Tulpule, Senoglu in final

Maharashtra's Radhika Tulpule beat Archana Venkataraman of Karnataka 6-2, 0-6, 6-2 to enter the Indianoil Servo ITF women's tennis championship final in Madras on Friday.

Tulpule will clash with Turkey's Ipok Senoglu, who rallied well to down India's Karishma Patel 6-3, 7-5.

The first semifinal between Senoglu and Patel evoked keen interest. The Indian, playing an attacking game, offered a stiff fight in the first set before losing it.

She then led 4-2 in the second as her Turk opponent appeared to be weakening due to dehydration. But Senoglu took 'medical time' and came back strongly to wipe out the deficit and go on to wrap up the match.

As the match commenced, Patel was in her element and chose to play deep but Senoglu refused to come up. The Turk girl broke Patel in the vital eighth and then held her own service game for the first set.

In the second, Patel led 4-2 with breaks in the second and sixth games before Senoglu sought medical time. Patel, perhaps, lost concentration and was broken back in the seventh. Senoglu broke Patel again in 11th and served for the match.

In the other semifinal between two Indians, Tulpule was at her peak in the decider. After taking some time to adjust to the hot and humid conditions, Tulpule broke Venkataraman thrice in succession from the fourth for first set.

But, the Maharastra girl was at the receiving end in the second set which Venkataraman won without conceding a game.

The third was full of rallies and the rivals broke each other twice before Tulpule tightened the game in the eighth to earn the vital break and progress to the final.

Earlier Reports:
Rushmi Chakravarty upset
Seven Indians in quarters
Shruti Dhawan bites the dust