Second consecutive title for Lakhani

By Our Special Correspondent

MUMBAI, SEPT. 29. Isha Lakhani confirmed her presence on the Indian junior scene by clinching her second consecutive girls singles title in the space of two weeks on the International Tennis Federation's junior circuit. Following the victory in the first leg at Chennai, she clinched the Mumbai leg with a 7-5, 6-1 victory over Briton Rebecca Dandeniya. The title clash lasted 65 minutes, but at no stage was the local girl's superiority in doubt.

Later Switzerland's Dominic Stoeckler, playing his first ITF Junior event, ended up with a title in the very second week. He turned on the full force of his powerplay to overcome the hot and humid conditions at the Dr. G.A. Ranade Tennis Centre and also tame Karan Rastogi 6-4, 6-2 in the boys singles final.

Both the champions gained 40 ITF points each, while the losing finalists got 30 points. Incidentally, Lakhani was seeded 11th and worked her way up to the top, while Stoeckler did not have enough points to even be one of the 16 seeds in the boys draw.

Lakhani's consistency and her ability to recover proved decisive. Both finalists had been put through the grind in their respective semifinals lasting beyond two hours on Friday afternoon. The Indian recovered better and played to a plan. Having seen Dandeniya tackle young Kartiki Bhat in the semifinals, Lakhani kept the ball in play and depended on her deceptive forehand to finish off rallies.

Dandeniya, one of the better servers among the ITF juniors, traded breaks with Lakhani in the first two games of the opening set, then broke through again in the third to lead 3-1 at one stage before her opponent caught up at 4-4 and went on to clinch the set at 7-5. The Indian gained the upperhand in the second with three breaks and kept up the pressure with incisive strokeplay to crush the tired Briton's resistance.

Rastogi did Stoeckler a good turn by sending out Rohan Gajjar in the semifinals, because his brand of baseline retrieving was not enough to trouble the tall Swiss junior, who served powerfully and then used his reach to dominate the net. The outcome may have been different if the more versatile and attacking Gajjar had been playing the final, instead of Rastogi, who is a wily player if given opportunities to spray the ball around, inducing errors from opponents.

Stoeckler, under instructions from his coach, was focussed on keeping rallies to the minimum and darted to the net at the first opportunity, picking up points off Rastogi's probing returns. The Swiss youngster also served six aces in the match, two in each set, as against one by his Indian rival. The ITF junior circuit's Mumbai leg was organised by the Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association (MSLTA). Mrs. Kunti Oza, wife of MSLTA secretary Mr. Bharat Oza gave away the prizes to the finalists in the girls event, while MSLTA president, Mr. Ghanshyam Patel, gave away the prizes to the boys champion and runner-up.

The results (finals): boys: Dominic Stoeckler (Sui) bt 4-Karan Rastogi (Ind) 6- 4, 6-2; girls: 11-Isha Lakhani (Ind) bt 3- Rebecca Dandeniya (G.Br) 7-5, 6-1.

Manisha loses

NEW DELHI, SEPT. 29. Manisha Malhotra partnering Samantha Reeves of the U.S. lost 3-6, 1-6 to the American duo of Allison Bradshaw and Jennifer Hopkins in the doubles pre-quarterfinals of the $75,000 ITF women's tennis tournament in Albuquerque, U.S.

Manisha, who collected one WTA point and shared $400 for the doubles match, had earlier won three rounds in the qualifying event before losing to the second-seeded Marissa Irvin of the U.S. in the first round of the main draw in singles.

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