New Delhi, June 28 (IANS) Ankita Raina hammered compatriot Shweta Rana 6-3, 6-1 to reach the final of the ITF Women’s tennis tournament here Friday.
This will be the fifth consecutive final in the $10,000 event for the 20-year-old and sixth in seven weeks. Ankita had also reached the finals of the $25,000 ITF event in Karshi, Uzbekistan earlier this month after going through the qualifying round.
The second seed will now take on the unseeded Eetee Maheta in the summit clash Saturday.
Ankita wasn’t at her best in the first set as both players struggled to hold serve. She managed to hold serve for the first time in the eighth game and that turned out to be the only game that went on serve Ankita broke Shweta’s serve for the fifth consecutive time to pocket the set.
In the second set, Ankita was much more in control and raced to a 4-0 lead and then never looked back from there.
In the other semifinal, Eetee got the better of Natasha Palha 1-6, 7-5, 6-2.
In the doubles final, Prarthana Thombare and Natasha Palha tried their best to upset top seeds Rishika Sunkara and Naomi Totka of Hungary but ended up second best in the super tie-break.
Prarthana and Natasha loat 4-6, 6-4, 11-13.
