Indians left in the fray in the latter rounds of the ITF Pro Circuit tournaments held this week did well to put their names on the winning list. Prarthana Thombare, the Indian No 10 won the doubles event at the $60,000 ITF tournament played in Hodmezovasarhely, in Hungary on Friday. Likewise, Karunuday Singh won the men’s doubles in the $15,000 F2 tournament in Hua Hin, Thailand on Friday as well.

Lastly, Indian No 3 Riya Bhatia reached the semi-finals of the $15,000 ITF event held in Curtea de Arges, in Romania on Friday.

Thombare wins 20th title

Thombare and her Japanese partner, Kotomi Takahata were the top-seeds in the event draw and were facing the unseeded Norwegian-Croatian team of Ulrikke Eikeri and Tereza Mrdeza in the final.

Thombare and Takahata claimed the title after their opponents were forced to retire after just one game had been played.

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This is Thombare’s 20th ITF doubles title and her first title for the 2017 season. Likewise, it is also the biggest title of the 22-year-old’s career in terms of prize money, with her having previously won five $25,000 ITF tournaments.

Karunuday Singh wins in Thailand

Meanwhile, Karunuday Singh lifted his fourth doubles title in the ITF Futures. Singh and his Kazakh partner Denis Yevseyev upset the third seeded French-American team of Yannick Jankovits and Evan Song in straight sets 6-1, 6-1 to win in just 44 minutes.

Singh and Yevseyev won almost 54% points off their second serve, even as their opponents barely managed to win around 8% points on their second serves. The unseeded team won all seven of their service games and won five breaks of serve to secure the win.

Riya Bhatia reaches penultimate round in Romania

It was a hard-fought win for the fourth seeded Bhatia, who needed two hours and 10 minutes to win against the unseeded Romanian Andreea Amalia Rosca, 6-4, 0-6, 6-4.

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Both players had high margin of double faults. The Romanian had 11 double faults, while Bhatia had 13. Bhatia won 58% points off her first serves and around 68% points off her second serves. In comparison, her opponent won around 57% and 56% points off her first and second serves respectively.

In the semi-final, Bhatia will face unseeded Katharina Hering of Germany. Hering defeated Romania’s Tania Andrada Mare in her quarter-final, 6-1, 3-6, 6-4.