ITF Series: W50 Delhi, W100 Bengaluru, W75 Pune, Jan 2025

[jayakris]

K Okamura withdrew today even though she lost in the opening round of AO QD. So now SRB for sure will make it to the MD on her own since the chances of 2 players requesting for Special exemption is less likely. Vaidehi may need 2 more surprise withdrawals to get to MD. Maybe Palicova will WD since she retired from her AO Q2?!

Sahaja may skip Delhi... She cannot play 5 weeks in a row, so has to skip either Delhi or Bengaluru. I think she will probably skip Delhi, as Bengaluru is her training base and she can get a good 10 days off now. But she will need a wildcard there (as her one week of low ranking at 352 applies for the Bengaluru entry). Let us see what she does.

[Dinesh]

^^^ That sounds absurd to me. These are one of the strongest tennis tournaments in the Indian women’s circuit in a long time and chances are that none of our top-4 players are even guaranteed a win/week given that either they are sneaking into the MD courtesy to these withdrawals or needing a wildcard favor. Maybe one of them will a match upsetting a higher ranked player and surprise us but from history, they won’t continue that with another.

I hope some of them prove me wrong but we won’t see many Indians with a W in these ITFs. Doesn’t matter if it’s singles or doubles.

[jayakris]

^^^ That sounds absurd to me.

What sounds absurd, though? Not clear in your post.

[Dinesh]

^^^ That sounds absurd to me.

What sounds absurd, though? Not clear in your post.

Your reasoning that Sahaja should skip a week because she can’t play 5 weeks in a row is absurd. Here’s why:

1) None of these top-ranked Indian players have reached as far as the QF round in a local ITF/WTA tournament (W50 and above with a packed entry list - not the ones where you’re comfortably in the top-8 seedings) held in the last 4-5 years. So even though SY will be playing 5 weeks in a row, she is not going to be playing a singles match every single day or more than 2 singles matches a week. For instance, in 2024, this was SY’s record at the Indian ITFs in the beginning of the year.

W50 Bengaluru - L in R1 to Jakupovic in 2 sets
W50 Pune - L in R1 to Semenistaja in 3 sets
W50 Indore - L in R1 to Radanovic in 3 sets
Mumbai 125 - W R1 against Kalya Day in 3 sets and L R2 against P Kudermetova in 3 sets

= A mere total of 5 singles matches in 4 weeks.

2) You are making an assumption that SY might play and win as many matches at Delhi recommending that she should skip Delhi, which is currently a weaker event compared to Bengaluru where the MD Cut off is 180(!!!) at the moment because players return from Australian Open when they lose in both singles and doubles draws.

I’m aware that I’m making an assumption myself that SY may perhaps not win as many matches - but records speak for itself and if I’m being honest, our players are generally not that good compared to the rest of the playing field (read as, good enough to win here and there but not to be touted as the next best thing).

[jayakris]

^^ Haven't you seen the number of times I have posted that it does not matter how many matches one plays, but that one simply should not play any more than 4 weeks in a row. In fact, 3 weeks max in a row if you have played say more than 8 or so matches in those 3 weeks. Four weeks itself should be a rare case.

If she plays all three Indian events and WTA Mumbai, it is six weeks of continuous tennis. I will guarantee that she will have some physical ailment and will miss more than 3 weeks later if she plays 6 weeks in a row. Have seen it time and again, with Indian players (old warhorse RamK being the only exception). She should make it 2+3 or 3+2 over six weeks. She will have nothing left, if she is even healthy enough to play, in the 6th week's WTA event in any case.

I made no assumption at all on Sahaja winning any matches. It has nothing to do with the matches you play - which is rather curious but there are reasons why. My expectation for Sahaja is actually only 4 or 5 matches in the 3 Indian ITF events (ie may be 1 or 2 wins total in the three weeks!). Hoping for a couple more wins with some easy draws, but not expecting that. Regardless, it is still dangerous to play without a break for 6 weeks.

She *must* skip either Delhi or Bangalore. No question about it.

[Dinesh]

^^^ I sincerely hope you’re not the one voicing these to SY herself as she withdrew from Delhi today. I will never understand someone who misses a W50 ITF only to save themselves to play a bigger, tougher tournament unless they think that they can beat top-150 players. Wait and watch when she draws a seeded player in R1 now.

[sameerph]

I agree with Jay that playing 6 straight weeks is a no-no and she has played 6 matches in 2 weeks in Thailand which makes even more necessary to take a week's break somewhere. If she had lost in first round in both weeks in Thailand, I think she would have played Delhi. Now, if she should have played in Delhi ( which is an easier tournament) and instead skipped Bengaluru is debatable.

She might be feeling more comfortable playing in Bengaluru conditions. Hope she can now win 3 or so matches in 3 weeks of Bengaluru, Pune, Mumbai which should be the expectation given how tough field will be at all those tournaments.

[jayakris]

^^^ I sincerely hope you’re not the one voicing these to SY herself as she withdrew from Delhi today. I will never understand someone who misses a W50 ITF only to save themselves to play a bigger, tougher tournament unless they think that they can beat top-150 players. Wait and watch when she draws a seeded player in R1 now.

I think you are not getting what I am saying. It is not preserving oneself for the bigger event or anything. YOU SIMPLY DO NOT PLAY MORE THAN 4 WEEKS IN A ROW, REGARDLESS OF THE LEVEL/QUALITY OF THE EVENT AND THE NUMBER OF MATCHES. I have observed it over 25 years. Indian players simply cannot handle it, and they come down with physical issues that take them away from the tour for many weeks, or force them to waste weeks trying to get back the lost form.

No, I wouldn't advise Sahaja on such matters, unless she were to ask. She texted yesterday when I told her "Looking forward to a good show in Delhi" that she was considering skipping Delhi and just going to Bengaluru to train. That is why I mentioned it here. I checked earlier today and she was still there in the Delhi list, but Harsh just told me that she was skipping Delhi and I saw that she has gone off the list. I was very happy to see that. Correct decision, in my opinion. You just cannot keep on playing week after week.

I didn't care which event she was going to skip during the 6 weeks. Delhi or Blr would be the best, but if she were to play those two, then she absolutely would have had to skip Pune. Number of consecutive weeks were the only issue. No other calculations. Not due to entry list or expectations of wins/losses or anything. I think the main reason she skipped Delhi is that she has a trainer in Bengaluru, so she can go directly to her base there and train ahead of the Blr ITF.

[Dinesh]

^^^ And perhaps you don’t seem to understand the simple logic that the same break would have been achieved by gaining some winnable points at W50 Delhi, skipping Bengaluru, finishing off with Pune.

[jayakris]

^^^ And perhaps you don’t seem to understand the simple logic that the same break would have been achieved by gaining some winnable points at W50 Delhi, skipping Bengaluru, finishing off with Pune.

No, you are still not reading what I am saying ... I said I was fine with her skipping Delhi or Bengaluru! She picked Delhi to skip. From a point standpoint, I would agree with you. I liked the fact though, that she was not overly focusing on the points and winnability as much as she was on taking a proper break and training.

Since she said "I am actually thinking if I should play Delhi, or if I should go to Bangalore and train", I think training was in her mind. She must have felt that if she played Delhi, she would still have to fly to Bengaluru after Delhi and then fly to Pune (as she does not have a training base or trainer in Delhi or Pune), losing some days she could use for rest or some physical training. Now she can simply be at BLR for a good 10 days before playing. She would hardly get 6 or 7 days in BLR with the other option and it is an extra flight too. I suspect that is why she skipped Delhi.

We have beaten this to death! Haha, if she reads this, I am sure she would be thinking, "gosh, why do you all care so damn much?"

[sameerph]

Well, 2 more withdrawals from main draw today and now Vaidehi should also get into main draw directly apart from Ankita and Shrivalli.

[Dinesh]

Pranjala did return to pro tennis but lost in the first round of Q 2&4 to Misaki Matsuda (JPN, 459).

None of our other players won their QR1 either, so there will be 7 Indians in the main draw of the W50 Delhi ITF. Ankita, SRB, Vaidehi + potential WCs - Vaishnavi, Riya, Karman, and Akanksha or another local player (or Rutuja even though she didn’t enter in the first place).

[jayakris]

For the ITF W50+H at Delhi, India (Hard), here are the qualifying draw/results...

Here is the main draw. Not great for anybody, but Shrivalli and Ankita got okay first round matches.

[Dinesh]

Vaidehi plays someone she’s familiar with as well although trails in H2H 0-3. I remember Vaidehi taking a set off Tatiana last year at Astana ITF only to choke for the rest of the match throwing in a couple of bagels. I never knew what happened there since she played amazingly to win the first set 6-2. Anyway, with home court advantage, she should win this time. Fingers crossed!

[sameerph]

So, these are the first round match-ups for our players which will all be played today.

[R1] Shrivalli Rashmikaa Bhamidipaty (IND,330) vs. (Q) Maria Kozyreva (RUS,434)

[R1] (WC) Akanksha Dileep Nitture (IND,853) vs. (Q) Fangran Tian (CHN,507)

[R1] Vaidehi Chaudhari (IND,386) vs. (7) Tatiana Prozorova (RUS,250)

[R1] (WC) Vaishnavi Adkar (IND,613) vs. (6) Dalila Jakupovic (SLO,231)

[R1] (WC) Riya Bhatia (IND,698) vs. Eri Shimizu (JPN,338)

[R1] Ankita Raina (IND,286) vs. Laura Samson (CZE,332)

[R1] (WC) Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,NR) vs. Panna Udvardy (HUN,156)

Karman, Vaishnavi and Vaidehi got seeds. Can one of them get an upset ? Hope Shrivalli and Ankita beat their lower ranked opponents. Do not expect Akanksha or Riya to win.

3 Indian in second round will be good.