KATHMANDU, April 26: Ira Rawat and Mahika Rana are set to battle for the women's singles title of the ongoing Citizens Bank Open Tennis Tournament.
In the semifinal matches held at National Sports Council (NSC)'s court, Tripureshwar on Wednesday, Ira overcame the defending champion Mayanka Rana by 7-5, 6-0 while Mahika saw off Prerana Koirala with 6-3, 7-6.
Meanwhile, Samrakshak Bhushan Bajracharya reached the final in men's singles category defeating Santosh Khatri by 6-4, 6-4 in the first semifinal.
Ira, Shambhavi to vie for the title
However, his opponent for the title clash is yet to decide after second semifinal match between defending champion Jitendra Pariyar and Pranav Khanal ended 1-1 draw and the third set of the match postponed for Thursday.
Similarly in the men's doubles event, the pairs of Santosh Khatri and Dawa Sherpa, Kumar Adhikari and Jitendra Pariyar booked their places in the final. In the last four clashes, Santosh and Dawa overcame the pair of Pradip Khadka and Bikash Khadka 6-1, 6-1, while the pair of Kumar and Jitendra defeated the pair of Shyam Krishna GC and Anjan Thing in straight sets 6-0, 6-0.
In the men's doubles of above 35 age category, the pairs of Manoj Shah and Chhewang Lama, and Kamal Bhandari and Mahesh Shrestha are set to battle for the title. Manoj and Chhewang defeated the pair of Aatmaram Karki and Anuj Arora by 7-5, 6-3 in the first semifinal match. Likewise in the second semifinal match, Kamal and Mahesh overcame Raju Chhetri and Rajesh Chhetri pair with 6-1, 6-2 scores.
The pairs of Sanjay Amatya and Dharma Ratna Shahi, and Raju Chhetri and Degendra Shrestha are set to compete for the men's doubles above 45 age category title. Sanjay and Dharma defeated the pair of Lok Gurung and Dharam Lamichhane with 4-6, 6-3, 10-6 to advance to the final. Likewise, another finalist pair of Raju and Degendra beat the pair of Prem Thapa and Bhuarun Malla in the straight sets with 6-1, 6-0 scores.
