Salut, Priska Nugroho Advances to WTA 125 Istanbul Doubles Semifinal

JAKARTA - Indonesian tennis player Priska Nugroho and her partner Vlada Panshina ensured their move to the semifinals of the Enka Open tournament in Istanbul, Turkey, after defeating the seeded team in the quarterfinals, Thursday (16/7).

Priska/Vlada defeated the fourth seeded Chinese pair Huang Yujia/Zhang Ying with a score of 6-7 (2), 7-5, 12-10 in a match lasting 2 hours 13 minutes on the hard court, according to the WTA reported by Antara.

The match was intense from the first set. Priska/Panshina had to break the tie after both pairs defended the serve until the score was 6-6. However, Huang/Zhang dominated the tie-break and won the opening set with a score of 7-2.

Entering the second set, Priska/Panshina increased the pressure. Although the match was tight again with both pairs stealing serves, the Indonesian/Russian pair was able to use the momentum in the final games to grab the second set 7-5 and force a rubber set.

In the doubles sector, the deciding set is played in a super tie-break format up to 10 points. The duel was tight with both pairs alternating in leading the score.

Priska/Panshina was 9-10 behind so the opponent got a match point. However, they showed calmness by grabbing three points in a row to turn the tide and tie the super tie-break 12-10, as well as securing a ticket to the semifinals.

Based on the match statistics, Priska/Panshina recorded three aces, ahead of Huang/Zhang's two aces.

The Indonesian/Russian pair was also more effective in utilizing the break point opportunities by converting four of seven opportunities (57.1 percent), while their opponents were only able to convert three of eight opportunities (37.5 percent).

Overall, Priska/Panshina won 84 out of a total of 167 points contested, narrowly ahead of Huang/Zhang who collected 83 points.

In the semifinals, Priska/Panshina will meet Tatiana Prozorova/Alexandra Shubladze, who advanced to the top four after their second-seeded opponents Lucie Havlickova/Gabriela Knutson withdrew in the quarterfinals.

Previously, Priska also competed in the singles sector but her struggle from the qualifying round had to stop in the first round of the main draw of the WTA 125 event.