NEW DELHI: Qualifier Sandy Gumulya cut short the fine run of Natasha Khan of Britain as she recorded a 6-2, 7-6(4) victory in the semifinals of the $10,000 ITF women's tennis tournament at the DLTA Complex here on Friday.

The 19-year-old Indonesian, returning to the circuit recently following a knee injury that had kept her out of the game for nearly a year, played a steady game but was helped by her erratic opponent.

Keeping her record intact

Gumulya had not dropped a set in five previous matches and she was in danger of losing her first set in the tournament when she faced as many as five setpoints in the ninth and tenth games of the second set.

However, Gumulya did not have to do anything extraordinary to escape the clutches of danger as the 18-year-old Natasha missed every one of those setpoints with wayward shots.

There was still some hope for Natasha as she led 4-1 in the tie-break but she made six more mistakes on the trot including her 13th doublefault of the match to bow out. Natasha's serving prowess deserted her as she failed to hold serve in the first set and had only four aces in all.

Gumulya who has won three titles from five finals so far and had enjoyed a career-best ranking of 412, will be challenged by another qualifier Ji-Young Kim of Korea.

Maiden final for Ji-Young

The 20-year-old Korean recovered from a first set loss to outplay Ling Zhang of Hong Kong in making her maiden final.

In the process, both the singles finalists ensured that they would get automatic qualification for the next tournament in Mumbai.

There was a prelude to the singles final. In the doubles final, Ji-Young Kim in partnership with Jeong-A Cho beat Gumulya and Pichittra Thongdach in three sets to collect six WTA points each.

The results:

Singles (Semifinals): Sandy Gumulya (Ina) bt Natasha Khan (GBR) 6-2, 7-6(4); Ji-Young Kim (Kor) bt Ling Zhang (Hkg) 3-6, 6-2, 6-1.

Doubles (Final): Jeong-A Cho and Ji-Young Kim (Kor) bt Sandy Gumulya (Ina) and Pichittra Thongdach (Tha) 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.

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