<p>Bengaluru: Heading into Sunday’s final at the SM Krishna Tennis Stadium, the key question was whether Vaishnavi Adkar could reproduce the strong performances she had delivered in the previous rounds. Awaiting her in the final of the KPB Trust ITF Women’s Open W100 was Belgium’s Hanne Vandewinkel, who knew the threat the home player carried into the match.</p><p>Vaishnavi had hunted down eighth-seeded Mai Hontama of Japan (world No. 220), fourth-seeded Taylah Preston of Australia (WR 148) and second-seeded Lanlana Tararudee of Thailand (WR 126) to make it this far. Riding on those results, the chunk of spectators anticipated another giant kill from the the wildcard entrant. But what ensued was a locked-in Hanne who straightaway summoned her A game to down the Indian for a 6-0, 6-1 win. </p><p>The lopsided battle, which lasted a mere 56 minutes, crowned the 124th-ranked Belgian as champion while the 690th-ranked Vaishnavi, bruised and battered, went back with the runners-up trophy. </p><p>“I had never played in the same tournament as she did,” started off Hanne following her dominating victory. </p><p>“So I was watching a bit of her game while warming up (on previous days). Though a bit unknown, I knew she beat some really good players. I was very aware of that and I didn’t want to make the mistake of not being fully present today and letting her come into the match because I knew she could play some really good tennis. So I was just there from the beginning and made her work for every point and that worked well for me.”</p>.Bengaluru's FC settle for draw against intense NEUFC in Indian Super League.<p>A second year student of medicine at the University of Leuven back home, the 21-year-old Hanne’s cut-throat approach in dismantling Vaishnavi’s game was evident from the word go.</p>.<p>If Hanne’s serves were high-octane, her groundstrokes were defined by precision. Neutralising Vaishnavi’s biggest weapon -- her backhand -- with sliced returns, the European remained consistent by injecting pace and power, giving little elbow room for the home hope. Hanne’s variety of shots and agile legs rattled Vaishnavi as she failed to hold on to a single serve in the opening set before surrendering it 6-0 in 20 minutes. Egged on by Rohan Bopanna, in whose academy the Pune girl began training two months ago, Vaishnavi showed sparks of her previous self in the third game of the second set which she held for the first time in the match to open the account at 1-2. In the very next game (fourth), the first Indian female to reach an ITF W100 final, won three points in a row to give herself three breakpoints. That, however, proved to be the only bright phase as Hanne shut the light out by serving, slicing, sliding in five points in a row to hold and lead 3-1. It wasn’t long before she swallowed the remaining three games to seal the deal. </p>.<p><strong>Result:</strong> Final (prefix denotes seeding): 3-Hanne Vandewinkel (Bel) bt Vaishnavi Adkar 6-0, 6-1. </p>
<p>Bengaluru: Heading into Sunday’s final at the SM Krishna Tennis Stadium, the key question was whether Vaishnavi Adkar could reproduce the strong performances she had delivered in the previous rounds. Awaiting her in the final of the KPB Trust ITF Women’s Open W100 was Belgium’s Hanne Vandewinkel, who knew the threat the home player carried into the match.</p><p>Vaishnavi had hunted down eighth-seeded Mai Hontama of Japan (world No. 220), fourth-seeded Taylah Preston of Australia (WR 148) and second-seeded Lanlana Tararudee of Thailand (WR 126) to make it this far. Riding on those results, the chunk of spectators anticipated another giant kill from the the wildcard entrant. But what ensued was a locked-in Hanne who straightaway summoned her A game to down the Indian for a 6-0, 6-1 win. </p><p>The lopsided battle, which lasted a mere 56 minutes, crowned the 124th-ranked Belgian as champion while the 690th-ranked Vaishnavi, bruised and battered, went back with the runners-up trophy. </p><p>“I had never played in the same tournament as she did,” started off Hanne following her dominating victory. </p><p>“So I was watching a bit of her game while warming up (on previous days). Though a bit unknown, I knew she beat some really good players. I was very aware of that and I didn’t want to make the mistake of not being fully present today and letting her come into the match because I knew she could play some really good tennis. So I was just there from the beginning and made her work for every point and that worked well for me.”</p>.Bengaluru's FC settle for draw against intense NEUFC in Indian Super League.<p>A second year student of medicine at the University of Leuven back home, the 21-year-old Hanne’s cut-throat approach in dismantling Vaishnavi’s game was evident from the word go.</p>.<p>If Hanne’s serves were high-octane, her groundstrokes were defined by precision. Neutralising Vaishnavi’s biggest weapon -- her backhand -- with sliced returns, the European remained consistent by injecting pace and power, giving little elbow room for the home hope. Hanne’s variety of shots and agile legs rattled Vaishnavi as she failed to hold on to a single serve in the opening set before surrendering it 6-0 in 20 minutes. Egged on by Rohan Bopanna, in whose academy the Pune girl began training two months ago, Vaishnavi showed sparks of her previous self in the third game of the second set which she held for the first time in the match to open the account at 1-2. In the very next game (fourth), the first Indian female to reach an ITF W100 final, won three points in a row to give herself three breakpoints. That, however, proved to be the only bright phase as Hanne shut the light out by serving, slicing, sliding in five points in a row to hold and lead 3-1. It wasn’t long before she swallowed the remaining three games to seal the deal. </p>.<p><strong>Result:</strong> Final (prefix denotes seeding): 3-Hanne Vandewinkel (Bel) bt Vaishnavi Adkar 6-0, 6-1. </p>