Vaishnavi Adkar’s run continues

Bengaluru: The tussle between India’s wildcard entrant Vaishnavi Adkar and Australia’s fourth-seeded Taylah Preston was less about hard-hitting and more about precision and placement. The one returning without missing the lines and finding the right corners enjoyed an upper hand under the bright afternoon sun at the SM Krishna Tennis Stadium here on Friday. 

And at the end of a contest of fluctuating fortunes, it was the world No. 690 home girl who went for the giant kill, for the second consecutive day, to knock out the 148th-ranked Taylah and advance to the semifinal of the KPB Trust ITF Women’s Open W100. 

The 21-year-old from Pune, after having beaten 220th-ranked Japanese Mai Hontama the previous day in the pre-quarterfinals, scored a 6-3, 1-6, 6-4 victory over the 20-year-old Aussie in one hour and 33 minutes. 

“I didn’t really feel much pressure though she is a higher-ranked player because, I mean, it’s not like I was playing bad,” said Vaishnavi after her win.

“It’s just that she started playing better and started putting more balls in. So I had to level up to her standards or even better. I took it one point at a time, without thinking about a lot of things and just kept it basic. Yeah, this is my first W100 event and reaching the semifinal at home means so much to me.” 

Using high balls as a ploy and keeping her serves simple and clean worked wonders for Vaishnavi in the first set despite starting on the wrong foot. A third break of serve, as opposed to two earned by Taylah, saw Vaishnavi close out the opener on her second set point. 

With Taylah beginning to get into the groove, the second set completely tilted in favour of the Aussie who punished every loose ball and slowing legs of her opponent to level the match and take it to the decider. 

By the time the third set reached the 3-3 mark, with two trades of breaks, it was getting increasingly hard for either player to dominate the other. As double faults, groundstroke errors and varying pace of play crept into their games, it was the tough hold by Vaishnavi in the seventh to go up 4-3 that turned the tables in her favour. 

Back to simply keeping the ball in play, Vaishnavi broke Taylah’s wavering serve in the eighth game to go up 5-3 before losing her own in the ninth to help Taylah inch closer 5-4 to eventually break the Australian’s serve in the tenth to seal the deal 6-4. 

The lone Indian in fray will take on second seed Lanlana Tararudee of Thailand who beat eighth seed Elena Pridankina 6-1, 6-3. 

In another upset, top seed Talia Gibson of Australia went down 2-6, 5-7 to fifth seed Polina Iatcenko who will face third seed Hanne Vandewinkel of Belgium after her win over China’s Fangran Tian 6-2, 6-2. 

Results (prefix denotes seeding): Singles (quarterfinal): Vaishnavi Adkar (Ind) bt 4-Taylah Preston (Aus) 6-3, 1-6, 6-4; 2-Lanlana Tararudee (Tha) bt Elena Pridankina 6-1, 6-3; 3-Hanne Vandewinkel (Bel) bt Fangran Tian (Chn) 6-2, 6-2; 5-Polina Iatcenko bt 1-Talia Gibson (Aus) 6-2, 7-5.