ITF W35 Gurugram, Nagpur, Indore- Feb 26-March 17, 2024

[sameerph]

3 weeks of ITF W35 tournaments are taking place in India starting this Sunday and these entry lists look a lot earlier than the earlier W50 series.

This is the entry list for W35 in Gurugram next week-

POSITION PLAYER WTA RANKING
1 Dalila Jakupovic SLO 212
2 Ankita Raina IND 223
3 Justina Mikulskyte LTU 238
4 Carlota Martinez Cirez ESP 258
5 Diana Marcinkevica LAT 303
6 Sahaja YAMALAPALLI IND 336
7 Fanny Ostlund SWE 360
8 Jacqueline Cabaj Awad SWE 450
9 Anastasia Gasanova RUS 454
10 Vaidehi Chaudhari IND 475
11 Clara Vlasselaer BEL 476
12 Zhibek Kulambayeva KAZ 488
13 Yasmine Mansouri FRA 519
14 Shrivalli Rashmikaa Bhamidipaty IND 520
15 Zeel Desai IND 521
16 Yeonwoo Ku KOR 531
17 Ayumi Koshiishi JPN 554
18 Ekaterina Yashina RUS 581

So, Ankita and Sahaja will be seeded and there are 5 Indians making directly to main draw. With 4 wild cards and hopefully, 2-3 qualifiers we can have 11-12 Indians in singles main draw.

In second and third week, Ankita is not there ( maybe she is playing in higher level events) but Rutuja is there ( who is there in first week) and Sahaja and Rutuja will be seeded. Hoping for greater success for Indians in this series than the last one.

[sameerph]

Wild cards for first week at Gurugram are Sandeepti Singh Rao, Riya Bhatia, Humera Baharamus and Akankhsa Nitture.

In qualifying draw, there are 4 sections where only Indians are part of the draw. So, total of 13 Indians are guaranteed to be in singles main draw of 32.

[sameerph]

12 Indians were in main draw in Gurugram W25. Ankita as top seed and Sahaja as 5th seed.

We had 3 all Indian match-ups where Ankita beat wild card Akankhsa Nitture, Zeel beat Vaidehi and Riya Bhatia beat Anjali Rathi all in straight sets.

There were 3 Indians wins against Japanese- Sahaja, Shrivalli and Vaishnavi. Sahaja and Shrivalli eastly beat lower ranked players while Vaishnavi had a nice upset win over former top 200 player Akiko Omae ( currently ranked 686).

So, we have 6 Indian in last 16 and there are 2 all Indian match-ups-

[R1] Vaishnavi Adkar (IND,831) vs. (1) Dalila Jakupovic (SLO,214)

[R1] (WC) Riya Bhatia (IND,938) vs. (5) Sahaja Yamlapalli (IND,329)

[R1] Shrivalli Rashmikaa Bhamidipaty (IND,482) vs. (7)Jacqueline Cabaj Awad (SWE,455)

[R1] Zeel Desai (IND,550) vs. Ankita Raina (IND,226)

[PKBasu]

Those should be:

[R2] Vaishnavi Adkar (IND,831) vs. 1-Dalila Jakupovic (SLO,214)

[R2] (WC) Riya Bhatia (IND,938) vs. 5-Sahaja Yamlapalli (IND,329)

[R2] Shrivalli Rashmikaa Bhamidipaty (IND,482) vs. 7-Jacqueline Cabaj Awad (SWE,455)

[R2] Zeel Desai (IND,550) vs. 2-Ankita Raina (IND,226)


(They've each won a round, so it's a bit unfair to call the last-16 match 'R1' ).
We are assured of 2 Indian quarterfinalists. Dare we hope for 4?

[Atithee]

This is a good site for all Indian sports results. Not sure if it’s updated daily. Looks like it is.

https://sportstar.thehindu.com/other-sp ... 892260.ece

[PKBasu]

The all-Indian match-ups were played first:

[R2] Zeel Desai (IND,550) l. 2-Ankita Raina (IND,226) 67(4) 36
[R2] WC-Riya Bhatia (IND,938) l. 5-Sahaja Yamlapalli (IND,329) 67(8) 57

Sahaja was serving for the match at 5-4 in the second set, but Riya broke her serve. 5-5
Sahara broke Riya back, then held her serve to win 7-5.

[PKBasu]

Splendid first set from Shrivalli:

[R2] Shrivalli Rashmikaa Bhamidipaty (IND,482) vs. 7-Jacqueline Cabaj Awad (SWE,455) 61 22

[PKBasu]

Sadly, she faded thereafter, and Vaishnavi too lost:

[R2] Shrivalli Rashmikaa Bhamidipaty (IND,482) l. 7-Jacqueline Cabaj Awad (SWE,455) 61 36 67(5)
[R2] Vaishnavi Adkar (IND,831) l. 1-Dalila Jakupovic (SLO,214) 67(1) 36

[sameerph]

Sad that Shrivalli could not press home her advantage. She should be winning such matches against slightly higher ranked players if she has to move forward. Vaishnavi put up a pretty good fight against top seed.

So, only 2 seeds went thru among Indians.

[QF] (5) Sahaja Yamlapalli (IND,329) vs. (1) Dalila Jakupovic (SLO,214)

[QF] (2) Ankita Raina (IND,226) vs. (7)Jacqueline Cabaj Awad (SWE,455)

[PKBasu]

19 year old Vaishnavi clearly looks like one to watch out for in the near future...

[sameerph]

Ankita had a typical fighting win against Awad but Sahaja lost against top seed in 3 sets.

[QF] (5) Sahaja Yamlapalli (IND,329) l. (1) Dalila Jakupovic (SLO,214) 57 63 06

[QF] (2) Ankita Raina (IND,226) d. (7)Jacqueline Cabaj Awad (SWE,455) 46 62 64

Next,

[SF] (2) Ankita Raina (IND,226) vs. Ku Yeonwoo (KOR,527)

[sameerph]

Ankita lost in the SF against 21 year old Korean girl.

[SF] (2) Ankita Raina (IND,226) l. Ku Yeonwoo (KOR,527) 67(4) 36

Overall a disappointing week, nobody except Vaishnavi did better than their ranking in a home tournament.

[Atithee]

^^And, yet we clamor for home tournaments.

[Rajiv]

Because the organisors make hay, evertime a tournament is hosted.

[sameerph]

Because the organisors make hay, evertime a tournament is hosted.

How ? Don't think tournament organizers of this level tournaments make any profits.