Seventh seed Sahaja Yamalapalli beat second seed Ekaterina Makarova 6-4, 6-3 in the final of the $25,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament at the MSLTA Centre on Sunday.
It was the third singles title in the professional circuit for the 23-year-old Sahaja following the ones in Gurugram and Nagpur last year.
“I am really happy to win my third singles title at home. I loved the challenges from all my opponents and enjoyed overcoming them. I am more relaxed and having a lot more fun on court”, said Sahaja, who is being groomed by Rene Zondag of PBI at the Dravid-Padukone centre in Bengaluru.
Sahaja also made it a point to express her gratitude to coach Ashley Hobson in the US who was guiding her during the stint in the US circuit in recent weeks, and follows up over the phone every second day.
Sahaja Yamalapalli in the $25,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament in Solapur on Sunday. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
“Am extremely thankful to both of them for helping me achieve the title this week”, she said.
The champion collected Rs. 3,29,605 and the runner-up, Makarova got Rs. 1,29,881.
Sahaja led 5-3 in the first set and 5-1 in the second, before pulling through in straight sets. She converted seven of 10 break points that she forced, while the 27-year-old Makarova, ranked 186, could convert only four of 10 break points.
Sahaja did not drop a set in the whole tournament and conceded only 27 games in all to her five opponents in singles.
She will be competing in the $40,000 event in Navi Mumbai next week, and promised to give her best and enjoy tackling the challenges on court.
The results (final): Sahaja Yamalapalli bt Ekaterina Makarova 6-4, 6-3.
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