Pooja Arthi completed a hat-trick of final appearances in the National doubles squash championships at the Indian Squash and Triathlon Academy here on Friday. The Pooja-Janet Vidhi duo scripted a hard-fought 8-11, 12-10, 11-5 victory over the second-seeded combination of Nirupama Dubey and Shameena Riaz in the women’s Group-B round-robin match. The unseeded pair will face the top-seeded combination of Joshna Chinappa and Rathika Seelan in the summit clash on Saturday. Like Pooja, Rathika, too, will be making her third straight women’s doubles final.

Facing two match points at 8-10 in the second game, Pooja and Janet mounted a spirited comeback with an aggressive approach, highlighted by a couple of forehand winners from the backcourt. A delicate backhand drop shot from Pooja eventually sealed the game for the pair. Carrying the momentum into the decider, Pooja and Janet surged to 5-1 and later 9-3 leads before comfortably closing out the match.

“In the previous two Nationals, I had partnered Rathika. We won the first edition and finished runner-up in the other,” said Pooja.

Pooja and Janet felt that holding more doubles tournaments would significantly help players improve in the format. “We both love playing doubles more than singles,” Pooja said.

Joshna was all praise for her partner Rathika. “She is very quick, picks up a lot. She hits the ball hard and is very good on the forehand.”

The results: Men (semifinals): Abhay Singh & Velavan Senthilkumar bt Ravi Dixit & Vikas Mehra 11-1, 11-6; Rahul Baitha & Suraj Kumar Chand bt Guhan Senthilkumar & Pr Sandhesh 11-8, 11-7.

Women: Group-A: Joshna Chinappa & Rathika Seelan bt Ananya Narayan & Anika Dubey 11-5, 11-4; B: Pooja Arthi & Janet Vidhi bt Nirupama Dubey & Shameena Riaz 8-11, 12-10, 11-5.

Mixed (semifinals): Velavan Senthilkumar & Joshna Chinappa bt Rahul Baitha & Anika Dubey 11-6, 11-9; Abhay Singh & Rathika Seelan bt 12-10, 11-7.