CHENNAI, January 23: Third seed Uzma Khan defeated former national champion and top seed Arati Ponappa 6-4, 6-1 in a 65-minute final of the South India Tennis Championship being co-sponsored by Bank of Madura and Madras Gymkhana Club at the Gymkhana courts.Uzma started the match with a double fault and lost her serve. But Arati returned the compliment in the next game. Uzma continued her error prone form but Arati failed to drive home the advantage, hitting the ball into the net and outside often. Uzma, serving 4-4, held her serve at a crucial juncture. Arati, serving 4-5, fumbled with her service game to lose the set.
Uzma, who had problems getting her first serve in, gained in confidence after winning the first set. She put in a strong performance in the second. After some tight rallies from the baseline, Arati threw a drop shot in anticipation of a winner, but Uzma got to the ball in a flash and knocked off a winner. Arati's game went to pieces. Marcus Hilpert and Gaurav Natekar claimed the doubles
title defeating Vasudeva Reddy and Praveen Kumar 6-2, 6-3.
Results: Women's singles final: Uzma Khan (AP) bt Arati Ponappa 6-4, 6-1. Men's doubles final: Marcus Hilpert/Gaurav Natekar bt Vasudeva Reddy/Praveen Kumar 6-2, 6-3. Semifinals: Hilpert/Natekar bt CV Anand/R Balaji 6-0, 6-1; Reddy/Praveen Kumar bt Rishi Sridhar/Anand Radhakrishnan 6-1, 6-4. Women (semifinals): Sai Jayalakshmi/Arati Ponappa bt Aparna Srinivasan/Reetu Sethi 6-0, 3-6, 6-1; Archana/Arthi bt Uzma Khan/Trishna Williams 7-6 (7-1), 6-3.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
