JOIN USPrerna sails into title round
India’s Prerna Bhambri cruised to a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Nan Nan Zhang of China to reach the final of the $10,000 ITF Gulbarga Open Women’s Futures championship at the Dr Chandrashekar Patil stadium here on Friday.
Prerna will lock horns with fourth seed Zi Yang of China, who stunned top seed Wing Yau Venise Chan of Hong Kong 6-0, 6-0 in the second semifinal, in the summit clash.
“I played my natural game but the match was easier than expected,’’ Prerna said after the match.
The 20-year-old Prerna, ranked 803 on the WTA rankings, broke Zhang in the third and seventh games of the first set to take a 5-2 lead before holding serve in the eighth game to claim the set 6-2.
In the second set, Zhang put up a semblance of a fight stretching Prerna to deuce in the second and fourth games but the latter held firm to come through.
Prerna then broke Zhang in the fifth game, aided by her opponent’s unforced errors. The Indian broke Zhang’s serve again in the seventh game to take a decisive 5-2 lead before closing out the match on serve at 6-2.
Zi Yang, meanwhile, blanked top seeded Chan without losing a game. Chan’s error-prone game only made Yang’s efforts easier as he slammed some fine winners to come out on top.
Third-seeded Korean pair of Hae-Sung Kim and Ju-Eun Kim eased past Pei-Chi Lee and Chia Hsien Yang of Taipei 6-1, 6-1 to win the doubles title.
Results (semifinals, prefix denotes seedings): Prerna Bhambri (Ind) bt Nan Nan Zhang (Chn) 6-2, 6-2; 4-Zi Yang (Chn) bt 1-Wing Yau Venise Chan (Hkg) 6-0, 6-0.
Doubles: Final: 3-Hae-Sung Kim/ Ju-Eun Kim (Kor) bt Pei-Chi Lee/ Chia Hsien Yang (Tpe) 6-1, 6-1.
Semifinals: Pei-Chi Lee/ Chia Hsien Yang (Tpe) bt Risa Hasegawa/ Yumi Miyazaki (Japan) 6-1, 6-3; Hae-Sung Kim/ Ju-Eun Kim (Korea) bt Rutuja Bhosale/ Rishika Sunkara (India) 6-1, 6-2.