February W15/W25 ITF tournaments, India (Jhajjar, Gurugram, Bengaluru)

[PKBasu]

Bengaluru W40

[Q1] 9-Vaidehi Chaudhuri (IND, 522) d. Junri Namigata (JPN, 707; CH 101) 62 60

which brings up a close match-up:

[Q2] 9-Vaidehi Chaudhuri (IND, 522) vs. 8-Punnin Kovapitukted (THA, 515) around 1pm IST today.

[sameerph]

Dominating win by Vaidehi .

At Bengaluru W40

[Q2] (9) Vaidehi Chaudhuri (IND,492) d. (8) Punnin Kovapitukted (THA, 521) 61 62

In this week's WTA rankings Vaidehi has moved up 30 spots to become a higher ranked player than Punin. Still, the nature of win is impressive.

Hope Vaidehi pull out some upsets in main draw.

[sameerph]

So, these are the first round match-ups for our players-

[R1] (WC) Zeel Desai (IND,643) vs. (Q) Sarah-Rebecca Sekulic (GER,672)

[R1] (Q) Vaidehi Chaudhuri (IND,492) vs. (6) Priska Madelyn Nugroho (INA,280)- Head to head 1-1

[R1] (WC) Vanshita Pathania (IND,NR) vs. (4) Ankita Raina (IND,241)

[R1] (WC) Sharmada Balu (IND,889) l. (8) Eden Silva (GBR,304) 26 46

[R1] (WC) Sahaja Yamlapalli (IND,454) vs. Diana Marcinkevica (LAT,289)

[R1] Rutuja Bhosale (IND,419) vs. (2) Valentini Grammatikopoulou (GRE,198)

Only Sharmada's match done today. Others will be all done tomorrow. Ankita has an easy match against a fellow Indian, Zeel has got a similar ranked player. Vaidehi and Rutuja have got seeds but Vaidehi had beaten Priska last year in Gurugran before Priska beat her in Tunisia final. So, this can be a close match. Rutuja ran the Greece top 200 girl very close last week.

So, decent draw for our players this week, they need to pull off at least a couple of wins apart from Ankita.

[sameerph]

Excellent upset win for Rutuja and Zeel won her match over slightly lower ranked player. Ankita won over a fellow Indian.

At ITF W40, Bangalore

[R1] (WC) Zeel Desai (IND,643) d. (Q) Sarah-Rebecca Sekulic (GER,672) 63 62

[R1] (Q) Vaidehi Chaudhuri (IND,492) l. (6) Priska Madelyn Nugroho (INA,280) 26 16

[R1] (4) Ankita Raina (IND,241) d. (WC) Vanshita Pathania (IND,NR) 63 60

[R1] (WC) Sahaja Yamlapalli (IND,454) l. Diana Marcinkevica (LAT,289) 67(8) 36

[R1] Rutuja Bhosale (IND,419) d. (2) Valentini Grammatikopoulou (GRE,198) 46 64 60

Last week Rutuja came close to beating the Greek player but fell short 5-7 in the third set. This time she won by a bagel in the third set.

Sahaja was a break up in both the sets but could not press home the advantage.

A bit surprised by one sided loss of Vaidehi. I saw first few games of that match and Vaidehi looked quite competitive. Don't know what happened after that.

[sameerph]

So, 3 Indians in second round.

At ITF W40, Bangalore

[R2] (WC) Zeel Desai (IND,643) vs. (6) Priska Madelyn Nugroho (INA,280)

[R2] (4) Ankita Raina (IND,241) vs. Lanlana Tararudee (THA,356)

[R2] Rutuja Bhosale (IND,419) vs. Diana Marcinkevica (LAT,289)

[Dinesh]

Awesome win by Rutuja. Really hope that she continues her good form to gain more ranking points, as she’s close to breaking the top-400 again. Diana (who is in a slump) should be an easy match for her.

The Thai girl is not a gimme match for Ankita, although Ankita leads their H2H 1-0 from her straight sets win last year.

Priska will be a tough one for Zeel. Hope we get 2 wins today.

[jayakris]

I saw Vaidehi's match. Just like a lot of our players, she is just not in shape. Too heavy, and she doesn't move well at all. Has some really heavy shots and some volleys, lobs and retrieval shots that are good and would help you dominate players at a lower level. But if you cannot run well, you can't win at the top-400 level. I felt that even in her last match, but there I thought she wasn't pushed. Today I was disappointed. I thought earlier that she must have trimmed down a bit, seeing the recent streak of wins. Not really. Now, I don't mean she is fat or anything. Just not in the shape that allows for enough court coverage. She needs to run better. Priska is some sort of a magician on court, who can pinpoint her shots to where she wants them to go, often taking it on the rise and hurrying you. If you leave wide spaces open, she will pick a spot and hit it past you. That is what she did against Vaidehi.

[Dinesh]

Surprise!!! Zeel took the first set 7-5 against the Indonesian. Hope she keeps it up.

[jayakris]

^^ No she didn't. Was up a break twice, but after 3-2, Priska won 4 games in a row and took the second set. Zeel has become very mistake-prone. Priska isn't playing all that well, and Zeel moves a little better than Vaidehi, but if she hits her bread and butter forehand screamers into the net, nothing can work. She saved one set pt and had a break chance after that too at 3-5 but made multiple mistakes to lose the set. Oh well. Priska is very beatable today, but you need to play some steady tennis and not lose focus if you want to beat her. And do NOT serve two DFs in a game like Zeel did at 3-2 just when she needed to push the pedal down. Her body language said everything I needed to see. She lost her confidence and lost 4 games in a row too.

I have gone into a whining mood these days. Just frustrated. It is like we know what can happen, and we pray that it won't happen, but 90% of the time it does. Hope the 10% chance is enough for Zeel to pull this off in the third.

[PKBasu]

Wonderful win for Rutuja over the second seed yesterday. The bagel in the final set was the icing on the cake, and the fact that she came back from a set down was all the more heartening.

Zeel a break down in the final set against the tough Indonesian.

[PKBasu]

Zeel has now broken back, and it's 4-3 (on serve) in the final set. In the next game, Zeel had 3 BPs but couldn't break through. It is 5-4 on serve in the final set now.

[jayakris]

I cannot believe the bad no-call Zeel got in that 11th game. Come on,where is the home field advantage. Priska's shot was at least 6 inches out and they didn't call it. WTF?? That led to a break point and an upset Zeel double faulted. Zeel actually hit some really good shots but Priska was a tad bit more crafty and even luck was not on Zeel's side.

[PKBasu]

All over the world, players complain of bad line calls while playing against local players. In India, INDIAN players regularly get terrible line calls going AGAINST them!! VSP-Anirudh would have won the final of the second Challenger (not just the third) had it not been for a couple of atrocious calls against them. Now Zeel has suffered. This was a very impressive performance by Zeel against a player ranked 280 (CH 275) -- theoretically a much better player than Zeel herself (now ranked in the 600s, with a CH in the 500s). What a pity that she was denied by bad line calls against her in a tournament in her home country

[PKBasu]

[R2] (WC) Zeel Desai (IND,643) l. (6) Priska Madelyn Nugroho (INA,280) 75 36 57
[R2] (4) Ankita Raina (IND,241) d. Lanlana Tararudee (THA,356) 62 61
[R2] Rutuja Bhosale (IND,419) d. Diana Marcinkevica (LAT,289) 46 63 62

What a tournament Rutuja is having . Really wonderful to see, especially the fact that she keeps coming back from losing the first set (i.e., figuring out how to beat her higher-ranked opponents), and eventually winning the final set easily.

[sameerph]

Still did not expect Zeel to put up such a fight against Priska. I had written off that match when I posted 3 Indian match-ups yesterday. Priska had just thrashed Vaidehi yesterday and Vaidehi played almost at same level as Zeel in last 3 weeks or somewhat better going by results.

Jay- thanks for your views on Vaidehi-Priska match. Sad that her this weekness of not being a good mover has not been worked on yet by a coach. Now, as she plays more matches at this W25 level she will realise that. Hope it is not too late to make corrections as she is already 23.

Ankita and Rutuja won their matches though- Ankita trashed her opponent and Rutuja had another comeback win from a set down.

At ITF W40, Bangalore

[R2] (WC) Zeel Desai (IND,643) l. (6) Priska Madelyn Nugroho (INA,280) 75 36 57

[R2] (4) Ankita Raina (IND,241) d. Lanlana Tararudee (THA,356) 62 61

[R2] Rutuja Bhosale (IND,419) d. Diana Marcinkevica (LAT,289) 46 63 62

Next,

[QF] (4) Ankita Raina (IND,241) vs. Dear Herdzelas (BIH,370)

[QF] Rutuja Bhosale (IND,419) vs. (8) Eden Silva (GBR,304)