Archana, Arthi shown the door

By Kalyan Ashok

BANGALORE, FEB. 21. The action was hot on an unusually warm day and at the end of the last 16 round, three seeds made their exit, including the first leg champion Archana Venkataraman in the second $5,000 ITF women's satellite tennis championship at the Kingfisher McDowell KSLTA Stadium here today.

The 21-year old Swedish contender, Nina Wennerstrom, for the second successive time on the circuit made the quarterfinals with a hard fought 6-3, 7-5 over third seed Archana Venkataraman while, the sprightly Liza Pereira packed off Archana's elder sister, Arthi 6-1, 6-2.

In a minor upset, Radhika Mandke eliminated fifth seed Geeta Manohar 6-1, 6-3.

The entire match lasting just a shade over two hours, both Nina and Archana, struggled to hold on to their serves and breaks were dime a dozen and in the first set, it was breaks all the way till the first seven games, before Wennerstrom, for the time held her serve in the set. That gave her a 5-3 lead and the Swede capitalised on it in the crucial ninth game, when she pulled from 15-40 down to deuce. Archana, then hitting two returns wide, dropped the game and set (3-6).

Wennerstrom again made a shaky start in the second set, dropping the first game with two double faults and Archana holding the serve next, was up 2-0. But the Indian lass was on the defensive in the fourth game with Wennerstrom blasting two volley winners, which set her up for a break and level the set score at two all. Archana came charging back to crack her rival again in the seventh game and took a 5-3 lead holding her serve in the eighth game. But when she was set to close the set in the tenth game, tide turned, with Wennerstrom turning on the heat with her strong forehand returns. Though Archana saved a break point at 30-40, but pushed to deuce, she dropped the serve, netting a volley.

Wennerstrom who was now truly back on the track, held her serve in the 11th game for a 6-5 lead. She then cracked a battling Archana, who after holding out to two deuces, gave in.

Liza Pereira's demolition of the other Venkataraman sibling, was swift and short. Liza was quick on her feet and showed fine sense of timing with her strokes as she raced to a 5- 0 lead in the first set, but unlike on Tuesday, when she enacted a remarkable recovery under same situation, Arthi simply had no chance for an encore as the hard hitting Liza kept the pressure on her and closed the match in 52 minutes.

The quarterfinal line up is: Sonal Phadke v Nanditha Chandrasekhar; Sheetal Goutham v Nina Wennerstrom; Radhika Mandke v Chirashanthi Rajur; Jordanna Seymour v Liza Pereira .

The results (Indians unless specified):

Singles (pre quarterfinals): 1-Sonal Phadke bt Vishnu Preetham Mahalingam 6-2, 6-2; 8-Nanditha Chandrasekhar bt Lata Assudani 6- 3, 2-6, 6-3; Liza Pereira bt 4- Arthi Venkataraman 6-1, 6-2; Jordanna Seymour (Aust) bt Ashel Dimi 3-6, 6-4, 6-1; Sheetal Goutham bt Marutha Devi 6-1, 0-6, 6-1; Nina Wennerstrom (Swe) bt 3-Archana Venkataraman 6-3, 7-5; Radhika Mandke bt 5-Geeta Manohar 6-1, 6-3; Chirashanthi Rajur bt Iciri Rai 2-6, 6-2, 6-3.

Doubles (quarterfinals): 1-Archana Venkataraman/Arthi Venkataraman bt Saranya Pattabhi/Saiswapna Ramakrishnann 6-1, 6- 3; 3-Tara Kanbarigmath/Geeta Manohar bt Marutha Devi/Alice Joy 6- 3, 6-4; 4-Nanditha Chandrasekhar/ Preeti Rao bt Ashel Dimi/Shivani Oberoi (Can) 6-2, 6-2; 2-Sheetal Goutham/Liza Pereira bt Sonal Phadke/Radhika Mandke 6-4, 7-5.

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