Fujiwara to meet Jovanovski in Pune ITF final

Pune, Nov 20: Sixth-seeded and 237th-ranked Rika Fujiwara of Japan Friday set up a title clash with third-seeded Bojana Jovanovski of Serbia at the $50,000 NECC-ITF Women's Tennis championships here.

In the semifinals played Friday, 189th Serbian Fed Cupper Jovanovski stopped the winning run of Uzbek Wild card entrant 15-year old Sabina Sharipova 6-4, 6-1, while Fujiwara crushed giant-killer Nina Bratchikova of Russia 6-2, 6-2.

In the doubles final, Italian Nicole Clerico and Ukrainian Anastasiya Vasylyeva scraped past top seeds Nina Bratchikova and Ksenia Palkina 6-4, 3-6, 13-11. The winners received a cheque for $2,660 and 70 WTA points and the runners-up picked up $1,425 and 50 WTA points.

The 28-year-old Fujiwara, once ranked top 100 in the singles, displayed the tremendous form that she is in with a convincing win over Bratchikova. Fujiwara, who looks favourite for the title, has lost just 11 games on way to the finals.

The 18-year-old Jovanovski, enjoying her career-best ranking of 189 this week, survived a minor hiccup in the first set against the young Sharipova, who reeled off four games from 0-5 down in the first set before the grunting Serb found her bearings and held the tenth game to go up a set.

In the second set, Sharipova looked tired and could hold only once, in the fifth game. In contrast, Jovanovski was in control of the match hitting an array of winners on both flanks to enter her second $50,000 event final.