Nirupama-Manisha8217;s tryst with Olympic over

Sydney, September 22: Wildcard entrant Nirupama Vaidyanathan and Manisha Malhotra's tryst with Olympic women's double's tennis lasted bare...

Sydney, September 22: Wildcard entrant Nirupama Vaidyanathan and Manisha Malhotra8217;s tryst with Olympic women8217;s double8217;s tennis lasted barely 35 minutes as they were swamped by sixth-seeded pair of Jelena Dokic and Rennae Stubbs of Australia in a first round encounter on Friday.

Playing with clinical precision, Jelena and Rennae gave the Indian duo a few lessons in tennis blanking them 6-0, 6-0, a double bagel8217; as it is described in the game8217;s parlance.

The Australian pair was ruthless, not giving any quarter to their rivals, who looked like novices. The way the Indians lost even embarrassed the Indian supporters who had come to watch the encounter.

Nirupama and Manisha must have realised that they have a long way to go before they can make a mark at higher echelons of the game.

The Indian pair was lucky to get a last-minute call, as Anke Huber and her partner Jana Kandarr withdrew because of injuries.

Manisha opened the match but was unable to hold her serve. Nirupama did no better as she lost hers. The Australians showed the Indians how to serve and hold it. But they refused to learn and maintained the trend throughout the match.

The Indians won a mere seven points in the first set, and two of them came via double faults from the rivals. In the second set, things were only marginally better as the Indian pair managed to collect 11 points. The Indians thus won a total of 18 points as against 50 by the Australians, indication of the massacre on show court.

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The Australians converted their break points without wasting any time. It was not as if they played any extraordinary game, but it looked like the tentative Indians were overawed by the occasion.

Neither Nirupama nor Manisha even dreamt of playing at the Olympics and had different plans on the satellite and challenger tours. Nirupama was in the US and Manisha in France, playing club tennis, when they were informed about the wild card entry.

Though they may have fulfilled their dream of playing in the Olympics, this is one match they will definitely like to forget.