BENGALURU: India's Tanisha Kashyap overcame a neck strain to clinch the ITF Open title on Sunday at the KSLTA Stadium. The eighth seed registered a come-from-behind victory over Akanksha Nitture 6-7, 6-1, 6-1 in the final to win her maiden international women's title.
After Kashyap won the final point of the match, which lasted two hours and 19 minutes, the contrasting displays of emotion on either side of the court reflected the scoreline. Kashyap was elated, she clenched her fists and let out a big grunt. Down the other hand, her opponent, the seventh seed, tossed her cap down and buried her face in her towel.
Nitture's reaction was understandable. In the first set, she showed her all-round skills to wrest the early advantage after one hour and 13 minutes of action. The Mumbai girl, who rallied from 1-3 down, taking the next three games, was consistent with her groundstrokes, landing winners from the baseline. On the contrary, Kashyap, who called for a medical timeout after the ninth game to attend her injury, had nine doubles faults -twice in the tie-break -helping Nitture take the set.
"I've been suffering from an injury this whole week - stiff neck, it has been strained. Physically, it was tough, but I am proud of the way I handled the situation," Kashyap said, adding "Winning this title feels special. I think it is the first of many more to come. Now, I will go back and recover."
In the second set, Kashyap started playing better and Nitture's level dropped. The latter made errors and looked down while Kashyap, who tackled her opponent's dangerous drop shots smoothly, took a 4-0 lead. Kashyap did well to keep the ball in play and Nitture's rising unforced error count made the Assam player's task easier. Even encouraging words from the Mumbai girl's mother and coach, who were in the stands, did not help her case.
The deciding set was a repeat of the second in that Kashyap just couldn't get back into the contest.
