Wildcard teen Maaya in semi-final
Mumbai: Taking part in a WTA occasion in Mumbai wasn’t within the plan of Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi, whose prolonged keep in India was meant for Europe visa formalities. Unranked and solely 15, she acquired a name for a wildcard entry into the qualifying draw of the WTA L&T Mumbai Open, and turned as much as give it a shot. The wildcard qualifier has now turned important draw semi-finalist.
“It means loads,” stated Maaya. “This wasn’t a part of my plans, however they gave me a chance. And right here it’s now.”
Right here she is, after a 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 win over Japan’s 285th-ranked Mei Yamaguchi within the quarter-finals on Friday. Right here she is, as the primary Indian singles participant to succeed in this far on the WTA 125 occasion in Mumbai and the primary since Sania Mirza in any WTA house event in singles.
At 15 and nonetheless largely plying on the junior circuit, Maaya will surge from being unranked within the WTA charts to a minimum of sitting within the 600s after this week. These are nonetheless early days in her professional journey and there’s an extended stroll by the event path, however her run does come as a breath of contemporary air in these relatively gray instances in Indian tennis.
The potential is there, as this week has proved. The mindset is sturdy, as her third three-set victory this week mirrored. The sport is promising, as her clutch play within the deciding set on Friday confirmed.
Yamaguchi, a fellow qualifier, gifted six double faults within the first set. She stepped up on serve and strokes within the second and shortly Maaya was down. But nonetheless not prepared to enter a safety-first shell.
“After the second set, if I dropped my stage, she was going to kill me. I needed to go all out,” the Indian stated.
All out she went and the way, breaking her opponent’s serve to like within the third and fifth video games. Maaya was serving aces, returning deep and hitting huge. Switched on in her physique language and together with her sport, she ended the match with an enormous serve adopted by a forehand winner.
Taking part in on a weekend on the WTA Mumbai Open wasn’t a part of her plans — she takes on fifth seed Jil Teichmann, ranked 117, subsequent. However right here she is. At 15.
“I didn’t assume I’d come this far,” she stated. “However there’s yet one more match to go.”
