CHENNAI: For ten minutes, Karman Kaur Thandi raised visions of a third set. The forehand winners were flowing, her first serve percentages were up and the unforced errors were conspicuous by their absence. At 2-5 on the Eugenie Bouchard serve, the Indian, who had played one previous match in the second round at this level, the third set seemed like a matter of when and not if.
That's when the Canadian, a Wimbledon finalist in 2014, reeled off three games. However, Thandi played a hospitable host to perfection as she squandered two set points on her serve at 5-4. Bouchard broke before holding serve to restore parity. Cheered on by a small but loud, sometimes unruly crowd — the chair umpire had to step in multiple times to remind them to maintain silence during points — Thandi held her nerve to hold serve after deuce.
Her opponent did likewise to push it to a tie-breaker. There, Thandi conceded the first point on serve. It looked like an uphill task from there on and so it proved it to be. The 28-year-old showed her big-points experience to take the match 6-2, 7-6 (2).
Even though the 24-year-old lost, when she allows the dust to settle, she will be relatively okay with the performances she dished out in this tournament. In the first round, India's No 2 showcased her big weapon — that booming forehand drives from the baseline — against the eight-seed Chloe Paquet. Against Bouchard too, those forehand passing shots helped her get out of jail a few times. One winner — she lunged sideways at a Bouchard first serve before hitting a crosscourt passing shot that left the Canadian as a spectator — caught the eye.
At other moments too, she used that big weapon of hers to win some points. What, though, cost her was two things. Her first serve let her down at the fag end of the second set in that it was non-existent. Her backhand, the weakest area of her game, failed to supplement the forehand side of the game.
So, she tried to kill some points with her forehand and that was leading to unforced errors. Even very early in the match, Thandi was running around to hit with her forehand. But matches like this will do her a world of good in the long run.
Matches like this would have also done Bouchard a world of good. At two hours and 13 minutes, it's one of the longest she has been involved in recent times. After coming back from a long injury, it's important to get some matches under your belt that tests your own physical conditioning.
Just as she was beginning to feel the conditions and the lactic acid in her legs, she found that bit extra to advance to the quarterfinals. "She (Thandi) was controlling the points in the second set," Bouchard said after the match. "I got back (in the end). Sweat management was key. I'm right now sweating out of my shoe. I will probably bring another pair with me for the next match."
Select results (2nd Rd): Eugenie Bouchard bt Karman Kaur Thandi 6-2, 7-6 (2), Linda Fruhvirtova bt Rebecca Peterson 6-4, 6-2, Nao Hibino bt Wang Qiang 6-2, 6-3.