It's a Radhika-Nanditha summit clash

By Kalyan Ashok

BANGALORE, FEB. 23. Radhika Mandke and Nanditha Chandrasekhar scripted contrasting wins to set up a title clash in the second $ 5000 ITF women's Satellite tennis championship at the Kingfisher- McDowell KSLTA Stadium here on Friday.

Radhika beat a lacklustre Nina Wennerstrom of Sweden 6-2, 6-4 in a tie which was briefly interrupted by an invasion by bees while the eighth seeded Nanditha resurrected herself from the brink to outlast the gritty Aussie, Jordanna Seymour 4-6, 7- 5, 7-6 (8-6) in 125 minutes.

The 20-year old Radhika is not a great mover but made up for that with sensible strokeplay and allowed no quarter for the Swede to get a toe-hold in the tie. Nina looked physically and mentally spent after her marathon against Sheetal Goutham on Thursday. Though she strongly belted her forehand, there was neither a right line nor length and she sprayed all over the baseline packing too much power. Being a left hander, Radhika clearly had the advantage of tackling her returns on serves more effectively and never allowed Nina to dominate.

The tie started on an even keel with both holding their serves in the first five games. But the sixth game saw Nina struggle with her serve. Trailing 15-40, she forced a deuce but Radhika gained the advantage with Nina making another mishit. At this point, the tie was stopped as swarm of bees stormed the court and spectators' stands. There are quite few bee hives in the stadium and twice in the past the fans have had to take cove. It was even worse today as the tie itself had to be stopped with too many of them buzzing over the court.

When the tie resumed after 35 minutes, Nina had lost her concentration and folded up dropping serves in the sixth and eighth games. Radhika, who raced to a 3-0 lead in the second set, was momentarily slowed down by the Swede who cut the lead to 3-4 but Nina played loosely to drop the next game.

She made one last ditch stand, breaking Radhika again in the ninth game, but the dice stopped rolling when she belted out two forehand returns and then made a double fault, which sent her spinning to defeat.

Sure, it was easy for Radhika but it might not be the same story in the final on Saturday as she takes on the gritty Chennaiite Nanditha.

Her rival was one step away victory, in the third set, leading 5- 4 and had the advantage after being forced to deuce. She then hit a return long, a shot which she was to rue later, and the spunky Nanditha charged herself to pull off a dramatic victory over the Aussie girl and make her maiden in the final on the Satellite circuit.

The hard fought encounter between the two 17-year-old teenagers, saw the Australian in command at the outset before she made a mess of her good run with unforced errors and double faults. The 12th standard student from Chennai was nowhere near the flawless form that she showed on Thursday when she upset the top seed, Sonal Phadke. She struggled to counter the hard hit returns of Jordanna, who drove deep and strong, and the initial powerful serves.

Jordanna lacked the consistency to maintain her momentum and Nanditha, belying her frail built, proved to be mentally and physically stronger than her well built rival. Once she found her rhythm midway through the second set, the Indian girl hit her way out of trouble, even with certain defeat staring her face in the third set.

Nanditha began tentatively, making two double faults and was taken to four deuces before she managed to hold her serve in the opening game of the match. For most part of the set she was on the defensive, what with Jordanna, banging her returns right on target. The Aussie girl struck decisively in the seventh game to take the set 6-4.

In the second set, Nanditha battled her way to a 5-3 lead with a well earned break in the eighth game which was quickly neutralised in the next game. But Nanditha came out on top again, cracking an error prone Jordanna in the 12th for the set.

The Aussie lass, chastened by that reverse, raced to a 3-0 lead in the decider but was quickly stopped by Nanditha who tied at 4- all. Jordanna swung the tie in her favour again forging ahead at 5-4 and served for the match. She then had the mortification of dropping the match point and the game as well.

The set later spilled into a tie-breaker which proved a humdinger all the way. Trailing 3-6, Jordanna tied at six all, saving three match points. Nanditha then came up with big forehand volley winner and threw her arms up in joy as Jordanna drove the next one out.

``I am very happy to be in the final. It was tough and I just hung in and won'' , said Nanditha while Jordanna conceded ``I was nervous on match point and lost it.But It was my best performance in four Satellite tournaments I have played so far ``.

In the doubles final, the Venkataraman sisters, Archana and Arthi, who are the top seeds, will meet the second seeded Sheetal Goutham and Liza Pereira.

The results (semifinals):

Singles: 8-Nanditha Chandrasekhar (Ind) bt Jordanna Seymour (Aus) 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (8-6); Radhika Mandke (Ind) bt Nina Wennerstrom (Swe) 6-2, 6-4.

Doubles: 1-Archana & Arthi Venkataraman bt 3-Tara Kanbargimath & Geeta Manohar 6-4, 6-4; 2-Sheetal Goutham & Liza Pereira bt 4- Nanditha Chandrasekhar & Preeti Rao 6-3, 6-3.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Sport
Previous : Leander cruises into last four