Sanjana Sirimalla topped her group on better game scores after a three-way tie with her Chinese and Japanese counterparts and qualified for the under-16 semifinals of the WTA Future Stars girls’ tennis tournament here on Thursday.
Sanjana had beaten China’s Xichen Zhao and lost to Japan’s Natsuki Yoshimoto. All three won five of their six matches in the league. Yoshimoto was eliminated as she won one set less than Zhao and Sanjana.
The Indian prevailed on the basis of 49-22 games won and lost, as against 47-23 for the Chinese.
In the semifinals, Sanjana will play second seed Annabelle Xu of Canada. The other semifinal will be between Reese Brantmeier of the US and Talia Gibson of Australia.
In the under-14 section, topped by Anja Nayar of Malaysia, Pari Singh finished fourth event. Pari, who won four of her league matches, had lost to the Malaysian 7-10 in the super tie-beak.
On the last day of the league stage, Sanjana beat players from Vietnam and Laos while Pari posted wins against players from Taipei and Vietnam.
The results (league): Under-16: Sanjana Sirimalla bt Thi Nguyen Tong (Vie) 4-1, 4-0; Sanjana bt Malaylack Deliah Pathummakuronen (Lao) 4-0, 4-1.
Under-14: Pari Singh bt Fang An Lin (Tpe) 5-3, 4-5(4), [10-3]; Pari bt Thi Mai Linh Nguyen (Vie) 4-2, 4-1.
