Shruti Ahlawat sets up title clash against Zeel Desai

Shruti Ahlawat overcame spells of inconsistent play to beat Shihomi Leong of Malaysia 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 within the semifinals of the $15,000 ITF girls’s tennis match on the Tennis Undertaking, Baliawas, on Saturday.

In her maiden remaining, the 19-year-old Shruti will face prime seed Zeel Desai, who stopped the positive run of Akanksha NItture with a 6-3, 6-4 victory.

After the damage spells, Shruti has been coaching diligently on the DLTA Excessive Efficiency Centre for the previous couple of months. She would have waited for extra time to compete in tournaments, but it surely was felt that what she wanted essentially the most was match publicity.

A pure competitor who steps up her recreation towards higher problem, Shruti was cruising at 6-2, 2-0 earlier than the athletic Malaysian performed higher to check her. Nevertheless, Shruti was capable of get into the subsequent gear, lower her errors, and discover a approach to victory.

It’s only her fourth match within the skilled circuit. Shruti had made the quarterfinals in her first two tournaments. She had certified and misplaced within the first spherical in her final match in March to Vaidehee Chaudhari on the identical venue.

Shruti has additionally misplaced her solely match towards the 26-year-old Zeel, who has the wealthy expertise of taking part in greater than 350 matches within the worldwide circuit.

Having overwhelmed a string of high quality gamers, Shruti guarantees to make it a memorable remaining on Sunday. Zeel may even be equally prepared, having turned the matches round in her favour towards a string of robust gamers.

Within the doubles remaining, Sravya Shivani and Pranjala Yadlapalli mixed remarkably nicely to beat the younger duo of Mahika Khanna and Sohini Mohanty 6-4, 6-0.

It was her third doubles title within the skilled circuit for the 25-year-old Sravya, whereas it was the seventh for the 26-year-old Pranjala. It was first doubles title after 2018 for Pranjala.

Ranked as excessive 265 in singles in 2019, Pranjala needed to endure very long time away from the sport owing to accidents.

Sravya too needed to grapple with damage in her profession, and it was her first doubles title since 2022.

The outcomes: Singles (semifinals): Zeel Desai bt Akanksha Nitture 6-3, 6-4; Shruti Ahlawat bt Shihomi Leong (Mas) 6-2, 3-6, 6-3.

Doubles (remaining): Sravya Shivani & Pranjala Yadlapalli bt Mahika Khanna & Sohini Mohanty 6-4, 6-0.