Tag: WTA 125K

by Abhishek Shukla

Shrivalli goes down fighting; seeds Rodionova, Pigossi bow out of the L&T Mumbai Open Tennis Championships

Mumbai, February 7: Shrivalli Bhadimipatty’s dream run this week came to an end on Wednesday evening but not before the 22-year-old Indian out on a tremendous fight against 16-year-old Alina Korneeva, ranked more than 380 spots above her, at the L&T Mumbai Open WTA 125K Series Tennis Championships, being organized by the Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association (MSLTA) and the Cricket Club of India (CCI).

Korneeva, the top-ranked junior last year and winner of two junior Grand Slams in 2023, bounced back from the loss of the first set to win 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 in two hours and 25 minutes to advance to the quarter-finals.

Earlier in the day, fourth seed Arina Rodionova and fifth seed Laura Pigossi bowed out of the singles event. Rodionova was defeated in straight sets by Dutchwoman Arianna Hartono 4-6, 4-6 while Pigossi was knocked out by Australia’s Storm Hunter 3-6, 3-6.

With this, the top five seeds of the tournament have failed to make it past the second round. Sixth seed Darja Semenistaja is now the highest seed left in the singles event as she advanced to the quarter-finals with a 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 win over France’s Amandine Hesse.

In the doubles draw, the Indian duo of Sahaja Yamalapalli/ Vaishnavi Adkar went down fighting to second seeds Sabrina Santamaria/ Dalila Jakupovic 3-6, 6-7.

Yamalapalli, who knocked out top seed Kayla Day in the first round, will be back in action on Thursday for her second round singles match against Polina Kudermetova.

L&T Mumbai Open WTA 125K Series Results, Wednesday February 7, 2024

Singles First Round
Arianne Hartono (NED) def. (4) Arina Rodionova (AUS) 6-4, 6-4
Storm Hunter (AUS) def. (5) Laura Pigossi (BRA) 6-3. 6-3
(6) Darja Semenistaja (LAT) def. Amandine Hesse (FRA) 2-6, 6-4, 6-4
Alina Korneeva def. Shrivalli Bhamidipaty (IND) 5-7, 6-4, 6-4

Doubles First Round
(2) Sabrina Santamaria (USA)/ Dalila Jakupovic (SLO) def. Sahaja Yamalapalli (IND) / Vaishnavi Adkar (IND) 6-3, 7-6 (1)
Sapfo Sakellaridi (GRE)/ Olivia Tjandramulia (AUS)/ def Himeno Sakatsume (JPN)/ Ekaterina Makarova 6-2, 6-3.
Panna Udvardy (HUN)/ Natela Dzalamidze (GEO) def. En-Shuo Liang (TPE)/ Chia Yi Tsao (TPE) 4-6, 6-4, 10-7
Ekaterina Yashina/ Carole Monnet (FRA)/ def. Sohyun Park (KOR)/ Zhibek Kulambayeva (KAZ)

by Abhishek Shukla

“Goal is to play Grand Slam Qualifiers this year” – Sahaja Yamalapalli dreams of bigger things after win over top seed at L&T Mumbai Open WTA 125K

Mumbai, February 6: India’s Sahaja Yamalapalli had never played a WTA $125K event or a player ranked inside the top 100 in the world prior to Monday. But the 23-year-old displayed power-packed groundstrokes and nerves of steel to pull off an upset win over top seed Kayla Day in the first round of the L&T Mumbai Open WTA 125K Series Tennis Championships, being organized by the Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association (MSLTA) and the Cricket Club of India (CCI), on Monday evening.

After the big win, Yamalapalli was thankful to tournament organizers for the wild card. “As you all know, I’m a wild-carder here in the tournament. I would like to thank MSLTA and Sunder (Iyer) Sir for giving me this opportunity to play on this big stage. To just be around these players, you start believing that you belong here. You see them, you play with them and you get that confidence and then you go on to the match like thinking, OK, you can do this. I was telling myself I can do this even though she’s the first seed. She’s top 100. I’ve never played a top 100 player before. It’s my first match playing a top 100 and I just wanted to give everything out there. In the end, I got a couple of match points and I was like shaking, like, Oh my God. Like I’m winning this. And I’m really glad that I was able to pull it off.”

“This is a big win for me, especially at this point of my career, it’s very motivating. It’s really pushing me to do better, push harder and more practices and really go out there and get more wins in, on the big stage. So I’m really happy to get this.”

Despite this being her first match against a top 100 player, Yamalapalli was not surprised at her level, having gained confidence to know that she can compete with players at the elite level.

“I mean, not really (surprised) because I know I can produce this type of tennis. It’s all mental. I was just preparing myself that I can do this because I was in the same position before against players in the top 200. And then I got this close and did not come on the winning side. At that time, I was a little bit less confident. But this time, all those experiences helped me for this match to go into that thinking like I can do this, I can beat anyone here. I was confident and just going for it.”

Having come through the American collegiate circuit and now training with PBI, Yamalapalli believes her fitness and physical strength have been some of the biggest improvements in her game.

“For sure, it’s fitness and physical strength. I’ve built a lot over the years and then my forehand has been the biggest strength in my game and the serve. Lately I’ve been working a lot on my serve because I have big groundstrokes. But my serve was very decent. So I was working on that for the past couple of weeks and today I was able to serve better than my last matches.”

Speaking about her goals for the season, Yamalapalli said her target is to play in the qualifying draws for the Grand Slams this year.

“I don’t want to say a ranking like a number. Of course, I want to build on this, keep working on my game. I think there’s still a lot more to learn and a lot more things to improve. There’s always things to improve. So I just want to take this match, take the confidence and motivation and keep going. And you know I want to at the end of the year play the qualifying at the Grand slams. I’m going to keep working hard and keep going towards it.”

by Abhishek Shukla

Sharapova’s pretty dresses inspired India’s Shrivalli to play tennis

Mumbai, February 5: Among the most promising Indian women’s tennis players in the main draw of the WTA 125K L&T Mumbai Open, Shrivalli Bhamidipaty made a sensational start to the tournament, winning two very impressive games in the qualifying round. The 22-year-old from Hyderabad is keen on making a solid impression in this prestigious event which returns to Mumbai after a gap of six years and is being played at the iconic Cricket Club of India. 

However, what inspired and motivated the current Indian National champion in both singles and doubles, was former World Number 1 Maria Sharapova, whose dressing caught her eye. “I used to look at Maria Sharapova’s pictures and really liked her pretty clothes. I, too, wanted to wear such pretty dresses and that’s the reason I started playing tennis at the age of 11 and got hooked into the sport. Playing tennis gave me the opportunity to be able to wear pretty dresses. So, for me getting into sports was pretty accidental,” she said. 

Hailing from a sporting family, where her mother was a basketball player and her father played cricket and karate, Shrivalli began to take tennis seriously within a couple of years of being introduced to the sport. “For me it was always a roller-coaster ride. Honestly, I just love the sport of tennis and being out there, because that way you don’t have to be home and studying,” she added. 

In her debut WTA tournament, Shrivalli is taking it one game at a time and ensuring she makes the best of every opportunity to be out there on court. 

“I didn’t have too many goals coming into the WTA L&T Mumbai Open because it is my debut tournament, and I just wanted to go out there, play my tennis and have fun at the same time. I know everyone I play will be a higher level than me. So, I just wanted to do my best and give it my best shot,” she added. 

“I am thrilled to qualify for the main draw and I will play normally like any other match. 

Shrivalli is scheduled to meet second seed Nao Hibino in the first round. 

by Abhishek Shukla

Fearless Shrivalli Bhamidipaty progress into main draw of L&T Mumbai Open

Mumbai, February 4: India’s Shrivalli Bhamidipaty continued to play freely and fearlessly and produced another remarkable performance to outduel Viktoria Morvayova of Slovakia registering a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 win in the second and final qualifying round match of the L&T Mumbai Open WTA 125K match on Centre Court at the iconic Cricket Club of India on Sunday.

Shrivalli is the lone Indian from the qualifying round to make it to the main draw. India’s Vaidehi Chaudhari lost to Amandine Hesse of France 3-6, 1-6, while wild card entrant Zeel Desai retired after losing the first set 7-5 against top seed Himeno Sakatsume of Japan on Centre Court.

A two-time Indian National champion, Shrivalli, started in the same aggressive fashion as in her first round straight-set win against second seed Valentini Grammatikopoulou from Greece on Saturday.

The 22-year-old Shrivalli, who had won her maiden ITF women’s title in Bengaluru in last November, with clever tactics quelled the fight from her Slovak opponent who bravely battled on despite encountering some discomfort at the start of the third set. After the third game Viktoria, tailing 0-3 took a medical time-out. She continued to take treatment during change-overs, but did not throw-in the towel. She carried on fighting and even broke Shrivalli in the seventh game and held serve in the next to narrow the lead to 3-5 before Shrivalli went on to close out the match with a fierce passing shot in the ninth game of the deciding set.

Lina Glushko of Israel, sixth seed Fanny Stollar of Hungary and Thailand’s Peangtarn Plipuech are the other players to qualify for the main draw, which will commence from Monday.

Results – qualifying (round-2): 

Shrivalli Bhamidipaty (IND) bt Viktoria Morvayova (SVK) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3;

Amandine Hesse (FRA) bt Vaidehi Chaudhari (IND) 6-3, 6-1;

Lina Glushko (ISR) bt Camilla Rosatella (ITA) 6-3, 6-3;

1-Himeno Sakatsume (JPN) bt Zeel Desai (IND) 7-5, retired;

6-Fanny Stollar (HUN) bt  Sohyun Park (KOR) 6-4, 6-3;

Peangtarn Plipuech (THA) bt Chia Yi Tsao (TPE) 6-3, 6-3..