Women's ITF tournaments abroad - Nov 2022

[sameerph]

Sahaja will need to play much better in the next match against Priska Madelyn Nugroho who is very talented (former world junior #9). Sameer, it seems she is still only 19. I thought she was older too. She generally stopped playing juniors 2 years early, after reaching world #9 by late 2019. But after the Covid break, I think she has taken a while to get going in the pro tour. But she was in four M15 finals in a row in Monastir this Jul-Aug (15 wins in a row, dropping only two sets in 32, one to Vaidehi to whom she had lost in Gurugram earlier!). Priska has looked more human after that though. Should be a good match against Sahaja.

True, Jay. I dont'n know why I wrote 21. Looks a very talented player, tough match for Saheja.

Ankita completed an easy win.

At the W25 in Traralgon, AUS (Hard):


[R1] (1) Ankita Raina (IND,301) d. Lily Fairclough (AUS,1177) 63 61

Next,

[R2] (1) Ankita Raina (IND,301) vs. Petra Hule (AUS,502)

[jayakris]

Oh, it seems Nugroho joined a US college last year. Unusual that she is on the tour at this time. May be she dropped out already after playing a year in college. Was ranked in the college top-100 in her freshman year, which is not bad.

[jayakris]

At the W25 in Sharm El Shaikh (Egypt), Sowjanya retired at 1-3 in the first set against Zhuoxuan Bai (CHN,364), but qualifier Vaidehi is playing well against the 4th seed Tessah Andrianjafitrimo (FRA,244). Vaidehi is up 7-5 0-0. Can she pull a big upset here? Go Vaidehi.

[jayakris]

Yay! Big upset by 22 year old Vaidehi!!!

At the W25 in Sharm El Shaikh (Egypt)

[R1] Sowjanya Bavisetti (IND,507) l. Zhuoxuan Bai (CHN,364), 1-3 RET.
[R1] (Q) Vaidehi Chaudhari (IND,549) d. (4) Tessah Andrianjafitrimo (FRA,244), 75 63

This match was a breakfest, but Vaidehi converted when it mattered. 3 breaks by her and 2 by Tessah in the first set, the key break and hold coming in th final two games. 4 breaks by VC and 2 by TA in the second. She went ahead twice in the second set but got got evened. Then from 3-3, she broke the 4th seed twice and held once to win the match, converting the first MP at AD out. I assume this is one of the bigger wins (if not the biggest) for her.

[Dinesh]

Vaidehi did it. 7-5 6-3. One of the best wins of get career, and quite frankly one by an Indian player this whole year. Keep going!!!

[jayakris]

So we have five Indians in second rounds abroad in good events. Both the seeded players (Ankita and Sahaja) advanced in Australia, which itself is a rarity for Indians who routinely get upset when they are seeded. Then RamK, Prajnesh and Vaidehi, all among last entries in the draw, upset seeds to advance in Japan, USA and Egypt. I am happy.

[sameerph]

Wow, what a win for Vaidehi, best of her career.

Very good start to the week. But, now I want more and at least some of these players to go deep.

[jayakris]

Vaidehi has had a good year, having come up from 970 to 549 in ranking. Won the Finesta national championship too last month. She is a tall enough and fit enough player (from pictures; I have hardly seen her play), so I am hopeful that she will continue going up in the rankings.

[jayakris]

At Sharm El Shaikh,

[R2] (Q) Vaidehi Chaudhari (IND,549) vs Tatiana Proorova (RUS,384)

[Dinesh]

Ankita just won her second round match in straight sets. TBH, I wasn’t sure she would win this considering her opponent had beaten Kimberly Birrell and Talia Gibson (who seems to be the next best thing for Aussie women’s tennis) at her last tournament. Keep going, Ankita!!!!

A possible QF match against Destanee Aiava!

[jayakris]

But Sahaja went down ... At the W25 in Traralgon, AUS,

[R2] (1) Ankita Raina (IND,301) d. Petra Hule (AUS,502), 63 62
[R2] (8) Sahaja Yamalapalli (IND,491) l. Priska Madelyn Nugroho (INA,517), 76(6) 36 16

[QF] (1) Ankita Raina (IND,301) vs (5) Destanee Aiava (AUS,402)

[sameerph]

At Sharm El Shaikh W25 ,

[R2] (Q) Vaidehi Chaudhari (IND,549) l. Tatiana Proorova (RUS,384) 12 retired.


Damn. From one of sources in ITD, Vaidehi fell down on line umpire chair and injured seriously. She was able to move forward and backward but not side ways. So, she retired.

[jayakris]

^^^ The worst news to wake up to. We have precious few players left and one of the most promising ones just went down. How unfortunate for this to happen after her best win ... Get well fast, Vaidehi.

[jayakris]

Ankita's QF at Traralgon - ITF video stream

I only saw the final game of the first set. Ankita saved 3 set points on Destanee's serve but was also making unforced errors every other play. Finally dropped the set... Not looking good today and not moving very well. 4-6 0-0

Drops serve right away in the second set after saving a couple of BPs from 0-40. 0-1

Ankita takes a medical timeout at 0-2. The trainer seems to be working on her neck/shoulder (can't see very well). Gets back to playing but drops serve again at 15. Now 0-3. Drops serve at 15 again, 0-5. Ankita is basically playing to give Desanee a proper win in the records rather than retire.

[QF] (1) Ankita Raina (IND,301) l. (5) Destanee Aiava (AUS,402), 46 06

[sameerph]

Sahaja will need to play much better in the next match against Priska Madelyn Nugroho who is very talented (former world junior #9). Sameer, it seems she is still only 19. I thought she was older too. She generally stopped playing juniors 2 years early, after reaching world #9 by late 2019. But after the Covid break, I think she has taken a while to get going in the pro tour. But she was in four M15 finals in a row in Monastir this Jul-Aug (15 wins in a row, dropping only two sets in 32, one to Vaidehi to whom she had lost in Gurugram earlier!). Priska has looked more human after that though.

After beating Sehaja in second round, Priska has upset second and fourth seeds and has reached the final where she will play Indian origin player Naiktha Bains. Naiktha appears to be on comeback trail. She has been a top 200 player earlier.