ITF W75s, Nonthaburi, Thailand, Jan 2025

[arjun2761]

Watched a bit of the 3d set of the match and Vaidehi has better shots than Diyas at this stage of her career. However, Diyas was very crafty and mixed in slices and drop shots and was able to unsettle Vaidehi just enough to win.

[jayakris]

In the main draw at the second ITF W75 in Nonthaburi, THA (Hard):

[R1] Sahaja Yamalapalli (IND,315) vs (WC) Punnin Kovapitukted (THA,673)

SY should be able to handle Punnin without too much trouble, but she is a decent opponent who should not be underestimated and allowed to stay in the match too long. If SY wins, she will probably run into the 3rd seed Petra Marcinko, the highly talented 19 year old who became the #1 junior as a 15 year old in 2021 and reached as high as #132 in WTA as a 17 year old.

[ericcw]

Sahaja up 6-3 6-5 and serving for the match. Our girl is engaged in a lobbing and slicing duel with the opponent.

[jayakris]

[R1] Sahaja Yamalapalli (IND,315) d. (WC) Punnin Kovapitukted (THA,673), 63 75

[jayakris]

Our girl is engaged in a lobbing and slicing duel with the opponent.

Not really. She was trying to hit hard. The problem was that she was being foolish and playing like she forgot that this was a left-hander she was playing. Kovapitukted seemed to make almost no mistakes on her forehand side but was losing almost anything on her BH side. Sahaja had to stop trying to hit to her FH side and overpower her, which was all invariably coming back as clean lobs and slices with Sahaja losing control of the point. Then she would be trying to stay alive, trying her own moonballs. All SY had to do was to hit one shot (any shot!) to her BH side and the point would be over, but she refused to do that! It was crazy, and driving me mad!

So, up 3-2, she was broken back to 3-3... Up 5-4 and serving for the match, she got broken back again to 5-5... Then at 6-5, finally Sahaja hit 4 shots to the backhand side, and all four got her points.

This match should have been over at 62 62, really. But, okay, Sahaja got the job done in the end!

She served 7 aces, and some of the serves had good zip on them, but the first serve percentage was not too great today.

[Atithee]

Sahaja up 6-3 6-5 and serving for the match. Our girl is engaged in a lobbing and slicing duel with the opponent.

Girl?

[prasen9]

Sometimes, these little things add up. She got the job done but there was more wear and tear, stress and adrenaline. All that adds up if you go long in a tournament. Hopefully, in the future, she will learn to be more clinical with weaker opponents and find out what works and what does not on a day. The best players figure out these things and take charge even if they have lost the first set to someone playing extraordinarily well, etc. Not reading an opponent is fine initially but in the second set, you should really be attacking the opponent's weak point or at least weak point today.

[jayakris]

^^^ True. I think Sahaja knew right from the start that she could just beat the Thai without too much of analysis though, so most probably she just went for her shots. It got unnecessarily closer and she had to play a couple of extra games because of that, that's all. She went on hitting hard to wherever she felt like hitting the ball to, and was not being too analytical about it. She is a bit unpredictable that way. I have seen her play some really tactical matches too, in the past. Not yesterday; maybe because she knew it was probably not needed. Just can't say what she would do on any given day!

But she has become quite good at a lot of shots at the net, on her backhand overhead and some volleys. Much more comfortable near the net than she was, earlier in her career.

But I don't know if even her best would be enough against the uber-talented 19 year old she is about to play - the third seed Petra Marcinko. In my opinion, it would be rather miraculous if Sahaja finds a way to upset her. I hope she does that!

[Dinesh]

I think Sahaja has a chance to score an upset. I can feel it

[sameerph]

Rutuja is playing only doubles this week and Prarthana too continues playing here and both started with a win.

[R1] (4) Prarthana G Thombare (IND) / Alicia Barnett (GBR) d. Ines Ibbou (ALG) / Naima Karamoko (SUI) 63 63

[R1] (3) Rutuja Bhosale (IND) / Eudice Chong (HKG) d. Maria Mateas (USA) / Alana Smith (USA) 64 16 10-1

Next,

[QF] (4) Prarthana G Thombare (IND) / Alicia Barnett (GBR) vs. Patcharin Cheapchandej (THA) / Punnin Kovapitukted (THA)

[QF] (3) Rutuja Bhosale (IND) / Eudice Chong (HKG) vs. Hiroko Kuwata (JPN) / Naho Sato (JPN)

[jayakris]

I think Sahaja has a chance to score an upset. I can feel it

Actually, the match was closer than I expected. Sahaja did handle her to a certain extent but Marcinko is just too good. She can seemingly hit shots to wherever she wants on court, and she was very aggressive in taking control of points as quickly as she could, too. They traded breaks early in the first set and it was on serve at 4-5 when Sahaja served at 40-0 but still lost the game and the set. She tried to extend the points with some slightly safer forehands, which was really a bad idea that was not going to work against Petra. In the second set, they again traded breaks in the 4th and 7th games, as Sahaja pulled back from 1-4 to 3-4. Then Sahaja dropped serve once more to 3-5. After facing 40-0 triple match points, SY again went to work and saved 4 match points on PM's serve. Petra hit a forehand down the line to the corner for a 5th match point (the authority with which she hit that like she had no doubt it would go where she wanted it, showed her class!). She then closed it out with a strong serve.

[R2] Sahaja Yamalapalli (IND,315) l. (3) Petra Marcinko (CRO,259), 46 36

55 points to 69 points, so Sahaja did win her share of points. Just not enough. She was hitting about 65% first serve in her first 4 service games, when it was 4-4. The next four service games saw it dip to around 45%, and that really affected SY's abilities to avoid getting broken.

But she picked up 38 points in two Thai events. A productive trip! She climbed back up the ranking with that. Off to Delhi.

[sameerph]

Rutuja thru to the SF in doubles but Pratharna lost.

[QF] (4) Prarthana G Thombare (IND) / Alicia Barnett (GBR) l. Patcharin Cheapchandej (THA) / Punnin Kovapitukted (THA) 46 63 7-10

[QF] (3) Rutuja Bhosale (IND) / Eudice Chong (HKG) d. Hiroko Kuwata (JPN) / Naho Sato (JPN) 75 67(12) 10-7

Next,

[SF] (3) Rutuja Bhosale (IND) / Eudice Chong (HKG) vs. Zarina Diyas (KAZ) / Mariia Tkacheva (RUS)

[sameerph]

Rutuja enters the doubles final.

[SF] (3) Rutuja Bhosale (IND) / Eudice Chong (HKG) d. Zarina Diyas (KAZ) / Mariia Tkacheva (RUS) 64 47 10-5

Next,

[F] (3) Rutuja Bhosale (IND) / Eudice Chong (HKG) vs. Wushuang Zheng (CHN) / Sujeong Jang (KOR)

[sameerph]

Rutuja and partner lost in the doubles final.

[F] (3) Rutuja Bhosale (IND) / Eudice Chong (HKG) l. Wushuang Zheng (CHN) / Sujeong Jang (KOR) 64 57 5-10

But, with that Rutuja will enter back into doubles top 200 rankings. I wonder at 28 now if she is thinking of specializing in doubles now.