PHILIPPINE LADIES LOSE TO INDIA IN FEDCUP 2015 ASIA-OCEANIA GROUP II FINALS
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 19 Apr 2015
Lenhert.
The Philippine ladies team put on a gallant stand before bowing to the Sania Mirza-led Indian squad in the FedCup2015 Asia Oceania Group II Finals played at the Lal Bahadur Stadium in Hyderabad on Saturday.
The Philippines and India who enjoyed a home-court advantage split their singles matches to force the tie into a crucial decider in the doubles.
The Indian pair of Sania Mirza and Prarthana G. Thombare thumped Katharina Lehnert and Anna Clarice Patrimonio 6-3, 6-3 in the deciding rubber as the hosts won the Fed Cup Group II Asia/Oceania final 2-1 but had to overcome the stubborn opponents from the Philippines.
Sania, who was recently crowned World No.1 in doubles, turned the all-important final on its head with her fine stroke-play and, along with Prarthana made short work of the Philippines to win in straight sets 6-3/6-3.
Media reports said the Indian team who were seeded third in the Tournament took just one hour and nine minutes to pick off the No.1 seeds in the deciding match.
The doubles was an evenly contested affair for the first six points in the first set. After that it was headed only one way as the Indians wrapped up the match in straight sets.
Earlier, Prarthana, who didn?t drop a single set in the tournament, thrashed Anna Clarice Patrimonio 6-3, 6-1 and gave India a 1-0 advantage.
The Deccan Chronicle reported that Prarthana ?hit the ground running and battered her opponent into submission in the first set and in the second she rode her momentum and wrapped up a brilliant win.?
In the second match Ankita Rama who had taken just 32 minutes to beat Turkmenistan?s Anastasiya Prenko in the promotional playoffs on Friday blew her one set advantage to go down fighting to Lehnert.
The Chronicle reported that Katharina ?who was slow to get off the mark failed to hold on to her initial service games as she was 0-5 down. Kathrina held her next service game and broke Ankita?s as the scoreline read 2-5. But in the end the Indian breezed through the first set to take it 6-2.?
The Indian newspaper said that ?after going down in the first set, Katharina offered more resistance, hung in there and rallied from 1-4 down and made it 4-4. Ankita then held her serve to go 5-4 up. Katharina was steadfast in her serve to make it 5-5. She then converted a break and held her own to shrug off the Indian challenge and sealed the second set at 7-5.
The German born Filipina won 19 of the first 30 service points- 14 better than her first set. With all to play for in the third, Ankita grabbed a 2-0 lead but Katharina, ranked No.595 in the world, put up a splendid effort to stay level with the Gujarati girl and made it 2-2.
After that it was an evenly contested affair with Lehnert finally winning the set 7-5.
Philta coach Karl Santamaria said ?our team fell short vs a powerhouse Indian team with all four Indian players in the WTA top 500 ranked veterans including world No. 1 doubles player Mirza. Great run girls especially for taking the final into a deciding match and playing gallantly in the doubles vs the world No. 1.?
The performance of the girls augurs well for the country's chances in the forthcoming Southeast Asian Games in Singapore.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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