Ekshibarova ousts Nicha to enter final

Mumbai, Feb 25 (PTI) Fifth seed Vlada Ekshibarova ofUzbekistan ousted second seed Nicha Lerpitaksinchai ofThailand, ranked 89 places above her globally, in three setsto enter the singles final of the 10,000 USD MSLTA-ITF Women''sTennis Tournament today.

The Uzbek player, ranked 558, carved out a 6-4 3-6 7-5victory in the semifinal against her Thai rival to earn ameeting in tomorrow''s summit clash against another Thai,seventh seed Varatchaya Wongteanchai.

Wongteanchai, ranked 600, got the better of qualifierStefanie Tan of Singapore 6-3 6-1 in the other semi finalwhich was totally one-sided.

The winner of the tournament would earn 12 ITF points aswell as USD 1568 (around Rs 72,000) in prize money while therunner-up would get 8 points and USD 980 (around Rs 45,000).

The Japanese-Chinese pair of Kanae Hisami and Ting Li,the fourth seeds, lifted the doubles crown at the expense ofsecond seeds Han Sung-Hee of Korea and Wongteanchai.

Hisami and Li won 6-1 7-5 in the doubles final.