Chennai, Apr 11: Top seed Prarthana Thombare will face seventh seed Eetee Maheta in the final of the K.S. Narayanan Memorial ITF Women’s Futures being played at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium here.
In the semifinals on Friday, the experienced Prarthana won a error ridden first set against an energetic Nidhi Chilumula 6-3.
It looked like Prarthana would wrap up the second set in quick time but the gritty Nidhi had other ideas. The players traded two breaks while reaching 4-4. Nidhi conceded her service game at 0-40 only for Prarthana to return the favour, putting two double faults. The score was now 5-5.
Nidhi lost her serve once again after a deuce and this time Prarthana made no mistake and held serve comfortably to win the second set 7-5 and the match.
In the second match, second seed Natasha Palha had a whirlwind start leading 4-1. Eetee then held her serve after the second deuce and broke Natasha after four deuces to reduce the lead to 4-3. The double fault by Eetee in the next game gave Natasha a 5-3 lead which she managed to take advantage of by holding her service game to win the first set 6-3.
The second set was played on more even terms with the players conceding two breaks each to level at 4-4. Eetee and Natasha then held on to their tense service games to take the score to 5-5. A fluent stroking Eetee played positive and consistent tennis to hold her serve and broke Natasha to win the second set 7-5 and take the match into a decider. Eetee won the third set 6-3.
Results:Singles Semifinals: Prarthana G. Thombare (IND) [1] Bt. Nidhi Chilumula (IND) [6] 6-3, 7-5 and Eetee Maheta (IND) [7] Bt. Natasha Palha (IND) [2] 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 Doubles Finals: Sharrmadaa Baluu (IND) / Rishika Sunkara (IND) [3] Bt. Natasha Palha (IND) / Prarthana G. Thombare (IND) [1] 6-0, 7-6(4). (PTI)
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