Tagger hung in to sprint former champion Semenistaja’s hopes.
In a contest between two champion gamers — Latvia’s Darja Semenistaja, the 2024 match winner right here, and Austria’s Lilli Tagger — it was the 17-year-old who got here by means of.
The 2025 French Open junior champion, seeded seventh, rallied to defeat second seed Semenistaja 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 in a final eight conflict within the L&T Mumbai Open 125K Sequence on the Maharashtra State Garden Tennis Affiliation right here on Friday.
The 23-year-old Latvian made a powerful opening, asserting management within the first set with a excessive share on serve and well-placed winners from the baseline. Semenistaja repeatedly unsettled Tagger with court-stretching groundstrokes and forehand volleys, forcing {the teenager} into lengthy rallies.
One of many standout moments got here within the sixth recreation, a marathon alternate that includes prolonged rallies earlier than Tagger finally held serve with a blistering forehand winner down the road to stage at 3-3. Semenistaja, nevertheless, drew on her expertise and broke serve within the tenth recreation to take the opening set 6-4.
Tagger discovered her rhythm within the second set, lifting each her depth and precision. The Austrian served with authority, firing aces down the ‘T’, and started to regulate rallies with a ‘Federer-esque’ backhand and efficient internet play to say the set 6-4.
The decider was one-way site visitors. With the humid circumstances taking a visual toll on Semenistaja, Tagger dictated proceedings, breaking early and sustaining her dominance from the baseline to shut out the match 6-2 and seal her place within the final 4.
Different Outcomes: Singles (quarterfinals): Mananchaya Sawangkaew (Tha) bt Tatiana Prozorova (Rus) 6-1, 6-4; Lanlana Tararudee (Tha) bt Leolia Jeanjean (Fra) 4-6, 6-3, 6-2; Fangran Tian (Chn) bt Mei Yamaguchi (Jpn) 6-2, 2-6, 6-2.
Doubles (semifinal): Nicole Fossa Huergo (Arg) & Mananchaya Sawangkaew (Tha) bt Hiroko Kuwata (Jpn) & Park So-hyun (Kor) bt (Tha) 6-4, 6-7(4), [10-5].
Printed – February 06, 2026 11:35 pm IST
