Solapur W25, N.Mumbai W25, Gwalior W15 - Dec 12/19/26, 2022

[PKBasu]

Ankita (IND, 300) plays 31 year old Valeria Savinykh (RUS, 321; CH 99) in the singles SF. Valeria made R3 in singles at the 2013 Aus Open, and was still ranked as high as 188 in March this year. So she is a player quite similar to Ankita in career trajectory (apart from that run at the AO). Should be a good match. Go Ankita!

[PKBasu]

Ankita Raina is now ranked 167 in doubles (quite a fall over the course of 2022), and Prarthana Thombare is 182. They have risen to 158 and 173 respectively in the live rankings after this week's run.

In singles, Ankita is 284 in the live rankings, 20 slots behind India #1 Karman Thandi (#264).

[sameerph]

Ankita (IND, 300) plays 31 year old Valeria Savinykh (RUS, 321; CH 99) in the singles SF. Valeria made R3 in singles at the 2013 Aus Open, and was still ranked as high as 188 in March this year. So she is a player quite similar to Ankita in career trajectory (apart from that run at the AO). Should be a good match. Go Ankita!

Ankita has a 3-0 head to head record against Valeria. So, hopefully she will continue that streak tomorrow.

[jayakris]

Ankita went down 16 46 today in the SF, so that is that

[sameerph]

Yep, Ankita is faltering at the later stages of the tournaments this year. 5 semi finals and 1 final at W25 level for her this year, 1 QF at W60 level and 1 WTA qualification and a main draw win. Not a bad year overall but if she had converted couple of those 5 SF's into tites, she would have been in top 225 still. As of now, she will end the year at around 267-268 just behind Karman who is at 263 in live rankings. Still actually she has improved from year end ranking of last year of 301. So, she is not yet finished as a singles player. But, let us see if she can move up the ladder again.

[jayakris]

^^^ This is what I was happy about too. Ankita is not showing any signs of totally fading and just going away. She still looks serious about playing on. I think physical issues does affect her after the first 2 or 3 matches. I remember at least a couple of those semifinals when she called the physio. Even today, after she was up 40-15 at 4-5 in the second set, she lost 3 points in a row to face an MP (saved one but then lost 2 more points and the match) and I saw her shaking her wrist after a backhand shot.

But, compared to what I saw a few months ago in the match she lost against Garland (?) in UK, she was playing better in Australia and in India. At least three SFs and some points from the last three events. Let us see how she looks after a short break. She doesn't have much to defend for several months, so she should be fine for entries and to move up closer to 225.

[jayakris]

Nugroho, who is just too damn difficult to beat, came back from the brink at 57 45 and Kulikova serving for the match, to win it 57 75 63. Saw a little of her match on live stream, and she is fun to watch. Chip returns and drop shots and all that stuff that we don't see too much of, in women's tennis at this level. Very good movements too. She is not too tall at all, so she may have limitations, but she would be a handful for anybody at these levels.

[sameerph]

^^^ This is what I was happy about too. Ankita is not showing any signs of totally fading and just going away. She still looks serious about playing on. I think physical issues does affect her after the first 2 or 3 matches. I remember at least a couple of those semifinals when she called the physio. Even today, after she was up 40-15 at 4-5 in the second set, she lost 3 points in a row to face an MP (saved one but then lost 2 more points and the match) and I saw her shaking her wrist after a backhand shot.

But, compared to what I saw a few months ago in the match she lost against Garland (?) in UK, she was playing better in Australia and in India. At least three SFs and some points from the last three events. Let us see how she looks after a short break. She doesn't have much to defend for several months, so she should be fine for entries and to move up closer to 225.

Yes, for Ankita nothing to defend at all in first 2 months of 2023, then 23 in March, 20 in April, nothing in May. Overall, less than 50 points in first 6 months of next year. So, she can easily go up inside top 225 and back into grand slam qualies range by French open next year.

Not too much of a break for her. After a week's break she will be back at new W40 series tournament in Thailand- 2 of those there and than 2 in India for a packed January schedule it seems.

[jayakris]

Priska is human after all .... She lost the Navi Mumbai W25 final to Valeria Savinykh, 26 67(4), ending her 9 match win streak in India. Good work by Valeria to beat Ankita and Priska in straight sets in the SF and F.

On to the Gwalior W15 this coming week. BUt all the top players have left, and Vaidehi Chaudhary (IND,572) is second in the entry list for this. Ksenia Laskutova (RUS,514) is the top entry. Laskutova had lost inn the second round to Kulikova in both the Indian W25 so far, but will be the one to beat at Gwalior. Jennifer Luikham (IND,766), Vernika Baszak (POL,818) are the next two in the list. Then it is all lower ranked Indians in the list. Only 4 foreigners expected there, and the rest will all be Indians ranked mostly below top-1000. Good chance for somebody like Vaidehi to pick up some points, though no big points.

[PKBasu]

2-Vaidehi Chaudhari plays Q-Mihika Yadav (IND, UNR) in R1 at Gwalior. Mihika is 23 years old, but in 2017 was ranked as high as 32 in the world junior rankings -- then one of the future hopes of women's tennis. She reached a career high of 814 in the pro rankings at the end of 2018, but has faded since.

[PKBasu]

No real surprises in R1 at Gwalior. All the seeds in action went through today. The two foreigners playing Indians won easily

[jayakris]

The top 7 seeds have reached the quarterfinals as expected, and even 19 year old Akanksha beating the 8th seed Shreya Tatavarthy was not a big shock. Main Draw.

Two Indians are assured to be in the SF, one each from the top and bottom halves of the draw. Would love to see Akanksha upset the 4th seed Baszak and make the semi too.

[jayakris]

The two foreigners won their QFs on Friday. Akanksha gave the 4th seed a scare in a three-setter but could not pull off an upset like I had hoped for. The only surprise was 5th seed Humera upsetting the 3rd seed Jennifer. I wouldn't have been surprised at Jennifer getting upset, having seen her poor form for the last few months... But this became a surprise because Humera herself was not in any great form for months either! Vaidehi took care of 6th seed Sharmada Balu very easily. So, two Indians are in the semis against the two foreigners. Let us hope for at least one to make the final.

[arjun2761]

I think Vaidehi Chaudhari needs to come through to win the title here.

[jayakris]

Both our players won their first set, but both SFs ended in retirements, one in our favor, and one not. 2nd seed Vaidehi was up 64 30 when the 4th seed Weronika Baszak (POL,819) retired. Humera Baharmus had a great start in an upset bid over the top seed Ksenia Laskutova (RUS,508) but retired at 75 04

Hope Vaidehi will get an upset tomorrow against her doubles partner Ksenia. These two were the top seeds in doubles and won the title over Vaishnavi Adkar and Saumya Vij, 61 76(3). A double crown for Vaidehi will be a great way to start a New Year.