CHENNAI: Indonesian tennis player Janice Tjen on Saturday fought hard to beat Thailand's number 1 tennis player Lanlana Tararudee in the semifinal of the Chennai Open at the SDAT Tennis Stadium here.
She will face Kimberly Birrell in Sunday's final, who defeated Joanna Garland in a match that lasted 3 hours and 24 minutes.
Within two months, Tjen will play her second WTA tour final. She played her first final in Sao Paulo but lost to French teen T Rakotomanga Rajonah.
"I am lucky to get the win here. It could have gone anyone's way," she told post her win.
The previous encounters between Tjen and Tararudee may have helped the former get the edge in the game.
It was a close battle between the two, from the get-go. Both had their shares of dominant games, as well as nail-biting wins, but when it came to the tiebreaker, Tjen used her experience to win it 7-6. Tararudee reigned supreme with her serves, collecting 12 aces from this tie. However Tjen who faced Pohankova's speedy serves in the quarterfinal, seemed to counter it well, and relied on her powerful returns to score points.
It was the same story in the second set. Tararudee forced long points and countered Tjen's dangerous lobs and slowly started building momentum. Up 5-2, it seemed like the Thai was going for a deserved set win. But Tjen had other ideas. Saving three break points in the eighth game, which, had she lost, would have been the set, helped Tjen get back into the match.
Spurring the sparsely crowded centre court, Tjen then forced the set to another tie breaker, winning it 6-5.
In the doubles semifinals earlier, the duo of Storm Hunter and Monica Niculescu defeat Mai Hontoma and Aikio Omae in straight sets.
Results: Doubles: Hunter/Niculescu bt Hontama/Omae 7-6 (3), 6-4; Singles: Janice Tjen bt Lanlana Tararudee 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5), Kimberly Birrell bt Joanna Garland 6-7(2), 6-3, 7-5.
