Chennai, Oct 31 India number one and wild-card entrant Vaishnavi Adkar will open her campaign against lower-ranked Britain’s Jodie Burrage, while Sahaja Yamalapalli faces Switzerland’s Simona Waltert in the first round of the WTA 250 Chennai Open, following the draw announcement here on Saturday.
Seventeen-year-old Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi, the third Indian in the draw, has been handed a tough opening assignment against Poland’s 106th ranked Katarzyna Kawa, the eighth seed in the tournament, which will be played at the SDAT Tennis Stadium from November 2 to 8.
Ranked 334th, Vaishnavi said her experience of playing in the city should help her.
“It’s not my first time in Chennai. I’ve also played a couple of national-level tournaments here. This is where we grew up playing. So, I mean I know how the conditions are. It’s not at all easy to play in hot weather,” she said.
“It’s a big opportunity. So I just want to focus on improving my game, playing against the higher-ranked players, and just give my best out there.”
Burrage is a former top-100 player but is now placed 471.
Sahaja will be up against Waltert (ranked 128th) as the Indian players look to make an impression in the final edition of the Chennai Open.
Janice Tjen of Indonesia heads the field as the top seed, while Austria’s Lilli Tagger is seeded second. Poland’s Magda Linette is the third seed, followed by Panna Udvardy (fourth).
“I picked this tournament because of the conditions. I heard from a lot of players that it’s hot, which I really like. I love the slow court, really physically demanding conditions,” said Panna at the draw ceremony.
“So for me, that was the main focus. Also, the match is quite late here, which I like. I played in China last week, so it was a close travel.”
Linette was ranked as high as 19th in the world in 2023 when she also made Australian Open semifinals.
The Chennai tournament is being held for the last time as the WTA 250 slot moves to Manila next year.
All four Indians lose in Qualifying
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Meanwhile, Shrivalli Bhamidipaty exited the Qualifying event with a 2-6 3-6 defeat against fourth seed Viktoria Morvayova while wild card Diya Ramesh lost 4-6 2-6 to Japanese second seed Kyoka Okamura.
Zeel Desai struggled with her serve and strokes to bow out with a 1-6 0-6 defeat against Japan’s Mei Yamaguchi.
The only bright spot, despite defeat, was 14-year-old wild card Jensi Kanabar’s gritty performance against Poland’s Werinoka Falkowska.
Playing her first match at this level and that too at a tender age of 14, the unranked Jensi won hearts during a 2-6 7-5 3-6 loss against the world number 287.
(PTI News)
