<p>Bengaluru: Sahaja Yamalapalli's opening round campaign at the KPB Trust ITF Women’s Open W100 on Tuesday bore a stark resemblance to her round 1 contest a year ago at the same event. Both were played on court 1 of the SM Krishna Tennis Stadium here, both were three-set encounters against higher-ranked opponents and in both matches, India's top-ranked female singles player began on a high, lost her way in between only to fight back and clinch a victory.</p>.<p>On a sunny yet pleasant afternoon in Cubbon Park, world No. 416 Sahaja was once again tested and pushed to the brink, this time by 306-ranked Dayeon Back of Korea, before the Indian churned out a 6-2, 1-6, 6-2 win to advance to the second round of the premier ITF tournament. </p>.Players feedback about Bengaluru event is incredibly positive: Moss.<p>Capitalising on another break point in the fifth, Sahaja held all her service games to race away with the first set. The ball striking, however, which was free-flowing in the opening set quickly began to desert the 25-year-old home girl in the second. Unforced errors and Dayeon running to successfully return every ball meant that the Korean 24-year-old clinched the second set to get back into the match. </p><p>Trading two breaks each in the third, Sahaja found her missing rhythm when the scores were tied at 2-2 at one set apiece. With the forehand packing a punch and an extra kick in the serve, Sahaja dominated to claim four games in a row to close out the match in two hours and 18 minutes. </p>.<p>"Yeah, well, it started off well. In the second, I mean, I was fighting but I wasn't feeling the ball very well in the second. Maybe I was being too passive," said Sahaja in a post-match conversation. </p>.<p>"I wasn't letting my arm go through and that was causing me to make mistakes. But I kind of regrouped and that helped," she added while sharing that she felt physically a lot better than she has in the past few tournaments where Sahaja claimed she wasn't at her healthy best.</p>.<p>Meanwhile, in the battle of Indian wild card entrants, Vaishnavi Adkar got the better of Shruti Ahlawat 6-1, 7-6 (6) to book her spot in the next round. </p>.<p>In the other singles match, Russia's Erika Andreeva survived a tough opening set through a tie-breaker against Argentina's Nicole Fossa Huergo. However, a physical issue appeared to be troubling Nicole saw 30-year-old retire early in the second set that saw Erika advancing. </p>.<p><strong>Results (round 1, prefix denotes seedings): Singles:</strong> Sahaja Yamalapalli (Ind) bt Dayeon Back (Kor) 6-2, 1-6, 6-2; Vaishnavi Adkar (Ind) bt Shruti Ahlawat (Ind) 6-1, 7-6 (6); 8-Mai Hontama (Jpn) bt Diletta Cherubini (Ita) 6-2, 6-1; Erika Andreeva (Rus) bt Nicole Fossa Huergo (Arg) 7-6 (12), 1-0 (retd). </p>
<p>Bengaluru: Sahaja Yamalapalli's opening round campaign at the KPB Trust ITF Women’s Open W100 on Tuesday bore a stark resemblance to her round 1 contest a year ago at the same event. Both were played on court 1 of the SM Krishna Tennis Stadium here, both were three-set encounters against higher-ranked opponents and in both matches, India's top-ranked female singles player began on a high, lost her way in between only to fight back and clinch a victory.</p>.<p>On a sunny yet pleasant afternoon in Cubbon Park, world No. 416 Sahaja was once again tested and pushed to the brink, this time by 306-ranked Dayeon Back of Korea, before the Indian churned out a 6-2, 1-6, 6-2 win to advance to the second round of the premier ITF tournament. </p>.Players feedback about Bengaluru event is incredibly positive: Moss.<p>Capitalising on another break point in the fifth, Sahaja held all her service games to race away with the first set. The ball striking, however, which was free-flowing in the opening set quickly began to desert the 25-year-old home girl in the second. Unforced errors and Dayeon running to successfully return every ball meant that the Korean 24-year-old clinched the second set to get back into the match. </p><p>Trading two breaks each in the third, Sahaja found her missing rhythm when the scores were tied at 2-2 at one set apiece. With the forehand packing a punch and an extra kick in the serve, Sahaja dominated to claim four games in a row to close out the match in two hours and 18 minutes. </p>.<p>"Yeah, well, it started off well. In the second, I mean, I was fighting but I wasn't feeling the ball very well in the second. Maybe I was being too passive," said Sahaja in a post-match conversation. </p>.<p>"I wasn't letting my arm go through and that was causing me to make mistakes. But I kind of regrouped and that helped," she added while sharing that she felt physically a lot better than she has in the past few tournaments where Sahaja claimed she wasn't at her healthy best.</p>.<p>Meanwhile, in the battle of Indian wild card entrants, Vaishnavi Adkar got the better of Shruti Ahlawat 6-1, 7-6 (6) to book her spot in the next round. </p>.<p>In the other singles match, Russia's Erika Andreeva survived a tough opening set through a tie-breaker against Argentina's Nicole Fossa Huergo. However, a physical issue appeared to be troubling Nicole saw 30-year-old retire early in the second set that saw Erika advancing. </p>.<p><strong>Results (round 1, prefix denotes seedings): Singles:</strong> Sahaja Yamalapalli (Ind) bt Dayeon Back (Kor) 6-2, 1-6, 6-2; Vaishnavi Adkar (Ind) bt Shruti Ahlawat (Ind) 6-1, 7-6 (6); 8-Mai Hontama (Jpn) bt Diletta Cherubini (Ita) 6-2, 6-1; Erika Andreeva (Rus) bt Nicole Fossa Huergo (Arg) 7-6 (12), 1-0 (retd). </p>