India’s Prerna Bhambri will take on Omanese top seed Fatma Al Nabhani for the singles trophy at the Phoenix Live $10,000 International Tennis Federation women's tournament being organised by the DRC Sports Foundation at the Leonia Holistic Destination in Hyderabad.
In the semifinals, eighth seed Prerna stunned third-seeded Rishika Sunkara 6-3, 6-4 to sail into the final. In the other semifinal, Fatma blazed past Prarthana Thombre 6-2, 6-3.
Interestingly enough, the two singles finalists teamed up in the doubles and entered the semifinals.
In the quarterfinals, the second seeded duo defeated the pair of Sai Samhitha Chamarthi and Eetee Maheta 6-4, 6-2. Also advancing to the semifinals was Nidhi Chilumula, who paired up with Rushmi Chakravathi.
The third seeds were leading 7-5, 1-0 when their opponents, Hyderabad’s Sowjanya Bavisetti and Rishika Sunkara, retired, gifting them a semfinal berth.
Joining them in the last-four round will be top seeds Sharmada Baluu and Prarthana Thombre as well as Natasha Palha and Snehadevi Reddy. Sharmada-Prarthana crushed Amritha Mukherjee and Sneha Padamata 6-1, 6-0 while Natasha-Snehadevi fought back from a set down to defeat defeat the Indo-Australian pairing of Ashmitha Eshwaramurthi and Angelique Svinos 1-6, 6-2, 10-4.
The results
Singles semifinals: Fatma Al Nabhani (x1) bt Prarthana Thombre 6-2, 6-3; Prerna Bhambri (x8) bt Rishika Sunkara (x3) 6-3, 6-4.
Doubles quarterfinals: Sharmada Baluu/ Prarthana Thombre (x1) bt Amritha Mukherjee/ Sneha Padamata 6-1, 6-0; Natasha Palha/ Snehadevi Reddy bt Ashmitha Eshwaramurthi/ Angelique Svinos 1-6, 6-2, 10-4; Rushmi Chakravarthi/ Nidhi Chilumula bt Sowjanya Bavisetti/ Rishika Sunkara 7-5, 1-0 (retired); Fatma Al Nabhani/ Prerna Bhambri (x2) bt Sai Samhitha Chamarthi/ Eetee Maheta (IND) 6-4, 6-2.
Doubles pre-quarterfinals: Sharmada Baluu/ Prarthana Thombre bt Disha Agarwal/ Ai Kamiyoshihara 6-1, 6-3; Amritha Mukherjee/ Sneha Padamata bt Sri Vaishnavi Peddi Reddy/ Tanisha Rohira 6-2, 6-2; Snehadevi Reddy/ Natasha Palha bt Druthi Venugopal Tatachar/ Arantxa Andrady (x4) 1-6, 6-4, 10-5; Ashmitha Eshwaramurthi/ Angelique Svinos bt Swara Kulkarni/ Jelena Lukic 6-3, 6-4; Sowjanya Bavisetti/ Rishika Sunkara bt Saumya Vig/ Chun Yan He 6-4, 6-2; Rushmi Chakravarthi/ Nidhi Chilumula bt Aishwarya Agarwal / Nithya Raj Baburaj 6-0, 6-1; Sai Samhitha Chamarthi/ Eetee Maheta bt Shweta Rana/ Rashmi Teltumbde 6-1, 5-7, 10-8; Fatma Al Nabhani/ Prerna Bhambri (x2) bt Riya Bhatia/ Ushna Suhail 6-1, 4-6, 10-7.
