W25 Gwalior (Nov 11-17) and Bhopal (Nov 18-25)

[jayakris]

Well.. well... Sowjanya took the first set that had both players getting broken FOUR times each, 76(2) after an hour and 18 minutes!

Karman broke Ankita in game 2, but had long service games and tons of saved BPs, to somehow hold twice and lead 3-0 to start the match. She has had 34 serves in the first 2 service games. As in, what???? .... How is that even possible? .... Anyway, a barn-burner on the cards, in that match too.

[jayakris]

Excellent upset of the 5th seed by Sowjanya, who is doing quite well lately! She is in the QF, facing the 4th seed Muramatsu.

[R2] (WC) Sowjanya Bavisetti (IND,789) d. (5) Hiroko Kuwata (JPN,319), 76(2) 63
[R2] (WC) Mihika Yadav (IND,1036) l. (4) Chihiro Muramatsu (JPN,266), 16 06
[R2] Riya Bhatia (IND,383) l. (Q) Melanie Klaffner (AUT,588), 16 03 Ret.

Karman and Ankita continue to break each other... Ankita reeled off 6 games after being down 0-3, to take the first set. Karman paid her back in the second set. So, after 2 hours, it is 63 36 00.

[PKBasu]

[R2] (2) Ankita Raina (IND,187) l. Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,611) 63 36 67(3)

[IndiaSports]

Karman rallied from 0-3 down, to get this important win.
On the other hand, Ankita again loses a close match.
Great opportunity for Karman to move deep in the draw, as only 1 seeded player is left.

The next ITF event in Solapur has really really strong draw, so important for Karman she does well here.

[sameerph]

Yes, Karman is losing 30 out her 47 points as of now in early December. So, good that she has earned 18 points so far in last 2 weeks to add to that tally. Hope she earns a few more this week.

QF match-ups-

[QF] (WC) Sowjanya Bavisetti (IND,789) vs. (4) Chihiro Muramatsu (JPN,266)

[QF] Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,611) vs. (Q) Karin Kennel (SUI,533)

[Daniel]

I continue to be impressed by Sowjanya. She always seemed to have the talent, but I guess it's her new-found confidence from winning the national championships that has suddenly spurred her on. Too bad that her next opponent is the only seed left. But let's hope she defeats her

Based on this short video from 2014, she's quite well-spoken and nearly as tall as Venus Williams!

A video from YouTube usually appears here. Please contact an administrator.

A video from YouTube usually appears here. Please contact an administrator.

[jayakris]

I am with you, Daniel. I am also upbeat about Sowjanya. She may be putting things together. Sometimes a light-bulb goes on, and everything falls into place. Hope so, in her case.

Meanwhile, it seems Rutuja and Emily Webley Smith, who had beaten Jennifer and Mihika 63 63, have got a walkover in the SF from Kennel/Njiric. They will be in the final tomorrow. [Edit: They face Diana Marcinkevica (LAT) and Valeriya Strakhova (UKR) in the final]

Karman just won the QF first set 6-2, against the qualifier Karin Kennel.

[jayakris]

I guess our good old Karman is back, playing like Karman ... She dropped the second set 2-6 but came through, after 5 aces and 9 double faults (in typical Karman style!)... Happy to see that she is back and in good form, but I am concerned about such long matches one after another though, when she is making a return from a long injury break. Looks like it will be qualifier Klaffner up next of her, as she is leading 64 30 on Topalova who had upset the 3rd seed earlier.

[QF] Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,611) d. (Q) Karin Kennel (SUI,533), 62 26 64

[Daniel]

There had been an MTO when Karman was down 1-4 in the second set. I'm not sure who took it, but I hope Karman's okay.

[PKBasu]

Sowjanya went down to the third seed, with a pretty tame scoreline 46 26, but the match lasted 1 hour and 56 minutes! It must have been a baseline belter of a match.

[sameerph]

Karman's SF match is currently streamed live on this youtube link-

ITF Bhopal live stream

Karman leading 2-1 on serve.

[sameerph]

Karman was leading 3-1 and then suddenly she made errors after error and lost 5 straight games to lose the first set 3-6.

[sameerph]

And from 2-4 down in the second set, Karman makes an excellent comeback to win and go thru to the final.

[SF] Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,611) d. (Q) Melanie Klaffner (AUT,588) 36 75 62

With that Karman has made sure that she defends all the points which she had from last year's final at Pune 25K in next week. No more points to defend this year. So, hopefully she will move up the rankings with final here and 3 more 25K's coming up this year in India.

Final against Japanese fourth seed.

[F] Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,611) vs. (4) Chihiro Muramatsu (JPN,266)

[IndiaSports]

Yes so happy to have her back, and she is picking up from where she left. Nice to see her winning this long matches.
Good luck for tomorrow

[sameerph]

Final is currently on. Unfortunate that Karman's long SF match got over yesterday evening and the final is scheduled early morning today. The Japanese player got much more time to recover.

The effect seems to be showing up. Karman down 1-4 in the first set.