IF you want to improve your standard, compete with a bunch of better players. If you want to improve your confidence, and get your technique right, compete with those who are slightly inferior to your standard.
Sonal Phadke seemed to have understood her requirement precisely, as she chose to compete in the $5000 circuit at home, when other players of her calibre were competing abroad in bigger tournaments. The 19-year-old Mumbaikar proved that she was doing the right thing, as she collected her second title from the four-week circuit, in the third leg in Delhi.
It was not a cake-walk for the top-seeded Sonal, and she had to overcome a string of talented players, the left-handers Megha Vakharia and Isha Lakhani especially, on way to repeating her achievement of Mumbai in the first leg.
Playing in hot and humid conditions, against opponents who were eager to beat her, proved a healthy exercise for Sonal, in toning her temperament, and she showed exemplary patience in wearing out her rivals.
The semifinal against the diminutive Isha was a classic example as Sonal kept her composure for two hours and 20 minutes during the hottest phase of the day. Quite encouragingly the fleet-footed Sonal came back on the morrow, after having shed buckets of sweat the previous day, with such energy that she raced to a 6-1, 5-1 position against Samrita Sekar.
Sonal was at her best, and it was only natural that she got carried away a bit, and found Samrita equalising at 5-5 in the second set. Sonal was anxious to finish the match and was hitting a little too hard and invariably helping Samrita get her rhythm and the confidence.
Sonal, however, came up with a string of delightful backhand down the line winners to assert her supremacy in finishing the contest in an hour, in pleasant conditions when dark monsoon clouds threatened to come down any time.
"I was happy with the way I finished the match. Had it gone into the third set it would have been tricky. Players like Samrita, Megha, Isha and Liza are talented and have been trying as hard as I am," said Sonal, who had beaten Samrita in three sets in the final of the first leg.
"If you play in these hot and humid conditions against talented players, you get the confidence that you can do it abroad too," said Sonal, who will be competing in England and Belgium later in the season.
Most importantly Sonal found the confidence in her game which has been lacking since the time she won the Masters event of a similar circuit in May last year. For someone who had reached the final of the $10,000 tournament in Mumbai last year, Sonal found that her game was getting stale and stagnant. The idea to get more matches proved productive, for Sonal ran up a blemishless record in the circuit in the first three legs when she lost only to Sheetal Goutham, the champion of the last circuit, in the semifinal of the second leg in Indore.
"I made the mistake of trying to overpower Sheetal then. It is always a learning experience," said Sonal, quite happy with the financial reward as well, as she took her collection to $1800 for three weeks of toil.
Samrita Sekar had a shaky start against unfancied Sai Swapna Ramakrishna, playing a three-setter, but found her rhythm soon and dropped a mere four games each to Marutha Devi and Arthi Venkataraman in the next two rounds. She had a fight against Liza Pereira in the semifinal, but came up with a surprise package in the last stretch to pip the Mumbai girl, who had ousted the champion of the previous leg, Archana Venkataraman, for the loss of just two games in the quarterfinals.
The 16-year-old Samrita hits well, but may have to add variety to her game. A quick learner, the trainee of the Krishnan Centre from Chennai should be able to put her double-fisted backhand to good use in the seasons to come.
Isha Lakhani was a bundle of energy, and no player could sport the sort of fierce determination that this 16-year-old had in such abundance. She was in a flood of tears on losing to the better fitness of Sonal, but Isha won the hearts with her courageous display. She was quite commanding in her victory over Sheetal Goutham, whacking winners with relish.
Archana could have fallen to Yamini Thukkaiandi in the previous round, but she showed her experience in saving two matchpoints and putting it across her more athletic opponent. The 17-year-old Yamini moved like a tigress in the first set, pouncing on the prey, but her legs did not carry her far in the next two sets. Yamini also lacked the confidence to beat a tough customer like Archana.
Nandita Chandrasekar was ill, and thus could play well only in patches. She fell to Isha 3-6, 3-6 after being on par at 3-3 in both the sets. With some more matches, Nandita should be back at her best.
Ankita Bhambri gave a good account of herself in the first set against Sonal in the pre-quarterfinal, but the fast-improving 14-year-old Delhi girl would do well to retain her positive attitude in overcoming the hurdles.
Arthi Venkataraman, a software engineer from Bangalore, was at her gutsy best against Laila Shetty of the U.S. in the pre-quarterfinal, but found Samrita too good in the next round. Karishma Patel stretched Liza Pereira in the second round on the fast courts and the latter found it easy to handle Archana the next day.
Liza, of course, had the consolation of winning her third doubles title in the circuit in the company of Sheetal Goutham, all at the expense of Karishma and Sonal.
They may lack the coaching support during tournaments, but the Indian girls are improving by leaps and bounds on their own, by playing a string of matches against hungry opponents in trying conditions.
The results:Singles (final): Sonal Phadke bt Samrita Sekar 6-1, 7-5; Semifinals: Sonal Phadke bt Isha Lakhani 6-7 (4-7), 7-5, 6-3; Samrita Sekar bt Liza Pereira 6-4, 1-6, 7-5; Quarterfinals: Sonal Phadke bt Megha Vakharia 6-3, 5-7, 6-3; Isha Lakhani bt Nandita Chandrasekar 6-3, 6-3; Samrita Sekar bt Arthi Venkataraman 6-2, 6-2; Liza Pereira bt Archana Venkataraman 6-1, 6-1.
Doubles (final): Sheetal Goutham and Liza Pereira bt Karishma Patel and Sonal Phadke 6-4, 6-1; Semifinals: Sheetal Goutham and Liza Pereira bt Archana Venkataraman and Arthi Venkataraman 6-3, 6-1; Karishma Patel and Sonal Phadke bt Ankita Bhambri and Isha Lakhani 7-5, 3-6, 6-4.
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