In the first set Goutham got broken in the very first game but went on to break back in the fourth and followed it up by breaking Rushmi in the sixth to take the set 6-3. Rushmi pulled her game up in the next set and broke Goutham in the second and sixth to equalize. The final set went with serves and there was a solitary break by Sheethal in the eighth game.
In men’s singles semifinals, qualifier Ashutosh Singh defeated second seed N Vijay Sundar Prashanth in 170 minutes, 5-7, 7-5, 6-2.
The first set saw a lone break in the eleventh game when Ashutosh failed to keep his serve and Prashanth took the set 7-5. Ashutosh broke Prashanth in the eighth game but Prashanth broke back in the ninth.
Again Ashutosh broke Prashanth in the twelfth and equalized the match. In the third set Ashutosh pulled his game up by a few notches and broke Prashanth in the 4th and 8th games to book a berth in the finals.
The other finals was a relatively tame affair with PC Vignesh beating Vivek Shokeen 6-4, 6-4 in 85 minutes. Shivika Burman lost her singles semifinals to Gujarat’s Ankita Raina 6-3, 2-6, 5-7 in 125 minutes.
Coming from behind Ankita played some intelligent tennis coupled with unforced errors from Shivika, to power past her rival and make an entry into the title-round..
Results (all semifinals): Men: PC Vignesh (AP) bt Vivek Shokeen (Del) 6-4, 6-4; Ashutosh Singh (Del) bt N Vijay Sundar Prashanth (TN) 5-7, 7-5, 6-2.
Women: Sheethal Goutham (Kar) bt Rushmi Chakravarthi (TN) 6-3, 1-6, 6-3; Ankita Raina (Guj) bt Shivika Burman (WB) 3-6, 6-2, 7-5.
