Top seed Prerna Bhambri breezed into the final of the KUDA Kalaburagi ITF $10,000 Women’s tennis tournament with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over unseeded Tamachan Momkoonthod of Thailand here at the Chandrashekar Patil Stadium on Friday.
Prerna will take on the unseeded Riya Bhatia for the title. Riya knocked out eighth seed Eetee Maheta 7-5, 7-5.
Prerna, the World No 479, spent 57 minutes on court to dispose of Tamachan in the first semifinal. She made her intentions clear from the start, hitting winners after winners to demoralise her Thai opponent.
Having seen off a wild card entrant in the first round, Riya had also defeated fourth seed Druthi Tatachar, sixth seed Sharmadaa Baluu.
In the first set, Riya took a 2-0 lead before Eetee clinched four games in a row, only to see Riya clinch the next three. At 5-all, Riya held serve to go up 6-5. Eetee then saved two set points from 0-40, before Riya bagged the set 7-5.
The second set saw Riya leading 3-1 before Eetee again ran away with four games to lead 5-3. Riya showed determination, that has been her hallmark all week, rallying brilliantly to win the next four games and advance to the final.
Druthi-Karman triumph
In the doubles final the fourth seed Indian pair of Druthi Tatachar and Karman Kaur Thandi rallied from a set down to beat third seeds Prerna Bhambri and Kanika Vaidya 1-6, 6-3, 10-7.
Results: (Prefix denotes seeding):
Singles: (Indians unless mentioned): Semifinals: 1-Prerna Bhambri bt Tamachan Momkoonthod (Tha) 6-3, 6-2; Riya Bhatia bt 8-Eetee Maheta 7-5, 7-5.
Doubles: Final: 4-Druthi Tatachar Venugopal/ Karman Kaur Thandi bt 3-Prerna Bhambri/ Kanika Vaidya 1-6, 6-3, 10-7.