Yadlapalli falls, Indian Challenge ends at Aurangabad Open

Aurangabad, Jan 15: Indian tennis player Pranjala Yadlapalli went down fighting to second seeded Tadeja Majeric in the women's singles semi-finals, thus ending the Indian challenge at the $25,000 ITF Aurangabad Open being played at the EMMTC school of tennis courts here on Friday.

Majeric will take on top seeded Valeriya Strakhova of Ukraine, ranked 246, in the final on Saturday. Strakhova also placed herself in line for a double crown as she lifted the doubles title with Russian Margarita Lazareva.

In a match that lasted nearly two hours, the tall Majeric, ranked 269, stopped the winning run of the 16-year-old Hyderabadi girl, winning 6-3, 1-6, 6-4. It will be the third straight final for the Slovak in five weeks. Majeric reached the finals at two $25,000 events in Nigeria, narrowly going down in both.

"I hope the third time will be lucky for me," said Majeric. "I was surprised she is only 16 years old but she plays like any other professional on the circuit. She has a good future."

On her part, Pranjala said: "I tried but Majeric was very consistent and I was a bit tired in the third set."

In the other semi-final, Ukrainian Strakhova took just an hour and 30 minutes to quell the challenge of Russian Ekaterina Yashina 7-5, 6-1.