ITF W25 Jakarta, Indonesia, 20 March- 2 April, 2023

[jayakris]

^^^ Actually, Ankita did the same thing in the first set when Ma was up 5-2, which helped her gain a game but couldn’t sustain it. These MTOs are basically a mental game from players these days, unless until there’s real injuries involved bodily.

I hadn't seen the end of the first set. Yeah, it is a game of medical timeouts these days. It is getting really annoying. I think Brenda did this in the Bengaluru final and totally turned the match around against Ankita.

And she lost 1-6 in the third ... I think there is probably a book on Ankita that if she gets hot and starts hitting her shots, do whatever you can to break her rhythm. Ankita is somewhat of a rhythm player, and will keep hitting her shots when she has the timing right and she is "feeling it". She loses rhythm and she can hit the net or miss the forehand enough times for you to break her. But, 5 games of the second set was fun to see. She wouldn't miss much there.

[Dinesh]

^^^ But what does it say of a player who has lost a match from being in the driver set to a 15-yo who played mental games?

Btw Ankita lost the 3rd set 6-1. Disappointing loss.

[Dinesh]

ITF site is down. But based on TF posts, Sahaja is in the final qualifying round. Not sure about the main draw matches. Hope week 2 proves to be more successful for Ankita, Rutuja and Sahaja (if she clears the final hurdle).

[Dinesh]

Sahaja qualifies for main draw with a 6-1 6-3 win against her 638-ranked opponent. Most importantly, she didn’t have one double fault to her name. Yay!

[jayakris]

I saw the first four games when she went up 4-0. No double faults, and that was the key. That is all she needs to do. Just put the ball in play. When the ball is in play, she is quite a difficult player to beat because she hits the ball so hard. She may make some errors and hit one into the net or hit something short. If she gives you a short ball, you had better pounce on it and hit it to somewhere she may not reach. Otherwise you are at her mercy; she will hit the felt off the ball and strike you like a ton of bricks. When she isn't making mistakes and is stroking the ball right, Sahaja is quite a player. Hope she plays like this in the main draw. Let us hope...

[sameerph]

I also few games of the first set and Sahaja was making very few errors and after few shots her opponent could not cope up with consistency and made an error. That was nice to see.

So, in main draw-

[R1] (4) Ankita Raina (IND,226) vs, Peangtarn Plipuech (THA,314) - Head to head 4-2 for Ankita

[R1] Rutuja Bhosale (IND,385) vs. Haruna Arakawa (JPN,435)

[R1] (Q) Sahaja Yamlapalli (IND,484) vs. (Q) Hanyu Gao (CHN,915)

Sahaja has a tough first round match against a Chinese who beat Rutuja last week and went on to reach QF.

[sameerph]

Easy wins for Ankita and Rutuja but one sided loss for Sahaja.

[R1] (4) Ankita Raina (IND,226) d. Peangtarn Plipuech (THA,314) 60 62

[R1] Rutuja Bhosale (IND,385) d. Haruna Arakawa (JPN,435) 62 62

[R1] (Q) Sahaja Yamlapalli (IND,484) l. (Q) Hanyu Gao (CHN,915) 06 36

Next,

[R2] (4) Ankita Raina (IND,226) vs. (WC) Fitriani Sabatini (INA,NR)

[R2] Rutuja Bhosale (IND,385) vs. (Q) Zongyu Li (CHN,516)

[jayakris]

Looks like Sahaja just couldn't get it going today. She had one DF each in the first three service games that she dropped, but it doesn't seen like DF was the problem today. She was just not winning points. The match did not get on ITF's live streams until it was the end of the second set, so we don't know what was up. Anyway, the wait continues to see if or when Sahaja will start winning again.

But Rutuja was playing really well today, hitting her serves right and stroking the ball smoothly. She has been paying well lately, and that is a good sign. Ankita also played well. She gave no chance to Plipuech who has given her occasional trouble in the past.

[sameerph]

Close close loss for Rutuja. As expected Ankita won her match.

[R2] (4) Ankita Raina (IND,226) d. (WC) Fitriani Sabatini (INA,NR) 64 61

[R2] Rutuja Bhosale (IND,385) l. (Q) Zongyu Li (CHN,516) 16 46 67(5)

Next,

[QF] (4) Ankita Raina (IND,226) vs. Xinyu Gao (CHN,330)

This is a tough match-up. Head to head is 2-1 in favor of Ankita but all 3 matches were played within last 1 year and all 3 were close 3 set matches. So, it can be anyone's match depending on who plays better on the day.

[Dinesh]

[QF] (4) Ankita Raina (IND,226) 3-6 6-3 7-5 Xinyu Gao (CHN,330)

I quite honestly didn’t believe that Ankita could win this considering these Chinese players are just coming back fro Covid and are usually very good. So glad she proved me wrong.

P.S looking at the stats, worries me that Ankita had 10 double faults.

[Dinesh]

Up next, from Gao to Guo, she faces qualifier Hanyu Guo, who served breadsticks to the top seed. Another Chinese (CH of #278) who’s coming back after covid, who’s now ranked #915. Hope Ankita gets enough support for recovery (I think she travels with her coach), and plays well tomorrow.

[jayakris]

I saw the third set. She played very well. At about the best level I have seen her play, on many rallies and winners. Some of those return winners and net-hugger shots were tremendous, along with some timely loops and high bouncers for intelligent variations. I too didn't think she would win this match. Gosh, all these Chinese ladies are out and dominating everybody. I feel bad for them actually, as they have no events to play in China and have to go abroad. So many of them in Jakarta beating up each other. As though that wasn't enough, they have to solve the Gujarat Juggernaut!

Three Chinese and an Indian in the semifinals. I am losing track of which Chinese is up next for Ankita. They are all good.

[sameerph]

So, basically Ankita avoided a Chinese clean sweep here to the SF.

Next,

[SF] (4) Ankita Raina (IND,226) vs. (Q) Hanyu Gao (CHN,915)

Rankings for these Chinese ladies are all misleading. This Chinese qualifier Guo thrashed Sahaja 60 63 in first round here and Rutuja 60 64 last week. Has not dropped a set this week in 6 wins including one against top seed. She is in that good form. Ankita is 3-1 head to head against her though.

Anyway, Ankita has now earned 18 points which will get updated next week. This almost compensates the 20 points which she is losing this week. And she will be around her current ranking level of 225-230 as on 10th April even if she loses in SF. With no points to defend till June after this it pretty much confirms her entry in FO/Wimbledon qualifying draws.

So, she can play the SF freely without any points pressure.

[sameerph]

After being 5-1 up quickly, Ankita lost 4 straight games and it went to 5-5. Finally, she won the game on her serve for 6-5 but Gao held for 6-6.

Ankita won the tie break 7-3.

Phew as it would have been unsettling for Ankita to lose the first set after being 5-1 up.

Already gone 1 hour 17 mins for 1 set. This is going to be a long match like yesterday's one for Ankita it seems.

[jayakris]

Up a break at 4-2 in the second set. Come on Ankita!!
4-3 and serving. Guo's forehand crosscourt shots are a handful. Tough for AR, but Guo is making mistakes too.
4-4 Ankita got broken on a screaming forehand winner from Guo at 30-40. Ankita needs to find a way to get make shots to her weaker side.
5-4 Guo totally choked and dropped serve at 0-40 on a 15-shot rally (AR did stay with Guo's left side a few times). Guo had another DF.
And Ankita serves it out at love, as a dejected Guo was going through motions hitting balls out!!

[SF] (4) Ankita Raina (IND,226) d. (Q) Hanyu Gao (CHN,915), 76(3) 64

Steady and intelligent tennis from Ankita. I love it when she plays like that!