Sravya Shivani and Pranjala Yadlapalli, the champions in the ITF women’s tennis tournament in Gurugram on Saturday.
| Photo Credit: Kamesh Srinivasan
Shruti Ahlawat overcame spells of inconsistent play to beat Shihomi Leong of Malaysia 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 in the semifinals of the $15,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament at the Tennis Project, Baliawas, on Saturday.
In her maiden final, the 19-year-old Shruti will face top seed Zeel Desai, who stopped the fine run of Akanksha NItture with a 6-3, 6-4 victory.
After the injury spells, Shruti has been training diligently at the DLTA High Performance Centre for the last few months. She would have waited for more time to compete in tournaments, but it was felt that what she needed the most was match exposure.
A natural competitor who steps up her game against better challenge, Shruti was cruising at 6-2, 2-0 before the athletic Malaysian played better to test her. However, Shruti was able to get into the next gear, cut her errors, and find a way to victory.
It is only her fourth tournament in the professional circuit. Shruti had made the quarterfinals in her first two tournaments. She had qualified and lost in the first round in her last tournament in March to Vaidehee Chaudhari at the same venue.
Shruti has also lost her only match against the 26-year-old Zeel, who has the rich experience of playing more than 350 matches in the international circuit.
Having beaten a string of quality players, Shruti promises to make it a memorable final on Sunday. Zeel will also be equally ready, having turned the matches around in her favour against a string of strong players.
In the doubles final, Sravya Shivani and Pranjala Yadlapalli combined remarkably well to beat the young duo of Mahika Khanna and Sohini Mohanty 6-4, 6-0.
It was her third doubles title in the professional circuit for the 25-year-old Sravya, while it was the seventh for the 26-year-old Pranjala. It was first doubles title after 2018 for Pranjala.
Ranked as high 265 in singles in 2019, Pranjala had to endure long time away from the game owing to injuries.
Sravya too had to grapple with injury in her career, and it was her first doubles title since 2022.
The results: Singles (semifinals): Zeel Desai bt Akanksha Nitture 6-3, 6-4; Shruti Ahlawat bt Shihomi Leong (Mas) 6-2, 3-6, 6-3.
Doubles (final): Sravya Shivani & Pranjala Yadlapalli bt Mahika Khanna & Sohini Mohanty 6-4, 6-0.
Published – September 20, 2025 06:39 pm IST
