Zeel Desai thread

[PKBasu]

Zeel won two gold medals at the Commonwealth Youth Games in the Bahamas -- for singles and mixed doubles. Congratulations to her!

[sameerph]

This is a related article from Hindu on this with comments from Zeel's coach Todd Clarke-

Zeel Desai pulls off a ‘double’ at the CYG

“Zeel has now developed the ability to provide me with a fairly accurate recap of her matches, and this has allowed me to help her more effectively,” Clark, who has been coaching her for the last two years, said.

Zeel will sign off on her junior career at the US Open, after which she will compete only in the women’s events.

[VReddy]

Zeel's interview: https://indiantennisdaily.wordpress.com ... eel-desai/

To Jay: Most of these young players seem to want to visit Switzerland - probably they haven't experienced the Swiss hospitality yet!

[jayakris]

Zeel's interview: https://indiantennisdaily.wordpress.com ... eel-desai/
To Jay: Most of these young players seem to want to visit Switzerland - probably they haven't experienced the Swiss hospitality yet!

Indians are the biggest worshipers of anything European to start with, and Switzerland is supposed to be the greatest place on Europe. They all buy it, and I can't blame young Zeel for buying into the hype. Not me. I like Federer, and that's about it... I will pass on the country which rubs me the wrong way every time I go there, but it's just me (and others simply disagree with me too, and I don't argue!). For the record, the city from which I wanted to just escape in the quickest possible time, as soon as I got there, was Geneva... Yeek, what a dump! Then this thing about everybody's stolen money sitting in banks out there, but that's probably not the country's fault ... But then, that is not the only place. I was once in London, way back, 30 years ago. Spent a whole day going around (both to the Lords and the Oval which where then meccas which I then thought I had to worship - but I was young and stupid about the idiot game). Anyway, after getting enough of attitude from enough people, I swore by the end of the day that I would like to never to return to the piddly island that got rich by looting my country. Luckily, and somehow, I have never had to - despite some invitations from universities there. And don't even get me started on places like France and Germany. Greece is possibly the only place I kinda liked in Europe.

Okay, back to tennis, and enough of unsubstantiated attacks from me based mainly on potentially irrational dislike of some countries!

(And I hope my dear friends who live and really like living in those countries won't be offended - I am just saying my own personal prejudices, quickly developed, just like some of you might do when you come to where I live - the place of guns, baseball, apple-pies and classless chief executives)

[punarayan]

It's those calendars that the drug companies gave out with the Alps and grinning yodelers, and everyone had one on the wall. In the heat of summer, those calendars were an object of worship!

[sameerph]

Zeel has been playing in Portugal for last couple of weeks. She reached the QF this week . Mihika also played here and lost in second round.

This week,

At $15K ITF Women, Guimaraes, Portugal (Hard)

[R1] (4) Zeel DESAI (IND,661) d. Valeria BHUNU (ZIM,847) 62 46 63
[R1] (Q) Mihika YADAV (IND,1057) d. (Q) Lauren PROCTOR (USA,NR) 64 57 75

[R2] (4) Zeel DESAI (IND,661) d. Linnea MALMQVIST (SWE,851) 64 46 64
[R2] (Q) Mihika YADAV (IND,1057) l. (Q) Yuriko Lily MIYAZAKI (JPN,NR 36 63 36

Next,

[QF] (4) Zeel DESAI (IND,661) vs. (Q) Alice GARCIA (BRA,1064)

Last week Zeel lost in second round to our own Snehadevi Reddy who in turn lost in the QF to Zimbawaen Bhanu who lost to Zeel in first round here.

[sameerph]

Zeel had a straight sets win to reach SF.

At $15K ITF Women, Guimaraes, Portugal (Hard)

[QF] (4) Zeel DESAI (IND,661) d. (Q) Alice GARCIA (BRA,1064) 64 63

Next,

[SF] (4) Zeel DESAI (IND,661) vs. (2) Jacqueline CABAJ AWAD (SWE,514)

[PKBasu]

Great stuff from Zeel to live up to her seeding!

[bujilover]

Great week for Zeel. She is also in the doubles final with partner Cristina Ene.

[sameerph]

Zeel has reached the final with a very good comeback win over second seed.

At $15K ITF Women, Guimaraes, Portugal (Hard)

[SF] (4) Zeel DESAI (IND,661) d. (2) Jacqueline CABAJ AWAD (SWE,514) 26 75 63

The match lasted 2 hours 58 mins.

Next,

[F] (4) Zeel DESAI (IND,661) vs. (5) Maria Joao KOEHLER (POR,668)

[PKBasu]

Fabulous win! Well done Zeel!

[jayakris]

Great stuff. That's what we were looking. Go Zeel, now seal the deal with zeal in the final.

[jaydeep]

Really good fighting win ... She is having a tough final against former WR #102 ranked local girl, Maria Joao Koehler.

In the doubles final, Zeel and her Romanian partner Ene failed to challenge Cabaj Awad and Bejenaru.

At $15K ITF Women's Tournament 2018, Guimaraes, Portugal

Doubles Final
(3) Zeel Desai (IND)/ Cristina Ene (ROU) l Karola Patricia Bejenaru (ROU)/ Jacqueline Cabaj Awad (SWE) 16 06

[Sin Hombre]

Zeel lost in the finals

Maria Joao KOEHLER [5] - Zeel DESAI [4] 6-1 3-6 6-1

[PKBasu]

Koehler seems to be on a long comeback trail that has been up and down — until this week. That second set against Zeel was the only set she lost all week as she crushed everyone else this week. So credit to Zeel for taking a set off the former world #102 (from 2013, when she made the main draw of all four Slams when she was 20 years old, including R2 at the Australian Open).