The 16-year-old Shruti showed tenacity to rally after losing a close first set but almost undid her fine effort due to fraying nerves before ousting 21-year-old Rushmi 6-7 (9-11) 6-4 6-3 in a marathon clash lasting two hours and 15 minutes at the Delhi Tennis Association deco turf courts here.

Sai Jayalakshmi's hopes to clinch the masters title on top of victories in two of the three satellite legs survived a major scare from the impressive 16-year-old Russian Anna Nefadova before she regained composure late in the decider to win 6-0, 3-6, 7-5 after an absorbing one hour and 40 minutes.

Both the semifinal encounters proved touch-and-go affairs. Sai Jayalakshmi, 21, the India No 2 who had thrashed her Moscow-based rival in straightsets at the third satellite leg in Indore, and Anna Nefedova played impressive tennis, but the other match was full of errors from both.

Shruti Dhawan, who had beaten Rushmi in the last eight of the recent national championship at the same courts, held the whiphand early on but the latter, who won the Ahmedabad leg and was runner-up in the other two, showed resilience to recover from 1-4 down in the opening set to win the tie-break and then clawed back from a hopeless 0-5 in the decider before the teenager closed out the issue.

The Chennai-based Sai Jayalakshmi, a vastly improved player in the last two seasons wrapped up the first set in no time. Thriving on the pace in shot-making by Anna Nefedova, the top seed's backhand crosscourt shots also worked to perfection.

But Nefedova, who had put out fourth-seed Thai Orawan Wongkamalasai in the last eight yesterday, rallied well in the second by concentrating more on sending down deep returns and playing a percentage game. Errors also crept into SaiJayalakshmi's game as the Russian clinched the crucial break in the eighth game before serving out for the set.

The top seed began the decider on a shaky note by being broken twice as neither could hold serve in the first three games. Nefedova went up 4-2 to promise an upset, but Jayalakshmi broke back to level 4-all to draw level after going up 0-40.

Nefedova, however, fought back to hold three break points in the next game, but could not convert it as Jayalakshmi tightened her game and recovered with deep returns to either flanks to force mistakes and then broke her opponent by converting the first matchpoint to make the final.

Shruti Dhawan showed fine athleticism and matched Rushmi's shotmaking to take early advantage only to squander it due to many unforced errors to lose the first set tiebreak.

Shruti fought back to level terms in the second set which saw as many as seven break of serves. But Shruti Dhawan forced her off-colour opponent into mistakes to clinch the break in the ninth game andthen managed to hold serve to force the decider.

The teenager ran up a 5-0 lead in the decider as Rushmi struggled to hold serve and found her usually strong forehand and backhand slice not out of rhythm.

But serving for the match, Shruti suddenly seemed to have suddenly developed nerves as she was broken twice with Rushmi cutting down pace with lobs to draw errors from the Delhi girl who seemed in a great rush to end the match.

To her credit, Rushmi staved off four match points and looked to be recovering serving in the ninth game which went to deuce thrice. But Shruti Dhawan won a couple of interesting rallies and though Rushmi managed to save one matchpoint, the teenager completed the upset when her opponent sent a return long.

Later, Sai Jayalakshmi kept her sights on a double and Rushmi Chakravarthy remained in contention for a consolation title as the top seeded duo combined to defeat Shalini Thakur and Juthika Choksi 6-3 6-4 in the doubles semifinal.

They will take on the unseeded Thairight-left combine of Orawan Wongkamalasai and Anuchan Montika who brushed aside Pooja Deshmukh and the fumbling Karishma Patel 6-0 6-2.

Results (all semifinals):

Singles: 1-Sai Jayalakshmi bt Anna Nefedova (Russia) 6-0, 3-6, 7-5; Shruti Dhawan bt 2-Rushmi Chakravarthy 6-7 (9-11), 6-4, 6-3.

Doubles: 1-Sai Jayalakshmi/Rushmi Chakravarthy bt Shalini Thakur/Juthika Choksi 6-3, 6-4; Orawan Wongkamalasai/Anuchan Montika (Thailand) bt Pooja Deshmukh/Karishma Patel 6-0, 6-2.