Egypt Mens/ Womens ITF tournaments 2017

[bujilover]

Terrific showing by Pranjala against the top seed in her QF match. After winning the first set 6-3, she was trailing 2-4 down a break in second and its tiebreaker now with PY leading 4-2. Come on, Pranjala

EDIT : She wins the match as I finish posting this. 6-3 7-6 win for Pranjala

[sameerph]

Excellent win for Pranjala. 19 year old Mihalikova is a former junior world #4 and was a Australian open junior champion in 2015 and runner up in 2016.

Kanika lost after winning the first set.

[QF] Pranjala YADLAPALLI (IND,1041) d. (1) Tereza MIHALIKOVA (SVK,523) 63 76(3)

[QF] Kanika VAIDYA (IND,1094) l. (2) Ana Bianca MIHAILA (ROU,590) 76(9) 26 16

I guess after the marathon match yesterday and a long first set today, Kanika did not have much left in the tank.

[SF] Pranjala YADLAPALLI (IND,1041) vs. (4) Ekaterina YASHINA (RUS,650)

[Varma]

That is a really impressive win from Pranjala. Looks like she back to playing at her career best level. Now that she took care of the top seed in straight sets, she should go all out and win it all.

- Varma

[jaydeep]

After a long time much-needed win from Pranjala ... Let's see how she perform in her next match.

[PKBasu]

Good to see Pranjala back at her best after a long lay off.

[sameerph]

Another good win for Pranjala to make it to the final.

[SF] Pranjala YADLAPALLI (IND,1041) d. (4) Ekaterina YASHINA (RUS,650) 64 64

[PKBasu]

Great run of victories for Pranjala over much higher-ranked opponents. Let's win the title now!

[bujilover]

Sweet 6-4 6-4 victory for Pranjala over 4th seed Russian Yashina. First ITF finals for her in only her 3rd tournament this year

[bujilover]

Also, Kanika and partner Yashina won the doubles title. Second doubles title for Kanika in the ITF category.

[VReddy]

This was her comment in a Hyderabad daily couple of months back (which was posted in her player thread). Hopefully it is paying dividends

In her bid to compete with the best in the world, Pranjala is training hard. She underwent a two-month long coaching at the JTCC Tennis Academy in Maryland recently to improve her overall game. “I have seen a lot of change in my game from the two-month training period at the academy. I improved on my groundstrokes, on-court moment and my serve. I think it will help me prepare well for his level. I can see a distinct change in my game now. I am working hard every day. Currently I am training with Vasudeva Reddy at NVK Academy and also with Sanjay sir at Sunjay Tennis Academy alternatively,” she said.

[sameerph]

Pranjala seems to have cranked up her serve. She served 10 aces in her SF yesterday won 83% of first serve points. Also won 75% of first serves in the QF against former Australian open junior champion. Her serve was broken only once in each match while she broke her opponents 3 times each.

Next,

[F] Pranjala YADLAPALLI (IND,1041) vs. Giada CLERICI (ITA,NR)

Clerici has been another surprise finalist beating 6th and 2nd seeds on the way.

[sameerph]

Pranjala is engaged in a dogfight in the final. She started with a 4-0 lead in the first set, only to lose 5 straight games and then saved a couple of set points serving at 4-5, she squared it for 5-5 and broke for 6-5, she could not serve it out for the set and in the tie break got blanked to lose the first set 67(0).

In the second set, Pranjala broke first in 8th game to lead 5-3 but again could not serve for the set. Afterwards it went with serve till 12th game when Pranjla got the decisive break to win the second set 7-5.

1 set all after close to 2 hours.

[bujilover]

Pranjala will win

[sameerph]

She is 1-3 down in the third set though.

[sameerph]

From 1-4 and double break down, Pranjala has taken 4 straight games to lead 5-4 in the third set. The Italian to serve though.

and Pranjala breaks her at love to win the match and the title. What a comeback from 1-4 down in the final set.

Her first ITF title.

At $15K ITF Women

[F] Pranjala YADLAPALLI (IND,1041) d. Giada CLERICI (ITA,NR) 67(0) 75 84