Second seed Eetee Maheta recovered from a slow start to tame top seed Rishika Sunkara 6-4, 6-1 in the final of the Asian Tour $5,000 women’s tennis tournament at the DLTA Complex here on Friday.
After an attacking style of play at the start which saw her trail 2-4, Eetee changed her tactics to a cautious game to win nine games on the trot that fetched her a maiden title.
Rishika won a token game after trailing 0-5 in the second set, before Eetee closed out the match to pocket $900. The runner-up had to be content with $600.
“I have been training well as I could not go for tournaments. I was attacking and making mistakes initially. Then, I started constructing the points and played much better,” said Eetee, who is supported by the Sports Authority of Gujarat.
Having made two singles finals and four doubles finals in the ITF professional circuit, Eetee was quite pleased to make a breakthrough at least at the Asian level, in a smaller tournament.
“I have been improving my serve and the overall game,” said Eetee, who had beaten Rishika in a previous Asian event, before losing to Prerna Bhambri.
“There have been only two ITF women’s tournaments at home his season. So, this event is some compensation for some of us who are not able to travel for tournaments abroad,” said Eetee.
