Indian eves drub Uzbeks

India Number One Nirupama Vaidyanathan, playing her first competitive match after losing in the final round of the qualifiers for the Australian Open, trounced top-rated Uzbek Natilia Nikitina 6-2 6-0 to give India an unbeatable 2-0 lead in the three-match rubber.

With the tie already won, India experimented in the doubles encounter by fielding Sai Jayalakshmi and Shruti Dhawan against the Uzbek girls.Sai-Shruti combination provided some resistence to the Lilia-Natilia pair before losing 4-6 3-6 in the Pool A tie here. India take on Chinese Taipei, Asian Games team champions, in the second round robin tie here tomorrow.

`Nirupama’ssingles match will be crucial and if she continues with her good form, we have a chance,” India’s non-playing captain Shyam Minotra said today.

It was an easy ride for the reigning National champion Uzma Khan in the first set against Lilia. Uzma had a high percentage of first serves and covered the court splendidly to tire her opponent.

Uzma, who joined the Indian team taking a break from her studies at Arizona University on a tennis scholarship, wrapped up the first set 6-2.

Lilia came back into the match when she raced to a 4-1 lead in the second set before Uzma rallied to take the set into the tie-breaker. The 18-year-old Indian was unstoppable after that and powered to win it 7-1 and put India 1-0 up.

With Uzma giving perfect start to the campaign, Nirupama needed less than an hour to topple Natilia Nikitina. She hit powerful groundstrokes and made the opponent run around the court most of the time. Her real test will, however, come in tomorrow’s potentially tough match against the Taiwanese. Inother Pool A action, strong contenders Chinese Taipei beat Indonesia 2-1. Taiwan’s top player Janet Lee beat Liza Andriyani, while Wang Shi-Ting defeated Wynne Prakusya 6-0 6-1 for a 2-0 lead. In Pool B, China drubbed Hong Kong 3-0 and South Korea beat New Zealand 2-1.