Isha Lakhani, Jayalakshmi in final

Wild card entrant and giant-killer Isha Lakhani's dream run continued as she stormed into the final in the second leg of the ITF women's tennis championship, at the C P Club courts in Nagpur, on Friday.

Isha will take on National grasscourt champion Sai Jayalakshmi in the final on Saturday.

In the semi-finals, the diminutive Isha bagged another scalp in fourth seed Sonal Phadke, winning 6-1, 6-4, while Jayalakshmi won as easily against Liza Periera at 6-2, 6-4.

Isha, with her deft placements and all-round court craft, won the opening set quickly, allowing Phadke to hold on to her serve only once.

However, Phadke, who started rather hesitantly, tried to stage a comeback in the second set, but Isha maintained a high level of consistency to cruise home.

Meanwhile, Jayalakshmi put herself in lne for a double crown after winning the doubles title with Radhika Tulpule. The duo beat Samrita Sekar and Archana Venkatraman in the final 7-5, 6-0

At one point Samrita-Archana wrested the initiative, taking a 5-1 lead and looked set to wrap up the opening set. However, Sai and Radhika fought back bravely to break their rivals' serve regularly and take the first set 7-5.

The second set saw the winning pair dominate from the start to claim it without dropping a game, and match in a little under 90 minutes.

In the doubles semi-finals, Jayalakshmi and Tulpule beat Ankita Bhambri and Sonal Phadke, while Samrita Sekar and Archana Venkataraman accounted for Sheetal Goutham and Liza Periera.

Earlier reports
Isha Lakhani topples Archana Venkataraman
Rati Kumar in last eight
Isha Lakhani shocks fancied Radhika Tulpule