News

The final of the SKME Open will be an all-Indian affair as Akanksha Nitture and Tanisha Kashyap, both first-time finalists, took contrasting routes to the title round at the KSLTA Tennis Stadium here on Saturday.

While seventh-seeded Akanksha overcame mid-match blues and a three-hour rain interruption to snuff out the challenge of second-seeded Vaishnavi Adkar 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 in the semifinals of the $15,000 event, eighth-seeded Tanisha put away New Caledonia’s Carolann Delaunay 6-1, 7-5 in the other last-four encounter.

Akanksha came out with her guns blazing from the get-go, troubling her rival, who is yet to fully recover from chikungunya, with her big serves, deep returns and clever drop shots, which Vaishnavi, also suffering from an abdominal strain, made any effort to get to.

Despite the limitations and icing her swollen knee during the changeovers, she troubled Akanksha with her power-packed ground strokes, coming up with winners off both flanks. She broke back in the eighth and 10^th games to level at 5-5. But before much damage could be done, Akanksha stepped up her game a notch to close out the set in the 12^th game.

She broke Vaishnavi’s serve in the first game of the second set before the heavens opened up. The three-hour delay seemed to break Akanksha’s momentum. The second seed didn’t let that affect her as she began to dictate terms and took the issue to the decider.

She wasn’t the same player in the final set, as she was broken in the fourth game, serving a double fault at breakpoint. Akanksha, whose previous best was a semifinal appearance in Ahmedabad two years ago, didn’t prolong her rival’s agony, closing out the match by breaking Vaishnavi’s serve again in the eighth game.

BAHARMUS-INGALE IN FINAL

In doubles action, top-seeded duo of Humera Baharmus and Pooja Ingale powered into the final with a 7-6 (7-2), 6-4 victory over Sai Samhitha and Diva Bhatia.

In the other semifinal, the pair of Akanksha and Soha Sadiq was up 5-4 against Arina Arifullina and Jo-Leen Saw duo when a sudden downpour brought the proceedings to a halt.

Results (prefix denotes seeding, Indians unless mentioned):

Singles (Semis): 7-Akanksha Nitture bt 2-Vaishnavi Adkar 7-5, 6-3, 6-2; 8-Tanisha Kashyap bt 4-Carolann Delaunay (Cal) 6-1, 7-5.

Doubles: Semis: 1-Humera Baharmus/ Pooja Ingale bt Sai Samhitha/ Diva Bhatia 7-6 (7-2), 6-4;

Quarters: A Arifullina/ JL Saw bt Shria Atturu (USA)/ Saumya Vig 6-2, 6-2; D Bhatia/ S Samhitha bt Sravya Shivani C/ Carolann Delaunay (Cal) 6-4, 6-1.

CAPTION: PIX-1, PIX-2 & PIX-3: India’s Akanksha Nitture in action during her semifinal win over Vaishnavi Adkar in the SKME ITF Open in Bengaluru on Saturday.

PIX-4: Tanisha Kashyap of India makes a forehand return to Carolann Delaunay of New Caledonia in the semifinal of the SKME ITF Open in Bengaluru on Saturday.