh bt S. Marutha Devi 5-3, 4-1, 1-4, 1-4, 4-2; T. Yamini bt Nandii Perumal 3-5, 4-1, 4-1, 4-1; Shruti Dhawan bt Harsimran Kaur 0-4, 4-2, 4-2, 4-1; Sheethal Goutham bt Nikita Bharadwaj 4-2, 4-2, 4-2; Archana Venkataraman bt Shalini Thakur 4-5 (5-7), 5-3, 5-3, 4-2; Nandita Chandrasekar bt Preeti Rao 5-4 (7-5), 5-4 (7-5), 4-0; Jyotsna Vasisht bt Riddhina Parekh 1-4, 4- 1, 4-2, 4-1.

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