‘Next best thing to Venus match? Day she came home for bhindi masala’

Had she beaten Venus, she’d have become the first Indian women to make it to the third round of a Grand Slam. And, racing to a 4-1 lead in the first set, she was looking good to pull it off.

Shikha, wrote The New York Times, ‘‘embraced her underdog role and played with abandon’’. But Williams did not lose her poise, and the best segment of the match came when the first set reached 5-5.

The next game was a marathon, with Shikha desperately trying to hold serve, staving off six break points. But Venus eventually broke serve on the seventh, and went on to win 7-5, 6-1.

Match over, Shikha applauded her opponent — as she’d done through the match — and was in turn given a rousing cheer from the crowd. ‘‘The atmosphere was electric,’’ she says, ‘‘maybe because of my Indian ancestry. Whatever I did was cheered, some encouragement for an underdog.’’

But the defeat was not on her mind; instead, she was drawn to events of three years ago, when the US was turned upside down by the attacks on the Twin Towers. That day, Shikha was accompanying her younger sister Neha back from a tournament in Georgia to their home in Boca Raton, Florida. Venus, fresh from winning her second US Open title, was on her way home to Palm Beach, Florida, from New York. Both Venus and the Uberois were in the air when the attacks took place and both landed at Jacksonville airport. ‘‘That’s when we realised that all flights were ordered down,’’ Shikha recalls.

There was no way out — with all flights grounded, and cars at a premium, the sisters were prepared to wait. Then they saw Venus.

They’d met her before, as practice partners in Delray Beach, Shikha says. ‘‘Neha approached her and asked if she remembered.’’ She did, and began talking to the sisters, who eventually asked if she was going home. ‘‘To which she offered us a ride.’’

They accepted, and climbed aboard the limo with Venus, her dog and her bags, for what Shikha calls an ‘‘education exercise’’. ‘‘She’s so cool, always ready with advice, quite a humble person. And very knowledgeable of Indian culture and food.’’ Taking the opportunity, Shikha invited her to dine with the family. ‘‘And guess what: she agreed. She loved Indian food, bhindi masala particularly, so we called Mom and asked her to make that.’’ How did that encounter rate with yesterday’s on court? ‘‘Second best. Well, best. No, forget it, both were as good.’’

The next step for Shikha — born in Mumbai (she’s a cousin of Vivek Oberoi’s) but in the US since childhood — is playing for India. Her application to play for the mother country is with the ITF and is due for an okay this month.