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One more little thing. I noticed how Sahaja positioned herself to take the serve from Stacey at 30-30 in the final game. She wanted to go for a crosscourt return and knew that Stacy would go for a serve to the corner. I also felt that was what she was going to do, and liked Sahaja's intention. The problem was that Stacey hit a really good serve and none of the plans worked ... Then at 40-30, it was a regular serve to the middle and Sahaja tried the crosscourt return on it, which went wide left as the match ended. Anyway, Sahaja didn't look dumb in a few of the final games and I was happy to see that. Keep improving; that is all I want to see from Sahaja.

sameerph wrote: ↑Thu May 04, 2023 1:46 pm Just wondering why she could not play like this earlier in the match . First time watched Sahaja play and impressed with power and some angles in her shots. If she can improve accuracy and bring consistency has the game to be a top 200 level player at least I think.

If we look at her record, she has played a total of just 3 tourneys in her entire junior career and did not play any tour events till she turned pro in late 2021. Every other player out there plays about 60-70 odd matches a year - as Jay has mentioned so many times - her game is top-200 caliber already but it is extremely raw because she has the experience / exposure to tour tennis compared to that of a 14-15 yr old.

Ideally at 21-22, a player like her would have competed against these caliber of players for 6-7 yrs already for their games to stabilise and mature.

jayakris wrote: ↑Thu May 04, 2023 2:00 pm

sameerph wrote: ↑Thu May 04, 2023 1:46 pm Just wondering why she could not play like this earlier in the match . First time watched Sahaja play and impressed with power and some angles in her shots.

I think it was more Stacy Fung being flawless in her game. She was like a machine, returning and retrieving everything from Sahaja. I

It is very clear to me that Sahaja needs to play a lot more matches and improve her court intelligence. Or some good coach should tape these matches and sit down with her to dissect the matches point by point to impart such intelligence to her. I don't know if any Indian coach does things like that!

Thanks, so it was not like the 2 games I saw in the second set where Sahaja was making all the errors. Btw, from the pictures posted on ITD ista, it appears that her coach Cesar Morales from Padukone Dravid acadamy is travelling with her here and he is not an Indian coach. Hopefully, he is a good coach and has noticed enough things to improve upon and can do so with Sahaja.

Ankita takes the first set against Eka 7-5 in the tiebreaker.

Ankita just won the first set 76(5). The way she walked slowly after nailing that winner for the set looks like she is quite tired. She played a long match earlier in the day. Ankita will need to wrap it up in straight sets.

sameerph wrote: ↑Thu May 04, 2023 2:34 pm Btw, from the pictures posted on ITD ista, it appears that her coach Cesar Morales from Padukone Dravid acadamy is travelling with her here and he is not an Indian coach. Hopefully, he is a good coach and has noticed enough things to improve upon and can do so with Sahaja.

That is great! Let us hope Cesar will get her to scale the heights she has the tools to scale!

Ankita is playing at a very high level against Gorgodse. The Georgian has a superb left-handed forehand which helped her break ahead at 5-5 but Ankita broke her back with some intelligent play. Ankita was up two minis at 5-2 but made a mistake of hitting to Gorgodse's forehand a couple of times and then netted a shot where she wanted to hit to the BH side. But on Gorgodse's serve Ankita decided to just hit hard and deep to the FH side itself and take the point, rather than mess around overthinking it. 76(5) 00

Set 2 is basically breaking each other, so far. Ankita just needs to hold her own service game now. Eka seems self-destructive!

Btw, I appreciate the crowd support for Ankita despite facing a local player. You don’t even come across a kind of support similar to this at an ITF event in India.

Edit: And she listened to me. Holds at love to lead 4-2 in the second Breaks Eka again and yells a little “yes” after winning a nice point at the net. Serving for the match at 5-2. COME ON!!

Dinesh wrote: ↑Thu May 04, 2023 3:13 pm Btw, I appreciate the crowd support for Ankita despite facing a local player. You don’t even come across a kind of support similar to this at an ITF event in India.

Thanks to Vishnu for this. He is doing great work at reaching out to Indian communities where Indian players are playing and they are responding by coming out to support our players. Like yesterday on her story Ankita had thanked Indian student community for coming for her matches and also providing her Indian food.

Excellent work, Vishnu.

7-6 6-3 win for Ankita She gets Stacey Fung in the semis. Hope she gets some well deserved rest and recovery tonight.

#216 in the live rankings and safe to say that has earned a direct spot at the Wimby Qualifying.

sameerph wrote: ↑Thu May 04, 2023 3:23 pm Thanks to Vishnu for this. He is doing great work at reaching out to Indian communities where Indian players are playing and they are responding by coming out to support our players. Like yesterday on her story Ankita had thanked Indian student community for coming for her matches and also providing her Indian food.

Yeah, this is tremendous! Vishnu for president!!!

Ankita won 76(5) 63... I don't know what was wrong with Ekaterina. She has the game but cut down on your complaints, please. I mean, there are no linesmen, so screaming constantly at the ump is of no use. The calls looked all fine to me. After all, you are playing the doubles partner you have reached the finals with. Calm down, lady. She did no favors to herself.

Ankita's crosscourt passing shot to get the first match point was an absolute beauty. Rocket that raced past Ekaterina at the net.

Just 8 or so months ago, we were thinking that Ankita may be on the final down-slope of her career. But she is made of a different material than we know in Indians. Way too determined to keep going, doing her best. Playing her best tennis these days!! What a warrior.

Yes, Ankita is a fighter to the core. I think she saved at least 3-4 match points in her second round match. To come from there , win that match and then winning another match on same day against the favourite is something only Ankita among Indian players can do.

Turned out to be one sided loss in the SF.

[SF] (3) Ankita Raina (IND,224) l. Stacy Fung (CAN,321) 26 26

Looks like Fung is playing in a zone this week. Beaten both Indian players with loss of just 4 games in the match.

Ankita won the doubles title with Eka. #147 in the live rankings. Btw she withdrew from the next couple of weeks where she entered the W25 tournaments in Kachreti, Georgia. Hopefully it’s just a sign of taking a break and not for injuries.