Giant-killer Sahaja Yamalapalli wins MSLTA Women's ITF World Tennis crown

Sahaja Yamlapalli of India lifted the women's singles title at the Aryan Pumps-MSLTA Women's 15K ITF World Tennis Tour event. The tournament took place at the Ram Nagar ground in Nagpur on Sunday.

The week-long tournament was organized by the Nagpur District Hard Court Tennis Association (NDHTA), under the auspices of the ITF, AITA and MSLTA in Nagpur.

Yamalapalli became the first Indian in four weeks to win the title in an anti-climactic summit clash. Young and the upcoming Sahaja lost the first set 4-6, but won the match after third seed Emily Seibold of Germany conceded due to injury.

Emily suffered the injury during the match and had to retire before the start of the second set against Sahaja.

Sahaja Yamalapalli beat third seed Emily Seibold of Germany in the final. (Pic credit: NDHTA)

Unseeded Sahaja wins 10 WTS points for her triumph

The unseeded Sahaja performed excellently throughout the tournament. Although Sahaja proved lucky in the final, she won the hearts of everyone with her giant-killing run in the last few days.

Emily Seibold, who won the event in Ahmedabad last week, was unfortunate not to win the back-to-back event. Sahaja shocked three higher-ranked players on her way to first ever career title.

On Saturday, Sahaja toppled second seed Anna Ureke of Russia in the semifinals.

The singles champion won the trophy with 10 WTA points. The prizes were given away by chief guests Dr. Pariniti Fuke and Prashant Sutar, MD of Aryan Pumps.

Kumar Kale, President NDHTA, Ashok Bhiwapurkar, Vice-President, Prashant Ugemuge, chairman, Vidarbha Infotech, Rajiv Desai, Joint Secretary MSLTA, Sudhir Bhiwpurkar, Treasurer MSLTA and Vijay Naidu, tournament director were the guests of the honor.

Shiv Mor, Ali Panjwani, Vikram Naidu, Dr Darshan Dakshindas, Ganesh Pagay, Behram Patel and Murli Asudani were also present on the occasion

Result (final)

Women’s singles

Sahaja Yamalapalli (IND) bt 3-Emily Seibold (GER) 4-6 (retired).