Lakhani pulverises Pereira

By Nandakumar Kumar

MUMBAI, JUNE 6. Isha Lakhani blew eight seed Liza Pereira off the court for the biggest upset in the singles event so far. The frail, but hard- hitting Mumbai left-hander won 6-0, 6-0 in just 41 minutes to storm into the quarterfinal phase of the ITF women's Circuit's first leg here on Wednesday. The winner has a tougher task ahead of her with second seed Archana Venkataraman, a crafty and experienced customer, being her next opponent.

Unseeded Lakhani, ranked 955th, is considered a dangerous floater, capable of troubling any player on her day. Pereira never recovered after the early assault as Lakhani hit passing shots, showed a willingness to run down balls and kept up the pressure on her rival till the end at the Dr. G.A. Ranade courts.

``It was just not my day,'' admitted the stunned eighth seed after failing to win a single game. Both contestants were part of a group of eight invited to attend a preparatory camp under Gaurav Natekar.

Sixth seed Megha Vakharia was the only other ranked player to get a second round scare, overcoming a first set loss against gritty Tara Kanbargimath to win the next two sets for a place in the quarterfinals. Top seed Sonal Phadke and second seed Archana Venkataraman remained on course, the former brushing aside qualifier Annie Trepanier via the short route while the latter needed to work a little harder against youngster Ankita Bhambri.

Vakharia ran into early trouble against her unseeded opponent, losing the first set 3-6 and being forced to take treatment for a twisted ankle. But these were just momentary setbacks which the athletic, swift-moving youngster, who packs a lot of power in her strokes, shrugged off on the way to a quarterfinal place.

Kanbargimath's court coverage and retrieving ability forced the sixth seed to raise her game a few notches to capture the second set without conceding a single game, setting the stage for a thrilling decider.

This was the only match which lasted three sets, seven out of the other eight singles contests ending via the short route.

Phadke steered clear of the mistakes which had put her in trouble against an unseeded rival in the first round, sacrificing power for accuracy and playing a more mature game against Canada's Trepanier, the only foreign contestant in the singles main draw.

Instead of spraying shots from the baseline, the top seeded Indian adopted a waiting game. ``I fed off her pace, focussed on cutting down on errors and on getting my serves in,'' said the local girl, whose 6-1, 6-1 victory has come at the right time.

* The results (Indians unless specified):

Singles (second round): Isha Lakhani bt 8-Liza Pereira 6-0, 6-0; 1-Sonal Phadke bt Annie Trepanier (Canada) 6-1, 6-1; 3-Sheetal Goutham bt Saiswapna Ramakrishnan 6- 3, 6-3; Arti Venkataraman bt Lata Assudani 6-1, 7-5; 6-Megha Vakharia bt Tara Kanbargimath 3- 6, 6-0, 6-2; 2-Archana Venkataraman bt Ankita Bhambri 6-1, 6-4; 7-Nandita Chandrasekhar bt Vishika Chetri 6-2, 6-2; Samrita Sekhar bt Sonali Sanap 6-0, 6-1.

Doubles (first round): Lata Assudani & Rati Kumar bt Mansi Majeji & Kalpita Raje 6-2, 6-2; Samrita Sekhar & Yamini Thukkaiandi bt Manjot Marwah & Sagarika Phadke 6- 1, 6-3; Archana Venkataraman & Arti Venkataraman bt Saiswapna Ramakrishnan & Sandra Sasidharan 6-1, 6-2; Ankita Bhambri & Isha Lakhani bt Laila Shetty & Archana Murugaboopathy 6-3, 6-2.

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