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Pune Open ITF: Top seed Zidansek tames Thandi to clinch title
Tamara Zidansek got better of Karman Kaur Thandi 6-3, 6-4 in an hour and 29 minutes battle
Tamara Zidansek from Slovenia who is back on the courts after a break of two months, hardly showed any rust in her performance, as she came out with a stunning show to beat Karman Kaur Thandi 6-3, 6-4 to clinch the title in the BVG Pune Open ITF $25k ITF Women’s Championship at Shiv Chhatrapati sports complex on Saturday.
“She (Karman) is tall and serves well. She has a good forehand so I put more balls on her back hand and made her play,” said Zidansek after the match. “The main thing was that I could not break her. I had my chances of getting into the deuce points but could not close it. I think we both played some aggressive tennis and it was a good match,” explained Thandi.
Zidansek made her intentions clear coming into the match with breaking Karman’s serve in the first game. Karman was 40-love up when Zidansek with her furious shots broke the opponent to make it 1-0.
The Delhi girl, Thandi who struggled with her first serve in previous matches continued to suffer with same problem in the final as well.“If there had been more intensity from my side then the results could had been different. I mean it was a tough week but I did what I could to the best,” added Thandi. Thandi came out with few great forehand returns but failed to close the points. Her opponent kept hitting the ball to her back hand and it gave her easy points.
Zidansek took the first set 6-3 in 42 minutes.In the second set, 4th seeded Thandi came out with a much better approach and made the opponent run for her points.
After 3-all, Karman had a great chance to break Zidansek in the seventh game where she was 40-love down and forced set into deuce but the much more experienced Zidansek came out with an ace game to seal the point. From there onwards, Zidansek took upper hand in the match and broke Thandi in the ninth game to close the match with winning set 6-4.
“I am not tall so I have to run a lot for my shots and I like to hit my forehand. I am confident in playing all the shots,” explained Zidansek about her playing techniques.
Result
Final: 1-Tamara Zidansek (Slo) bt 4-Karman Kaur Thandi (Ind) 6-3, 6-4.
It was important to get used to hot conditions: Coach Marjan Cuk
Marjan Cuk who is the coach of Tamara Zidansek since last four years is satisfied with her performance. He says, “The main reason of coming to Pune was to get used to the hot temperature ahead of the upcoming Grand Slam tournaments. More than winning tournament it was important to improve Tamara’s potentials.” The Slovenian coach also added, “The condition and all the arrangements where really great. Zidansesk took some time to get used to condition but she came out with great performance.
