Sonal-Karishma pair breezes into second round

By Nandakumar Marar

INDORE, JUNE 12. Sonal Phadke, teaming up with Karishma Patel, justified their number one women's doubles ranking by steamrolling past the Indo- Canadian pair of Ridhina Parekh and Annie Trepanier 6-1, 6-1 in the second leg of an International Tennis Federation's Women's circuit first round match lasting 51 minutes amidst windy conditions at the Yeshwant Club courts on Tuesday, the thunder rumbling in the distance.

Earlier, second-seeded Liza Pereira and Sheetal Goutham needed a little over half-an-hour to blank Manasi Majeji/Surbhi Singh 6-0, 6-0 to begin their title defence.

Overnight rains on Monday wiped out the second day's morning session, wet patches on two of the four clay courts drying out only by afternoon. The downpour and a cloudy sky meant cooler times for the players, who had to nevertheless endure the wind and flying dust throughout the day.

The top-seeded pair started off with a break in the second game of the opening set and from then on, never looked back. Sonal approaches the doubles in a more relaxed manner than the singles, reflected in her deceptive, wristy strokeplay which catches opponents on the wrongfoot. Karishma returned almost everything coming her way at the net, putting additional pressure on the Ridhina-Annie pair who were at the receiving end. Two breaks in the first set and three in the second ensured a smooth entry into the second round for the all-Indian combination.

The doubles win was a sort of consolation for Karishma, whose singles campaign ended in the first round at the hands of qualifier Annie. The hard-running Canadian, sliding on the Yeshwant Club courts when running down balls, survived three matchpoints before winning the three-setter.

``After losing the first set 4-6, I decided to slide instead of stretching for returns and it worked. Karishma appeared disheartened after losing the second from winning positions and I took advantage,'' remarked the Montreal-based physical education teacher about the singles match played late on Monday evening.

Annie also finds it easier to handle Indore's dry heat compared to the Mumbai humidity which troubled her in the first leg. ``Indore is hot, but okay. I have not played on sand before, but enjoy sliding on clay, unlike Mumbai where I ran out of breath in the heat on hardcourts,'' said the excitable Canadian, whose retrieving and ceaseless running may make her a difficult opponent to handle. Unseeded Yamini Thukkaiandi faces her next in the second round.

Karishma is not looking for excuses to explain the three wasted matchpoints, the scoreline reading 4-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-1 in the Canadian's favour. She was 5-4, 30-0 up in the second set, then again was poised for victory at 6-3 up in the tie- breaker, but went on to lose the set and was outclassed in the decider, dropping serve twice to trail 0-5 against Annie.

``Annie is always coming at you, so I decided to keep the ball in play. But, the crucial mistakes I made in the second and third cost me the match,'' said the Ahmedabad girl who attributed the ups and downs in her game to an ankle injury which kept her off courts prior to the ITF circuit. The second leg is sponsored by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited.

The results (Indian unless specified):

Doubles (first round): 1-Sonal Phadke/Karishma Patel bt Annie Trepanier (Canada)/Ridhina Parekh 6-1, 6-1; 2-Liza Pereira/Sheetal Goutham bt Manasi Majeji/Surbhi Singh 6-0, 6-0; Samrita Sekar/Preeti Rao bt Tara Kanbargimath/Nandini Perumal 6- 3, 2-6, 6-2; Lata Assudani/Rati Kumar bt Marutha Devi/Noopur Desai 6-1, 6-4; Deepa Chakrabarty/Sricharanya Thiagarajan bt Saiswapna Ramakrishnan/Sandra Sashidharan 2-6, 6-3, 7-5.

Singles (first round): 7-Liza Pereira bt Surbhi Singh 6-0, 6-1; Annie Trepanier (Canada) bt Karishma Patel 4-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-1; Marutha Devi bt Noopur Desai 6-1, 7-5; 6- Nandita Chandrasekhar bt Rati Kumar 7-5, 6-1, 4-Yamini Thukkaiandi bt Sonali Sanap 6-1, 6-0.

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