Sharrmadaa Baluu played with considerable maturity in taming Sri Vaishnavi Peddi Reddy 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 in the semifinals of the $10,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament here on Friday evening.
Sharrmadaa got off to a fine start and raced to a 5-1 lead before Sri Vaishnavi fought back.
Though she could not stretch the fight beyond a point, Sri Vaishnavi rode on the momentum of her recovery to take the second set with a break in the second game.
However, in the decider, Sharrmadaa took a 3-0 lead, after surviving five breakpoints in the first game, and raced to the finish by winning the last three games, dropping a mere three points in all.
In the final, Sharrmadaa will challenge seventh seed Sowjanya Bavisetti, who handled fifth seed and former Asian junior champion Snehadevi Reddy with poise in recording a 6-4, 2-6, 6-1 victory.
Except for a spell in the second set, when she conceded five games, winning only six points in all, that saw her drop the set from being ahead 2-1, Sowjanya rarely put a foot wrong in the two-hour tussle.
The results:
Singles (semifinals): Sowjanya Bavisetti bt Snehadevi Reddy 6-4, 2-6, 6-1; Sharrmadaa Baluu bt Sri Vaishnavi Peddi Reddy 6-3, 3-6, 6-1.
Doubles (final): Snehadevi Reddy & Dhruthi Venugopal bt Ching-Wen Hsu (Tpe) & Sharrmadaa Baluu 0-6, 7-6(1), 10-3.