Bengaluru, Jan 15 – Vaidehi Chaudhari was the lone Indian to qualify for the main draw in the ITF Women’s Open that begins at the KSLTA Stadium here on Tuesday.
The 23-year-old scored an upset win over 5th seed Thasaporn Naklo of Thailand in straight sets 6-2, 6-2 in just 56 minutes in the final qualifying round, after which, eight of them earned a spot in the main draw. In the other upset of the day, 12th seed Mei Yamaguchi of Japan ousted the top seed Diana Marcinkevica of Latvia 1-6, 6-2, 6-2.
Meanwhile Ankita Raina is seeded No.8 for the singles main draw of 32 that includes five Indians in all along with four wildcards – Soha Sadiq, Rutuja Bhosale, Sahaja Yamlapalli, and Suhita Maruri. Latvian Darja Semenistaja has been given the top billing while Chloe Paquet of France is seeded second. Ekaterina Makarova and Moyuka Uchijima of Japan have been seeded third and fourth respectively while Polina Kudermetova is seeded fifth. Frenchwoman Carole Monnet is seeded No.6 while Sofya Lansere is No.7.
After the other two Indians – Shrivalli Rashmikaa Bhamidipaty and Zeel Desai bowed out of the qualifying race, Vaidehi brought some good news to the Indian camp. Playing some of her best tennis this year, the 23-year-old was in full flow against her Thai opponent. Both the players began by breaking each other’s serve but from there the Indian took control of the game as she broke her rival’s serve in the 3rd and the 5th game to go 4-1 ahead. However, she got broken in the very next game but came back strongly to win the next two games including a break in the 7th game.
In the second set, Vaidehi raced to a 5-0 lead, courtesy three breaks in the 1st, 3rd and 5th Naklo showed some resistance and broke Vaidehi’s serve in the 6th and went on to hold her serve in the 7th game. However, Vaidehi closed the match out in next game to seal a spot in the main draw.
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