Published>Thu, Oct 07 10 06:36 AM
Rushmi Chakravarthi, who will celebrate her 33rd birthday this Saturday, presented herself with an early birthday gift in the form of a victory (1-6, 7-6, 7-5) over Britain's number 2, third seed of the Commonwealth Games and 11-years her junior, Katie O'Brien in, by far, the most exciting women's singles match of the tournament. The match provided some balm to the Indian camp after Rohan Bopanna lost to second seed Australian ? Peter Luczak. "Playing a seeded opponent is always tough and this is the first time I have played her. Since I am not playing on the circuit, this was one of the best wins of my career", said Rushmi after the match.
O'Brien was off to the best possible start as she wrapped the first set up 6-1 in 28 minutes. While the 22-year-old O'Brien was playing some graceful strokes, Chakravarthi looked rusty and seemed unable to cope with the speed of the game. However she began her comeback in the second set. She found her feet soon, however, and began fighting for every point. It wasn't all smooth sailing though. Her serve was broken in the fifth game and she was down 4-2 at one stage. But she broke back immediately and took the game to a tie break - which she won 7-2, taking the second set 7-6.
It was Chakravarthi who had the wind behind her in the third set, and she was up a break in the fifth game, but this time O'Brien broke back in the very next game to level things up.
The final, deciding twist to the match came in what would become the penultimate game of the match when Rushmi broke O'Brien's serve and took a 6-5 lead. Soon after, she wrapped up the see-saw battle and made her way to the third round.
She also credited the Delhi afternoon heat to her win. Having played before on the capital's courts, she was able to outlast O'Brien who had no experience here.
Source: Web Search
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