Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza extended her dream run on her return into the professional circuit after two years, as she made the doubles final with Nadiia Kichenok of Ukraine, beating Marie Bouzkova and Tamara Zidansek 7-6(3), 6-2 in the $275,000 WTA Women’s Tennis Tournament here on Friday.
In the final, Mirza and Kichenok , will play the second-seeded Chinese pair of Shuai Peng and Shuai Zhang who have got walkover in the quarterfinals and semifinals.
The Chinese benefited from Heather Watson’s injury in the quarterfinals, and it was the respiratory illness of Alison Van Uytvanck of Belgium that put the duo in the final. In the $54,160 Challenger in Bangkok, Sriram Balaji and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan were beaten 10-7 in the super tie-break of the semifinals by Sanchai Ratiwatana and Christopher Rungkat.
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Zeel bows out
In the $15,000 ITF women’s tournament in Tunisia, Zeel Desai was beaten 7-6(1), 6-3 by the top seed Jodie Anna Burrage of Britain in the quarterfinals.
Prajnesh fails to advance
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India’s top-ranked player Prajnesh Gunneswaran failed to make the main draw of the Australian Open men’s singles event after going down in straight sets to Ernests Gulbis of Latvia in the final round of the qualifiers here on Friday.
Prajnesh, ranked World No. 122 and seeded 17th in the qualifiers, lost 6-7(2), 2-6 to Gulbis in his final qualifying match.
Prajnesh had earlier defeated local wildcard Harry Bourchier and Germany’s Yannick Hanfmann.
The results: $275,000 WTA, Hobart: Doubles (semifinals): Nadiia Kichenok (Ukr) & Sania Mirza bt Marie Bouzkova (Cze) & Tamara Zidansek (Slo) 7-6(3), 6-2. $54,160 Challenger, Bangkok: Doubles (semifinals): Sanchai Ratiwatana (Tha) & Christopher Rungkat (Ina) bt Sriram Balaji & Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan 6-4, 6-7(2), [10-7].
$15,000 ITF women, Monastir, Tunisia: Quarterfinals: Jodie Anna Burrage (GBr) bt Zeel Desai 7-6(1), 6-3.