Tennis: Irina knocks out second seed Dalila to enter final

Rallying from behind in both sets, unseeded Irina Khromacheva of Russia stunned second seed Dalila Jakopovic of Slovenia 6-4 7-5 to enter the singles final of the L&T Mumbai Open tennis tournament here Saturday.

Left-handed Irina was trailing 0-3 in both the sets after dropping her serve but came out with some clever play to upset the rhythm of Dalila, ranked 73rd and the runner-up to Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus last year in this USD 125,000 WTA event, to come out trumps.

Irina, who was ranked 165 going into the tournament at the Cricket Club of India hard courts, slowed down the pace of the rallies consistently to upset the rhythm of her higher ranked rival and won the match in an hour and 30 minutes.

The 23-year-old Moscow-born Irina thus made it 2-1 in head to head encounters between the two players, having won on clay in the round of 16 in Budapest, Hungary last year and then losing on hard court in Monterrey, Mexico in the first round this year.

Irina cleverly ...