ITF Women’s Open W100 | Vaishnavi Adkar stuns Lanlana Tararudee

Bengaluru: "Taking one point at a time” has been Vaishnavi Adkar’s mantra for the week here at the SM Krishna Tennis Stadium.

Her stubborn mindset to stick to this routine through all her matches over four days, gave the Indian wildcard the biggest win of her career on Saturday and carried her to the final of the KPB Trust ITF Women’s Open W100.

Unlike the home girl’s previous opponents, second-seeded Lanlana Tararudee of Thailand, ranked 126 in the world, was expected to know better and tame the tournament’s slayer. Instead, it was the world No. 690 Vaishnavi who unleashed a performance beyond her ranking to score a straight-set 6-3, 6-3 win that left Lanlana stunned during their semifinal encounter that lasted a mere 66 minutes.

"I've been happy with the way I've been playing since the very first round," said the 21-year-old from Pune after her massive victory. 

"So before getting on court today, all I was thinking about was irrespective of how the match was going or the score, I just wanted to go for my shots and not hold back at any given point. I wanted to make the best out of the opportunity that I've gotten from KSLTA and Sunil (Yajaman, joint secretary) sir. I'm glad that I was able to make the best use of it," pointed an elated Viashnavi, who became the first Indian to reach an ITF W100 final. 

Coming onto the court following two three-setters in her previous two rounds, the right-handed Vaishnavi appeared to have trimmed some of the chinks in her armour to put together her most polished act in the tournament. It was her backhand - a shot Vaishnavi said she developed naturally - that not only stung but broke Lanlana's rhythm and confidence. 

Barring the fourth game of the opening set and the seventh game in the second, where the Thai stretched server Vaishnavi to the brink but lost, the Indian required a total of four breaks of serves to wrap-up the last-four contest. 

"I did not have a good serve or a big serve. But we have been working so much on it. So I think it's been one of the most important improvements that I've made in the last couple of weeks," offered Vaishnavi, who trains at the Rohan Bopanna Tennis Academy under coach Balachandran Manikkath. 

With four hurdles cleared, the toughest one -- the final -- awaits the soft-spoken youngster. And waiting to counter the gaint-killing Vaishnavi in the summit clash will be third-seeded Hanne Vandewinkel of Belgium who beat fifth seed Polina Iatcenko of Russia in the second semifinal. 

Ankita, Priska lose

It was heartbreak for the other Indian in fray on Saturday as Ankita Raina and her Indonesian partner Priska Madelyn Nugroho (seeded third) went down in a three-set thriller to the Japanese pair of Misaki Matsuda and Eri Shimizu in the doubles final. 

Misaki and Eri scored a 6-4, 3-6, 10-5 victory to be crowned champions and force Ankita and Priska to be content with the runners-up trophy. 

Results (prefix denotes seeding): Singles: Semifinal: Vaishnavi Adkar (Ind) bt 2-Lanlana Tararudee (Tha) 6-3, 6-3; 3-Hanne Vandewinkel (Bel) bt 5-Polina Iatcenko 6-4, 7-6 (5). 

Doubles: Final: Misaki Matsuda/ Eri Shimizu (Jpn) bt 3-Ankita Raina (Ind)/ Priska Madelyn Nugroho (Ina) 6-4, 3-6, 10-5.