Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): At the ongoing ITF $40k Women’s Tennis Tournament 2023 in Bhopal, 21- year-old Anastasia Tikhonova and 22-year-old Joanne Zuger demolished their opponents in the singles semi-finals to set up their clash in the finals for Sunday. Both have met once before in April 2022 in W60 Pretoria, where the Tikhonova dominated the match 6-3, 6-0 and won in straight sets.
The highlight of the day’s play was the women’s doubles finals in which the short, frail but lightning fast Japanese duo over powered their taller and powerfully built Russian opponents in straight sets. The ever smiling Japanese duo – 28-year-old Erina Hayashi and 21-year-old Saki Imamura, electrified the count with their superior combination and effective poaching at the nets, making the Russian duo of Ekaterina Makarova and Ekaterina Reyngold almost helpless and registering a 6-3, 7-6(3) win in the final.
The secretary general of Tennis Association of India, Anil Dhupar gave away the trophies to the winners and the runners up. The Singles final match will be played on Sunday at Arera Club.
