Rika Fujiwara clinches singles title

Pune: Japanese sixth seeded Rika Fujiwara lifted her first ITF singles title of the season after winning the hard fought final against third seeded Serbian Bojana Jovanovski here on Saturday.

The Japanese shrugged off a first set deficit to beat Bojana 5-7,6-4,6-3 in two hours and 33 minutes in the final of the USD 50,000 event at Deccan Gymkhana club here. Rika earned 70 ranking points along with USD 7315 as prize money.“I’m thrilled to win my first event of the year. This was the first time in the tournament I was under pressure , I lost the first set and was under pressure in the second set, but I’m happy to have come out of problems and win the title which is special for me,” Rika said.Bojana, who got 50 ranking points and USD 3990 as prize money, admitted that better player won. “I played well, but my opponent was fitter than me, I will have to work on my fitness. I had my chances in the second set but she was moving all around the court and returning, which was frustrating and made me make mistakes. But I’m only 17 and have learnt a lot today,” the Serbian said. PTI