Mumbai, Feb 10 (PTI) Prarthana Thombare kept Indian hopes alive at the Mumbai Open as she and her Dutch partner Arianne Hartono reached the doubles final after defeating the pair of Zhibek Kulambayeva of Kazakhstan and Sohyun Park of Korea in straight sets here on Saturday.
The Indian No. 1 doubles player Thombare and Hartono won 6-2, 6-1 in the second semifinal at the CCI courts here.
In the final, the Indo-Dutch combination will clash with second seeds Dalila Jakupovic of Slovenia and American Sabrina Santamaria.
The Slovenian-American duo defeated Great Britain’s Naiktha Bains and Hungary’s Fanny Stollar 6-4, 6-1 in the other semifinal.
Meanwhile, sixth-seeded Darja Semenistaja of Latvia continued her impressive run in the tournament, defeating Arianne Hartono of the Netherlands in straight sets to advance to the singles final.
The 21-year-old Semenistaja, who had won an ITF title in Bengaluru last month, defeated Hartono 7-5, 6-4 to set up a title showdown with Australia’s Storm Hunter in the WTA 125K Series tournament.
Hunter, the world’s No.3 ranked doubles player, upset eighth seed Katie Volynets 6-4, 7-6 in the first semifinal.
The 29-year-old Hunter, a Grand Slam champion in mixed doubles, had last month reached the women’s singles third round at the Australian Open — her best performance in singles in a Grand Slam.
She had also reached the women’s doubles semifinals in Melbourne.
Sunday’s title showdown between Semenistaja and Hunter, both left-handers, will be their first career meeting.
The two will also be playing their first singles final at the WTA USD 125K Series level. PTI AM PDS AM PDS AM AM
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