Pune: Salsa Aher could not hold her tempo in the final as she was ousted 1-6, 4-6 by Canadian opponent Natasha Sengpgrachanh in the Thailand ITF Junior Grade 5 tournament which concluded at Nonthburi, Thailand on Saturday.
One of the promising talent from the city, Salsa got the tougher opponent in the final. Salsa was playing fast shots in the middle while Natasha was just keeping the ball in the court.
Salsa made many unforced errors and conceded the first set 6-1. In the second set, Salsa was able to control her game, but Natasha turned out to be a stronger competitor as she wrapped up the match with a 6-4 victory in the second set.
From this tournament Salsa has earned 20 ITF points and her junior world ranking will move upward from 438 to 350.
Earlier in the tournament, the Pune girl had a dream run as she won all the matches till the semi-finals after being one set down.
Salsa is sponsored by Lakshya / GIC and also gets support from the MSLTA Vision Programme.
Road to final:
Final: lost to Natasha Sengpgrachanh (Can) 6-1, 6-4.
Semi-final: bt Janice Tjen (Idn) 6-7 (3-7), 6-3, 6-0.
Quarterfinals: bt Koharu Niimi (Jpn) 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Pre-quarter final: bt Vasuratna (Tha) 3-6, 6-1, 6-1.
