Jakupovic-Irina rallies to lift doubles crown
NAGPUR: Second seed Dalila Jakupovic of Slovenia continued to keep her slate clean with yet another straight set victory to seal her singles final berth in the Maha Urja $25K Nagpur Open ITF women's tennis championships at the Ram Nagar courts on Saturday.
After winning her women's singles semifinal, the 33-year-old Jakupovic paired up with Romania's Irina Maria Bara and recorded a hard-fought triumph over Korean and Lithuanian duo of Yeonwoo Ku and Justina Mikulskyte to emerge doubles champion.
In the first women's singles semifinal, Jakupovic took one hour and 21 minutes to get the better of Korean Dayeon Back 6-4, 6-3. In the second semifinal played between two 21-year-olds, Korean giant killer Yeonwoo Ku won a close contest against Russian Daria Kudashova to set up a title clash with experienced Jakupovic on Sunday. Ku defeated Kudashova 6-2, 7-5 in an exciting semifinal in one hour and 28 minutes.
Later in the women's doubles title clash, the top-seeded duo of Jakupovic and Irina from Slovenia and Romania had to sweat hard to record a come-from-behind defeat over the Korean-Lithuanian pair of Ku and Mikulskyte. After losing the first set 6-7(8), Jakupovic and Irina brought parity by winning the thrill-a-minute second set 7-6(5) before winning the decider 10-7.
For winning the doubles title, Jakupovic and Irina earned 35 WTA points and were richer by a prize money of $3,935.
The second seeded Jakupovic will now look to win the singles title against Ku on Sunday.
Results:
Singles (Semifinal): 2-Dalila Jakupovic (Slo) bt Dayeon Back (Kor) 6-4, 6-3; Yeonwoo Ku (Kor) bt Daria Kudashova(Rus) 6-2, 7-5;
Doubles (final): 1-Irina Maria Bara (Rou)-Dalila Jakupovic (Slo) bt 4-Yeonwoo Ku (Kor)-Justina Mikulskyte (Ltu) 6-7(8), 7-6(5), 10-7.
