Rushmi Chakravarthi lived up to her top billing as she halted eighth seed Sai Jayalakshmi's winning run to clinch the single's title in the $10,000 ITF women's tennis tournament in New Delhi on Saturday.
Rushmi tamed Sai 6-3, 6-2 after an unsavoury incident in the second set result in an injury to the latter and spoilt her chance of putting up a meaningful resistance.
Sai was unlucky as a ball boy ran into her in the middle of a point in the second set, resulting in her neck muscle pull.
The collision, which happened soon after she had broken back to level the scores 2-2, had a huge impact on her game.
Sai was also playing the final after battling it out in gruelling three setters during last two days.
Rushmi, who beat her rival in their previous encounter in February, once against proved her supremacy with an error-free game in match that lasted one hour and 13 minutes.
She had six aces and three double faults as against Sai's eight double faults.
Sai lost her serve in the first game of the match but bounced back after converting the fifth break point in the third game. She broke Rushmi in the next game and was 2-2 in the first set.
Sai rushed things that resulted in unforced errors at crucial moments and Rushmi made no mistake to take advantage of her opponent's lapses and inconsistent form.
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