Sports News | Zeel Desai Continues Dream Run, Sets Up Final Against Rashmikaa

Bengaluru, Nov 25 (PTI) Unseeded Indian Zeel Desai continued her dream run, warding off third seeded compatriot and Asian Games mixed doubles gold medallist Rutuja Bhosale to reach the final of the ITF Women's World Tennis Tour here on Saturday.

Zeel won 3-6 6-4 7-5 to set up a title clash with reigning national champion Rashmikaa Bhamidipaty.

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Rashmikaa created an upset of her own, stunning second seed Thai player Lanlana Tararudee 6-2 6-1.

Meanwhile, the Italian-German pair of Diletta Cherubini and Antonia Schmidt lifted the doubles title, beating the fourth seeded duo of Punnin Kovapitukted of Thailand and Anna Ureke 4-6 7-5 10-4.

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The winners took home a cheque of USD 1437 and 50 WTA points while the runners-up pocketed USD 719 and 30 WTA points.

Rutuja, who has been battling a viral fever, and her younger rival traded breaks in the first two games.

They repeated the sequence in the fifth and sixth games before Rutuja, who won the Hangzhou Games gold with Rohan Bopanna, bagged the next three games to win the first set 6-3.

In the second set, Rutuja achieved a break in the fourth game to go 3-1 up. But Zeel took advantage of a tiring opponent to win four games in a row with breaks in the seventh and ninth games.

In the third set, 27-year-old Rutuja seemed to take control of the match, racing to a 3-1 lead with a break in the second game.

Serving to stay in the match at 2-5 and down 30-40, Zeel made a remarkable comeback to win the game which changed the momentum.

Rutuja was once again serving for the match at 5-3 but committed four double faults and two unforced errors to lose her serve.

Zeel pounced on the opportunity and won the rest of the games and seal the final berth.

Results (Indians unless mentioned)

Singles (Semifinals): Rashmikaa Bhamidipaty beat 2-Lanlana Tararudee (THA) 6-2 6-1; Zeel Desai beat 3-Rutuja Bhosale 3-6 6-4 7-5.

Doubles (Final): Diletta Cherubini (ITA)/Antonia Schmidt (GER) beat 4-Punnin Kovapitukted (THA)/Anna Ureke 4-6 7-5 10-4.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)