Archana's resilience pays off

By Our Sports Reporter

CHENNAI, FEB. 17. Archana Venkataraman's resilience and never say die spirit paid off as she wore down the top seed Sonal Phadke 4- 6, 6-2, 7-6 to lift her maiden ITF title in the Indian Oil Servo women's Satellite tennis tournament at the SDAT Tennis Stadium here on Saturday.

Though the scoreline would suggest a thriller, it was not so as both of them played erratic tennis by hitting the balls wide and never getting into any sort of rhythm whatsoever.

Archana, hitting double fisted winners at vital points, and helped by some unforced errors from Sonal, ran up a 4-0 lead, breaking the latter's serve in the first and third game. The top seed fought back to level scores at 4-4 and broke Archana's serve in the ninth game and served out in style to take the first set.

Archana, the trier that she is, ran after every ball and it yielded the desired results. Racing to a 4-0 lead, Archana did not falter this time around.

Playing long rallies and going for the down the line double fisted backhand shots whenever she spotted an opportunity, Archana broke Sonal's serve in the fifth and seventh games to clinch the second set.

``I put in a lot of effort in the second set. I was more determined and also the fact that Sonal did not have much match practice helped me, '' said Archana.``I was very patchy, not at all steady but she was really consistent keeping the ball in court,'' said Sonal.

The third set became a matter of stamina and willpower. It was neck to neck with both the players going for the winners. Sonal was leading 3-0 and 5-3 and 30-0 on her serve, but Archana's court coverage and her determination to pull it off prevailed as she broke in the ninth game.

Sonal had two match points on Archana's serve but a beautiful lob and a service return by Sonal into the net helped Archana level at 5-5.

When a forehand smash of Sonal went wide in the twelfth game, it not only signalled Archana's victory but also the eternal truth that fighters will always have a special place in the world of tennis. Archana surely deserved that tag for the way she has played in this tournament.

Later in the doubles final, the top seeded pair of Sai Jayalakshmi and Rushmi Chakravarthi disposed of Archana and Arthi Venkataraman 6-1, 6-2.

Mr. K. Ramachandran, General Manager (M.O), Indian Oil Corporation Ltd, presided and gave away the prizes. Mr. Ramesh Krishnan, Indian Davis Cup captain was also present. Archana won Rs. 28, 275 while Sonal got Rs. 19, 577 for their singles final efforts.

The results (finals):

Singles: Archana Venkataraman (Ind) bt Sonal Phadke (Ind) 4-6, 6- 2, 7-5.

Doubles: Sai Jayalakshmi & Rushmi Chakravarthi (Ind) bt Archana Venkataraman and Arthi Venkataraman 6-1, 6-2.

The various winners in the Indian Oil Servo women's Satellite tennis tournament in Chennai on Saturday. From left: Archana Venkataraman (singles), Sai Jayalakshmi and Rushmi Chakravarthi (doubles).

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