ITF Women's Tennis

Karman Kaur Thandi unleashed a high percentage of her best game to outwit the gutsy Punnin Kovapitukted 6-2, 6-3 in the semifinals of the USD 25,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament at the Tennis Project, Baliawas, Gurugram, on Saturday. Serving strong and stroking with intensity into the corners, the 24-year-old Karman exasperated her diminutive opponent who tried her best to make a better fight of it.

In the final, the eighth-seeded Karman will face the 17-year-old world No. 3 junior, Sofia Costoulas of Belgium who played an energetic game to beat Saki Imamura of Japan 6-2, 6-4.

Saki did have the consolation of winning the doubles title later in the evening, in partnership with Priska Madelyn Nugroho of Indonesia.

The wiry Karman, playing in her third tournament on return from an injury layoff, was able to put together a game that had seen her climb to World No. 196 in the world in 2018. Incidentally, Karman’s only singles title in the professional circuit was won that year in Hong Kong, when she had blasted the top seed - Jia JIng Lu of China - 6-1, 6-2 in the final.

Karman had two aces and seven double faults in the match. She was not too pleased with her first serve percentage, and made it a point to hit a few serves after the match before leaving the court. She converted five of 11 break points while the Thai succeeded in converting two of seven break points.

After a competitive first round against Sahaja Yamalapalli whom she beat in three sets, Karman has kept improving with each round, sharpening her game, despite the energy sapping conditions. "I am happy to be in the final. I am looking for more consistency with the quality of my game," said Karman who trains with long-time coach Aditya Sachdeva at the RoundGlass Academy in Chandigarh.

It should be a cracker of a contest when Karman takes on Sofia as both have an explosive game.