Nirupama/Rika through
to round two
Shailesh Soni
Nirupama Vaidyanathan and Rika Hiraki moved into the second round of the women's doubles at the All England Lawn Tennis Championships at Wimbledon, defeating Sylvia Farina of Italy and Iroda Tulyaganova of Uzbekistan 6-2, 6-4.
The Indo-Japanese pair started the first set with a bang and broke Farina/Tulyaganova in the first game itself to take the lead. Both Nirupama and Rika served strong to take a quick 3-1 lead. They got their second break in the fifth game to consolidate the lead at 4-1. From here games went with serve and Nirupama/Rika took the set at 6-2.
In the second set also, the Indo-Japanese pair did not ease up on the pressure, and again converted their first breakpoint opportunity in the third game to go up 2-1. In the sixth game, for the first time, Nirupama and Rika faced a break attempt, but after two deuces, they managed to hold serve.
In the final game, at 5-4, the Indo-Japanese pair had double match points at 40-15. But they showed a bit of nerves there and allowed it to go to deuce. Nirupama and Rika ensured that there was no further trouble and they won the next two points to take the match.
Nirupama gets 52 WTA doubles points (including 8 bonus) for her first Grand Slam doubles win, which will take her ranking up by about 15 spots.
Nirupama and Rika will now face top seeds Lisa Raymond and Rennae Stubbs in the second round. Lisa and Rennae beat Shinobu Asagoe and Yuka Yoshida, 6-0, 7-5 in their first round match.
