Justina Mikulskyte wins ITF women’s tournament in Gurugram

Third seed Justina Mikulskyte scythed through the challenge of the 20-year-old Yeonwoo Ku of Korea, 6-0, 6-1 in the final of the Federal Bank $25,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament at the Tennis Project, Baliawas, on Sunday.

The 28-year-old Justina, ranked 251, had a match point to blank her opponent, but the wiry Korean salvaged some pride by breaking serve for a token game.

The score was misleading as the quality of the rallies were top class and the Korean, a half step slow, could not cope with the flawless fare of the Lithuanian.

ALSO READ | Delhi Open: Geoffrey Blancaneaux claims second challenger title after commanding win over Wong in final

“I am really happy with the way I played the final”, said Justina, understandably pleased with her performance.

After beating the top seed Dalila Jakupovic in the third set tie-break of the semifinals, saving a match point, Justina had the confidence to play her best.

Giving further insight, Justina said that she was happy to have got past the first round against Daria Kudashova, who had beaten her in their previous meeting.

ALSO READ | San Diego Open 2024: Kostyuk knocks out top seed Pegula, faces Boulter in final

It was the fifth singles title in the professional circuit for Justina, who has won 20 doubles titles.

The players will move to the next tournament in Nagpur, followed by the one in Indore.

The Chief Marketing Officer of Federal Bank, MVS Murthy, presented the trophies.

Federal Bank pledges more support for women

It was the second ITF women’s tournament that Federal Bank was sponsoring at the Tennis Project run by former Davis Cupper Vishaal Uppal.

The experience has been satisfying for the title sponsor even as the prize money of the tournament increased from $15,000 to $25,000.

For an organisation that has 42% women employees, it was great for the bank to support Indian women’s tennis with an international event, run efficiently.

Acknowledging the qualitative improvement in the presence of foreign players this time with the enhanced prize money, Murthy, said that plans were being made to host five such tournaments in a year.

ALSO READ | Indian Sports News Wrap: March 3

“We are having talks to host five such international tournaments with more and more prize money in a season, in different parts of the country. We want more foreign players coming into the country, along with creating more platforms for our players to compete at home”, said Murthy after the prize distribution ceremony of the ITF women’s event in which Ankita Raina made the semifinals and won the doubles title in partnership with Zhibek Kulambayeva.

“We have HS Prannoy with us in badminton. We are also looking at supporting a few very talented athletes trained by Anju Bobby George”, said Murthy as he explained the focus of the bank to support sports across different disciplines.

When queried about extending sponsorship support to individual woman tennis players, apart from hosting tournaments, Murthy assured that he would look at the merit of the candidates as and when such proposals came to him.

“We have also been associated with about eight marathons in the country”, said Murthy, happy to promote running as a hobby and a key element of healthy life.