Calcutta: Experience prevailed over exuberance as 36-year-old Rushmi Chakravarthi of Tamil Nadu defeated Sri Vaishnavi Peddi Reddy of Andhra Pradesh, who’s half her age, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 in the semi-final of the National Grasscourt Tennis Championships, at the South Club, here, on Friday.
One of the best players on grass among women, this is Rushmi’s 10th entry into the final. The winner of six national titles will now meet last year’s finalist Natasha Palha of Goa who prevailed over Andra Pradesh’s Bhuvana Kalva 7-5, 5-7, 6-4.
Facing the challenge of the hard-hitting Sri Vaishnavi, Rushmi brought her experience to good use and unsettled the rhythm of her younger opponent, employing a fine array of returns. Rushmi broke Sri Vaishnavi twice in the first set compared to one break of service gained by the latter and won it to gain an early advantage.
Rushmi, who had outclassed Sri Vaishnavi in the 2012 final, slipped a bit in the second as the latter hit some vicious forehand returns.
In the men’s section, third seed Vishnu Vardhan of Tamil Nadu ended wild-card entrant Ashwin Vijayragavan’s dream run to set up a summit clash with statemate and second seed Mohit Mayur Jayaprakash. “Everything went my way today,” Vishnu said later.
results
Men’s Singles: Vishnu Vardhan (TN) bt Ashwin Vijayragavan (AP) 6-3, 6-2, Mohit Mayur Jayaprakash (TN) bt Chandril Sood (UP) 6-4, 3-0(15-0, retd).
Doubles: Ronak Manuja (Mah) & Ashwin Vijaragavan (AP) bt Nitten Kirrtane (Mah) & S.K. Mukund (AP) 6-3, 6-2; N. Vijjay Sundar Prashanth & Mohammad Fariz (TN) bt Kaza Vinayak Sharma (AP) & Jayaprakash Mohit Mayur (TN) 6-2, 6-1.
Women’s Singles: Rushmi Chakravarthi (TN) bt Sri Vaishnavi Peddi Reddy (AP) 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, Natasha Palha (Goa) bt Bhuvana Kalva (AP) 7-5, 5-7, 6-4.
Doubles: Natasha Palha (Goa) & Nidhi Chilumula (AP) bt C. Sai Samitha (TN) & Amrita Mukherjee (Ben) 6-1, 6-3, Shweta Rana (Del) & Sharmada Balu (Kar) bt Rushmi Chakravarthi (TN) & Bhuvana Kalva (AP) 6-2, 3-2.
