HINDUSTAN TIMES - Saturday, Oct 26, 2002 - HT Correspondent

It has turned out to be a very productive week for Isha Lakhani. She will figure in two singles finals on Saturday in the DSCL Open National Tennis Championship.

On a day when the quality of play threatened to become pedestrian, it was left-handed Isha who livened up the proceedings with her display against Ankita Bhambri in the women's semi-finals.

The straight-set win against Delhi girl Ankita was not really on the cards as Isha had earlier played a tough three-setter in the girls' singles semi-finals.

Call it spirit or the desire to do well on the big stage, Isha treated the sparse audience to some classy tennis. The Mumbai girl used her head well in the engrossing rallies.

Isha will run into Sonal Phadke in the women's final.

Isha knows there can be no better way to prove oneself than win matches day after day. And this week has been pretty much about that as she handled the tricky Ankita with control.

When it comes to generating pace in the rallies, Ankita can be a very tough player. And it was Isha's variations in pace and direction that made her look better. Isha was serving for match at 5-2 in the second set, but call it nerves or pressure, she lost her serve twice and the momentum swung Ankita's way.

But then, as had been the trend right through the contest, the Delhi girl once again lost her serve, which helped Isha close out the match at 7-5.

In the second semi-final, Sonal Phadke overcame the Nationals semi-final jinx as she prevailed over Shruti Dhawan in three sets.

The tall and slim Sonal had her strategy chalked out for Shruti. She knew her best bet would be to pin Shruti to the baseline. It worked out well.

The men's singles semi-finals did not have much to offer with Vinod Sridhar struggling with his serve to get past Somdev Devavraman.

Having come this far, one had expected Somdev, a BAT trainee, would fight well. But the youngster had no plan to counter the left-handed Vinod.

In the second semi-final, second seed Mustafa Ghouse used his serve and volley strengths and attacked Nitin's backhand to win in straight sets.

RESULTS (Singles semi-finals):

MEN: Vinod Sridhar b Somdev Devvarman 6-0, 6-7 (2/7), 6-2; Mustafa Ghouse b Nitin Kirtane 7-5, 6-4. Boys: Arun Prakash b Parantap Chaturvedi 6-3, 6-3; Amanjot Singh b Chatwinder Singh 6-1, 6-4.

WOMEN: Sonal Phadke b Shruti Dhawan 7-6 (10/8), 6-3; Isha Lakhani b Ankita Bhambri 6-3, 7-5. Girls: Isha Lakhani b Lata Asudani 6-7 (5/7), 6-3, 6-0; Sasha Abraham b Poonam Reddy 6-0, 6-3.