Prarthana Thombare fired 10 aces as she outplayed former Asian junior champion and second seed Snehadevi Reddy 6-2, 6-0 in the quarterfinals of the $10,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament on grass at the Oudh Gymkhana Club on Thursday.
The 21-year-old Prarthana, who had won the Asian Games doubles bronze medal with Sania Mirza in Korea last year, broke Snehadevi’s serve five times in the match and saved all the seven breakpoints that she faced. It was the second victory for the seventh seed over Snehadevi, following a three-set triumph in the last meeting in Hyderabad on clay.
Prarthana also combined well with Prerna Bhambri to make the doubles final at the expense of Olympian Rushmi Chakravarthi and Natasha Palha, in two well-contested sets that went into the tie-break. Prarthana and Prerna will face top seeds Sharrmadaa Baluu and Nidhi Chilumula who cruised past the newly crowned national champions, Snehadevi Reddy and Dhruthi Venugopal, for the loss of four games.
In singles, Prarthana will challenge four-time national champion Prerna Bhambri in the semifinals. The other semifinal will feature top seed Rishika Sunkara who beat Sharrmadaa in three sets, and Dhruthi Venugopal who quelled the foreign challenge from qualifier Hsin-Yuan Shih of Chinese Taipei.
Results:
Singles (quarterfinals): Rishika Sunkara bt Sharrmadaa Baluu 2-6, 6-3, 6-3; Dhruthi Venugopal bt Hsin-Yuan Shih (Tpe) 6-3, 6-3; Prerna Bhambri bt Riya Bhatia 7-6(7), 6-1; Prarthana Thombare bt Snehadevi Reddy 6-2, 6-0.
Doubles (semifinals): Sharrmadaa Baluu & Nidhi Chilumula bt Snehadevi Reddy & Dhruthi Venugopal 6-3, 6-1; Prerna Bhambri & Prarthana Thombare bt Rushmi Chakravarthi & Natasha Palha 7-6(3), 7-6(3).
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