Hyderabad, Oct 04: Indian tennis sensation Sania Mirza entered the singles final of the USD 10,000 professional Women's ITF Tournament being played at Jakarta, Indonesia today. In semifinals, the 16-year-old Sania defeated 21-year-old Shruthi Dhawan of India 7-5 5-7 6-1, according to information received here. Mirza took an early 5-2 lead in the first set with her customary attacking brand of tennis but Shruti fought back gamely to level scores. The Hyderabad girl, however, held serve and then broke to pocket the set. The second set was equally well-contested with both girls going for big ground strokes until a couple of unforced errors from Sania in the 12th game, enabled Shruti to even scores.
Sania was a different customer altogether in the final set when it mattered most as she raised the level of her game a few notches and played some scintillating forehand and backhand winners to race away to 5-0 lead. Shruti narrowed the lead but could not suppress the inevitable as sania ran away with a 6-1 victory in the third.
In the other semifinal, another seasoned India Rushmi Chakravarthy had a much easier time when she beat Thassha Vittayaviorj of Thailand 6-2 6-3 to set up a title clash of with Sania.

This is the top seeded Sania's sixth professional final out of which she emerged victorious on all the previous five occasions.
Bureau Report