Sharm El Sheikh ITF Futures: India’s Prarthana Thombare enters singles final

India’s Prarthana G. Thombare got the better of Russian Alina Mikheeva 7-5, 7-6(1) to romp into the singles final of the $10,000 Sharm El Sheikh Women’s ITF Futures tennis tournament being played in Cairo.

The second seeded Indian was in for a tough contest as her third seeded Russian opponent engaged in a no-holds-barred encounter.

Prarthana, ranked 556^th in the world, had to serve solidly and back it up with solid groundstrokes to keep Alina at bay.

The Russian matched the Indian in all departments of the game, but it was the latter who orchestrated the crucial break of serve, which was enough for her to clinch the opening set at 7-5.

Alina wore an even more determined look in the second set. There was more spunk in her serves and her groundstrokes were getting better all the time.

Both players held serve and tie-break was resorted to. Prarthana kept her cool in the tie-break and clinched it comfortably for a berth in the final, where she plays top-seed Yana Sizikova of Russia.

Earlier, in the semifinals, Prarthana had put it across seventh seed Francesca Stephenson of Great Britain when the latter gave a walkover with the Indian leading 5-4.

She had got past fellow Indian Ashmitha Easwaramurthi in straight sets 6-3, 6-2 in the quarterfinals.

The Indian had received a bye in the opening round.

Meanwhile, India’s Sanam Singh overcame stiff resistance from American Michael Shabaz before prevailing in three sets 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 to advance to the final of the $15,000 Tevlin Men’s ITF F8 Futures tennis tournament being played in Toronto, Canada.

Sanam, who is seeded second in the tournament, will now face top seed Peter Polansky of Canada who got a walkover from fourth seeded Indian Vijayant Malik in the semifinals.

Earlier in the quarterfinals Vijayant accounted for eighth seeded Fritz Wolmarans of South Africa 7-6(3), 6-2.

He had disposed off American Sekou Bangoura in straight sets 6-3, 6-4 in the second round.

The 450th ranked Panipal-born lad earlier showed the tournament exit door to Canadian qualifier Alexandru Pasareanu in straight sets 6-3, 6-0 in round one.