Poojashree Venkatesh fought her way into the final with a 6-4, 2-6, 7-6(3) victory over Malou Ejdesgaard of Denmark in the $10,000 ITF women's tennis tournament in Durban, South Africa.
The top-seeded Poojashree had beaten Nicole Rottmann of Austria 6-3, 6-2 in the quarterfinals, and another Austrian Christine Kandler 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 in the pre-quarterfinals.
She had a tough start against Kerslin Gressmann of South Africa before prevailing 7-6(5), 6-1 in the first round.
Sanaa Bhambri and Rushmi Chakravarthi asserted themselves by winning the doubles title with a 3-6, 6-3, 10-4 victory over Tegan Edwards and Bianca Swanepoel of South Africa.
Poojashree had in partnership with Zuzana Linhova of the Czech Republic lost to the same local combination in the semifinals 6-4, 6-3.
In singles, however, Rushmi lost in the quarterfinals to the third-seeded Zuzana Linhova 6-2, 6-2 while the fourth-seeded Sanaa lost in the second round to Malou Ejdesgaard of Denmark 7-5, 6-3.
Shivika Burman was the other Indian girl to win a round and then lost to Nicole Rottman of Austria 6-2, 7-6(3).
