Rushmi battles to get past Meghha; meets Marinne in final

Mumbai, May 25 (UNI) Top seed Rushmi Chakravarthi battled through another three setter, this time against sixth seed Meghha Vakaria, to set up a final clash against fourth seed Marinne Giraud of Mauritius in the 10,000 dollar MSLTA-ITF Women's Circuit Tennis Tournament played at the G A Ranade Complex here today.

Rushmi beat Meghha 6-1, 2-6, 6-2 while Marinne had an easy outing against second seed Ankita Bhambri beating her 6-3, 6-1.

The first semi-final between Ankita and Marinne seemed to be going the Indians' way when Marinne was broken with relative ease by the second seed. Ankita followed it up by holding her own serve to take a valuable 2-0 lead. That was as good as it got for Ankita as Marinne showed just how consistent she can be. Some good ground strokes coupled with some aces helped her put a lot of pressure on Ankita. Ankita made all the errors and despite holding her serve at 5-2 to stay in the game, Marinne made quick work of her on her serve to serve out the opening set 6-3.

The second set got off to a poor start for Ankita as she was broken in the very first game. Marinne followed it up by holding her own serve to take a 2-0 lead. Ankita showed what she was capable of as she hit a few winners but they were too few and far between.

Moreover, her unforced errors outweighed her winners which made things a lot easier for Marinne. Ankita was to hold her serve only once in the second set as Marinne ultimately broke her in the final game to enter the final with a 6-3, 6-1 victory.

The second semifinal was threatening to be an easy straight sets affair as top seed Rushmi Chakravarthi had quite an easy outing in the first set with her reach and her ground strokes making sixth seed Meghha Vakaria do all the running. Rushmi had little trouble in taking the first set 6-1. Meghha picked herself up in the second set in an attempt to give Rushmi a real good run for her money. A consistent serve and some attacking play gave the top seed more than a few things to worry about. Cheered on by her family, Meghha gave it all she had and leveled the match at a set apiece by taking the second set 6-2.

Knowing that she needed to concentrate hard to make a comeback, Rushmi shattered Meghha's confidence with an early break which set the tone for the rest of the set. A consistent serve in the third set helped Rushmi as she showed no jitters while serving out the set to win the match 6-1, 2-6, 6-2 and enter the final.

Dwelling on her final's opponent Rushmi said, ''I haven't played her before but I know that she is a very consistent player. She is also very fit and will run down every ball that is hit. She has had a very good run so far having also won the ITF in Trivandrum. It should be a close game.'' Results: Singles (S/F): 1-Rushmi Chakravarthi (IND) bt Meghha Vakaria (IND) 6-1, 2-6, 6-1; 4-Marinne Giraud (MRI) bt 2-Ankita Bhambri ( IND) 6-3, 6-1.

Doubles (Final): 3-Marinne Giraud (MRI)/ Isha Lakhani (IND) bt 2-Ankita&Sanaa Bhambri (IND) 6-4, 6-1.

UNI