India’s Pranjala Yadlapalli lost to Kazakhstan’s Gozal Ainitdinova in the final of the Colombo ITF women’s circuit on Saturday. Pranjala, seeded second, lost to the top seed 7-5, 6-4 in a fitting finale. In her semi-final encounter, Pranjala had beaten fourth seed Josephine Boulaem of France with ease, winning the match 6-1, 6-4.
In the final, Yadlapalli tried her best to go toe-to-toe Ainitdinov. The first set was a tense encounter with Ainitdinova finally breaking Yadlapalli’s serve to win the set. In the second set, Ainitdinova upped the ante giving Yadlapalli a run for the title. Eventually the Kazakhstani beat Yadlapalli 6-4 to bag the title.
Doubles delight
However, in the women’s doubles encounter, Yadlapalli won the title with the help of Rutuja Bhosale. The duo beat compatriots Natasha Palha and Rishika Sunkara 6-4, 6-1 in the final. Seeded third, Yadlapalli and Bhosale outclassed the second seeds Palha and Sunkara in all departments to lift the title.
Despair for Arjun Kadhe
At the Malaysia Men’s pro circuit, India’s Arjun Kadhe lost the men’s doubles final to top seed Ruben Gonzales of Philippines and Hunter Reese of United States. Kadhe along with his German partner Lukas Ollert lost 5-7, 6-4, 10-5 in a tense encounter.
Kadhe and Ollert bagged the first set 5-7, which stunned the top seeds. However, Gonzales and Reese upped the ante in the second to send the match into a tie-breaker. Winning the second set 6-4 with momentum on their side, the top seeds beat Kadhe and Ollert 10-5 to lift the title.
