ITF W15 New Delhi, W25 Pune, March 1-14, 2021

[sameerph]

These are the full main draw results -

(1) Riya BHATIA IND d. (WC) Yubarani BANERJEE IND 63 63
Jennifer LUIKHAM IND d. (Q) Smriti BHASIN IND 64 62
Elena JAMSHIDI DEN d. Mihika YADAV IND 36 76(5) 75
(7) Pia LOVRIC SLO d. Lucie PETRUZELOVA CZE 75 64
(4) Zeel DESAI IND d. Nikola BRECKOVA CZE 64 62
Ashmitha EASWARAMURTHI IND d. Bhuvana KALVA IND 63 26 64
Humera BAHARMUS IND d. Shrivalli Rashmikaa BHAMIDIPATY IND 63 75
(6) Sowjanya BAVISETTI IND d. Sathwika SAMA IND 63 62
(8) Adrienn NAGY HUN d. (Q) Nidhi CHILUMULA IND 60 26 60
(WC) Prerna BHAMBRI IND d. (WC) Soha SADIQ IND 64 64
Sravya Shivani CHILAKALAPUDI IND d. (WC) Jagmeet Kaur GREWAL IND 64 60
(3) Rutuja BHOSALE IND d. Likhitha KALAVA IND 60 62
(5) Irina KHROMACHEVA RUS vs Saumya VIG IND 61 60
(Q) Farhat Aleen QAMAR IND d. (Q) Akanksha Dileep NITTURE IND 64 64
(Q) Sai Samhitha CHAMARTHI IND d. (Q) Sharmada BALU IND 61 16 63
(2) Miriam Bianca BULGARU ROU vs Vaidehi CHAUDHARI IND 63 36 64

Young Vaidehi Chaudari came so close to creating a big upset but just fell short. Otherwise expected results. 11 Indians are in last 16. 4 Indians are assuered in QF. Diffcult get any more though as in other 3 match-ups pitts much lower ranked Indians against seeded opponents.

[Dinesh]

Bringing back the predictions:

QF
Lovric
Bavisetti
Bhosale
Khromacheva

SF
Bavisetti
Khromacheva

F
Khromacheva

[PKBasu]

Where is Mahak Jain, our former hot prospect, who was ranked 511 in 2019? Still only 19 now, she has fallen to 846 but isn't playing here.
Mihika Yadav seems to have fallen away. Disappointing that Pranjala didn't turn up here.

[sameerph]

Mahak has gone and joined Georgia Tech University and is in her first year there.

Looks like Pranjala is playing 25K next week in Pune.

[PKBasu]

Thanks. Mahak seems to be studying business at Georgia Tech, and not necessarily focusing massively on tennis. She was playing as the sixth singles player on the team -- and won all 7 of her first matches at that position (including one at #5 and one at #4). Then she was promoted to play #4 singles, and lost 4 matches at that position in February.

So Mahak's college tennis career doesn't look too promising, and she is unranked nationally. The top-3 players on the Georgia Tech team are ranked 13, 56 and 123 nationally (in singles). But she will need to do much better at #4 to hope to be ranked nationally. There is a doubles team (including two of the best singles players) who are ranked #5 nationally in doubles, but Mahak doesn't play doubles for the team.

[sameerph]

These are the second round singles results -

Jennifer LUIKHAM IND d. (1) Riya BHATIA IND 61 16 63
(7) Pia LOVRIC SLO d. Elena JAMSHIDI DEN 62 61
(4) Zeel DESAI IND d. Ashmitha EASWARAMURTHI IND 61 62
Humera BAHARMUS IND d.(6) Sowjanya BAVISETTI IND 60 63
(8) Adrienn NAGY HUN d. (WC) Prerna BHAMBRI IND 62 60
(3) Rutuja BHOSALE IND d. Sravya Shivani CHILAKALAPUDI IND 62 62
(5) Irina KHROMACHEVA RUS d.(Q) Farhat Aleen QAMAR IND 60 63
(2) Miriam Bianca BULGARU ROU d. (Q) Sai Samhitha CHAMARTHI IND 62 62

2 big upsets among all Indian matches. Jeniffer Luikham upsets top seed Riya Bhatia and 19 year old Humera thrashed Sowjanaya. So, 4 Indian in QF. We should at least have 2 in the semi final, if not 3.

[PKBasu]

It's always good when a youngster does something totally unexpected, like 19-year-old Humera Baharmas (IND, 1302; ITF 623) beating Sowjanya Bavisetti (IND, 646) 60 63. She had a career-high junior ranking of 552 as a 16-year-old in 2018, but this sensational victory is still very unexpected (even though her ITF ranking is better than Sowjanya's for reasons that are obscure to me). Clearly one to watch.

Jennifer Luikham (IND, 960; ITF 328) is a better-known player, now 21, who has been around our circuit for awhile. Her 3-set win over Riya Bhatia (23 years old, and ranked 354 by the WTA but only in the 1200s by ITF) is very note-worthy indeed.

[Dinesh]

Next week's W25 event has seen a lot of late main draw withdrawals (including Pranjala) and now there are at least 10 Indian girls in the main draw entry list (cut-off 1201).

[sameerph]

This was sort of expected. I did not expect too many foreign players to come for one off week for this. Now it looks like only 2-3 players other than those who are already playing here this week are going to come in next week.

This was a great chance for our players to capitalise to earn points but unfortunately 3 player who could really have taken advantage- Ankita ( who is right off for bigger events), Pranjala and Karman are not playing here. I will be really surprised if any one of our remaining players go all the way to final or title. I will be happy to be proven wrong.

[sameerph]

Only 1 Indian in the SF here too.

QF results

(7) Pia LOVRIC SLO d. Jennifer LUIKHAM IND 75 57 75
(4) Zeel DESAI IND d. Humera BAHARMUS IND 64 46 63
(8) Adrienn NAGY HUN d. (3) Rutuja BHOSALE IND 16 63 26
(5) Irina KHROMACHEVA RUS d. (2) Miriam Bianca BULGARU ROU 16 62 63

These are disappointing results at home.

[arjun2761]

Time for Zeel to win the title! She was playing well in Tunisia (or was it Turkey) recently until Covid restrictions came into play.

[sameerph]

Not to be. Zeel lost in the SF.

[SF] (4) Zeel DESAI (IND,622) l. (7) Pia Lovric (SLO,767) 67(2) 16

Overall disappoiting show this week.

[jayakris]

Not good at all, our show...

[Dinesh]

More good news for our women players - two $25K clay tournaments in Jhajjar (Haryana) have been added for the first 2 weeks in May.

[sameerph]

And now this week's 25K for women in Pune has also the same field as last week's 15K. Almost foreign players other than those who were already here from last week have withdrawn. So, this is one of the weakest fields one would encounter at 25K level and big chance for these players to garner a lot of points.

This is the main draw-

(1)Riya Bhatia (IND) v (Q)Soha Sadiq (IND)
(wc)Vaidehi Chaudhari (IND) v Ashmitha Easwaramurthi (IND)
Jasmin Jebawy (GER) v Jennifer Luikham (IND)
(6)Emily Webley-Smith (GBR) v Sathwika Sama (IND)

(3)Laura Pigossi (BRA) v (wc)Saumya Vig (IND)
(Q)Shreya Tatavarthy (IND) v (Q)Nidhi Chilumula (IND)
Likhitha Kalava (IND) v Sowjanya Bavisetti (IND)
(7)Zeel Desai (IND) v (Q)Farhat Aleen Qamar (IND)

(5)Marianna Zakarlyuk (UKR) v Adrienn Nagy (HUN)
Elena Jamshidi (DEN) v Pia Lovric (SLO)
(Q)Sravya Shivani Chilakalapudi (IND) v (wc)Snehal Mane (IND)
(4)Rutuja Bhosale (IND) v (Q)Arthi Muniyan (IND)

(8)Irina Khromacheva (RUS) v Shrivalli Rashmikaa Bhamidipaty (IND)
(wc)Akanksha Dileep Nitture (IND) v Mihika Yadav (IND)
Bhuvana Kalva (IND) v Ramya Natarajan (IND)
(2)Miriam Bianca Bulgaru (ROU) v Humera Baharmus (IND)