Goutham, Bhambri to clash for title

Third seed Sheetal Goutham sprang a surprise, when she knocked out top seed Sonal Phadke in a tough three-set match to enter the final of the ITF women's tennis tournament at the CLTA deco-turf in Chandigarh on Thursday.

On a sunny day, fourth seed Ankita Bhambri outclassed Archana Venkataraman in straight sets to set up a title clash with in-form Goutam.

It was no cakewalk for the Bangalore lass, who had lost the first set 4-6 and was down 1-4 in the second with Phadke finding the sweet spot of the racket with amazing regularity.

However, the Maharashtra girl missed a crucial point in the second set, giving Goutham a chance to bounce back into the game, which the latter gleefully grabbed and earned a well-deserved 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 victory after fighting it out for over two-and-a-half hours.

In another match, Delhi's Bhambri annihilated her opponent in straight sets 6-1, 6-2 in little over 80 minutes.

Earlier, in a quarter-finals, on Wednesday, second seed Radhika Tulpule lost to Archana Venkataraman 3-6, 6-4, 7-5.