By Anthony Moruthane.
Tshwane, 02 April 2022 – Unseeded Lina Glushko of Israel fought back from a set down to beat British eighth seed Yuriko Miyazaki in a scintillating Tuks International clash on Saturday and book a maiden ITF $60,000 World Tennis Tour final spot.
The world No.329 Glushko, recovered from a slow start to beat the world No. 238 ranked Miyazaki in three sets 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 in a match that took 1 hour and 55 minutes.
In another match, Russian sixth seed Anastasia Tikhonova advanced to the final after her opponent Joanne Zuger of Switzerland retired due to a back injury in the second set of their semi-final match-up.
After almost an hour of action, the Swiss seventh seed took a medical time-out for a back injury, but it was clear she could not continue. Tikhonova won the opening set 6-3 and was leading 1-0 in the second set when Zuger retired.
The 21-year-old Tikhonova, who is coached by ATP Tour world No.7 Andrey Rublev’s mother Marina Marenko, will also appear in her first $60,000 level tournament final on Sunday at TuksTennis, University of Pretoria.
In the doubles event, the third seeded pair of Eudice Wong Chong and Hong Yi Condy Wong from Hong Kong added the Tuks International doubles title to their collection by defeating the top seeded duo of Timea Babos from Hungary and Russian Valeria Savinykh in the doubles final. The third-seeded pair won 7-5, 5-7, 13-11.
The final of the Tuks International will be Livestreamed on Tennis SA YouTube channel (link: https://youtu.be/STtGgb0E4jY) on Sunday, 3 April from 10h00.
Results
Singles
Semi-finals
6-Anastasia Tikhonova (RUS) bt 7-Joanne Zuger (SUI) 6-3, 1-0 Zuger retired
Lina Glushko (ISR) bt 8-Yuriko Miyazaki (JPN) 3-6, 6-4, 6-3
Doubles
Final
3-Eudice Wong Chong (HKG) / Hong Yi Cody Wong (HKG) bt 1-Timea Babos (HUN) / Valeria Savinykh (RUS) 7-5, 5-7, 13-11.