Mumbai: It was a rough day for India’s remaining players in the singles draw of the WTA125K Series L&T Mumbai Open, as wild cards Rutuja Bhosale and Sahaja Yamalapalli both fell to three-set defeats in the second round at the Cricket Club of India here on Thursday.
Katie Volynets had to battle an upset stomach, and a gritty home favourite in Bhosale, but the American eighth seed managed to overcome both hurdles and reach the quarterfinals with a 7-6(8), 2-6, 6-1 win over the 346th-ranked Indian.
Yamalapalli’s 1-6, 6-3, 7-5 defeat to Russian Polina Kudermetova would very likely have left an even bitter taste, considering the Indian held a 5 -2 lead in the third set and even had the opportunity to serve for a spot in the last eight.
For Volynets, it was a second-straight win over an Indian opponent after she knocked out Ankita Raina, the country’s top-ranked women’s player, in the opening round. That experience, she said, served her well against Bhosale in a battle which began in daylight and ended under the floodlights, just short of the three-hour mark.
“It helped me as I knew what to expect more with the conditions,” said the 22-year-old. “It’s not easy playing the favourite, also playing two Indian players in a row was a big challenge because it’s definitely added stress playing against the whole crowd, but these are experiences that will help me a lot in the future.”
Both, the 113th-ranked Volynets, and Bhosale had a nightmare day on serve, as each player was broken eighth times in the match — half that number coming in an exhausting first set, which itself lasted an hour and 17 minutes.
After squandering a great opportunity to take the first set in the tiebreak, Bhosale managed to do a much better job on serve compared to her opponent in the second.
But Volynets was simply relieved to come through after encountering her own physical setback.
“I had big stomach trouble the last two days, so I knew I had to be more aggressive and use my energy as well as possible. With her level today, she made it difficult to play quick points. So I had to battle,” said the American.
Having sent shockwaves through the tournament with her opening day upset of top seed Kayla Day, Yamalapalli was back in singles action after a two-day break. The 23-year-old from Hyderabad barely put a foot wrong in the opening set which she won in just over 20 minutes.
In contrast to her senior compatriot, such was Yamalapalli’s serving rhythm that she didn’t face a single break point until the sixth game of the second set. And then things took a dramatic turn as she went on to lose 12 out of the next 13 points on serve.
Meanwhile, Alina Korneeva, the highly-rated Russian 16-year-old who won the Australian and French Open junior Grand Slam titles last year, was forced to pull out of the tournament due to a fever, allowing Australia’s Storm Hunter to advance to the semifinals with a walkover.
Katie Volynets had to battle an upset stomach, and a gritty home favourite in Bhosale, but the American eighth seed managed to overcome both hurdles and reach the quarterfinals with a 7-6(8), 2-6, 6-1 win over the 346th-ranked Indian.
Yamalapalli’s 1-6, 6-3, 7-5 defeat to Russian Polina Kudermetova would very likely have left an even bitter taste, considering the Indian held a 5 -2 lead in the third set and even had the opportunity to serve for a spot in the last eight.
For Volynets, it was a second-straight win over an Indian opponent after she knocked out Ankita Raina, the country’s top-ranked women’s player, in the opening round. That experience, she said, served her well against Bhosale in a battle which began in daylight and ended under the floodlights, just short of the three-hour mark.
“It helped me as I knew what to expect more with the conditions,” said the 22-year-old. “It’s not easy playing the favourite, also playing two Indian players in a row was a big challenge because it’s definitely added stress playing against the whole crowd, but these are experiences that will help me a lot in the future.”
Both, the 113th-ranked Volynets, and Bhosale had a nightmare day on serve, as each player was broken eighth times in the match — half that number coming in an exhausting first set, which itself lasted an hour and 17 minutes.
After squandering a great opportunity to take the first set in the tiebreak, Bhosale managed to do a much better job on serve compared to her opponent in the second.
But Volynets was simply relieved to come through after encountering her own physical setback.
“I had big stomach trouble the last two days, so I knew I had to be more aggressive and use my energy as well as possible. With her level today, she made it difficult to play quick points. So I had to battle,” said the American.
Having sent shockwaves through the tournament with her opening day upset of top seed Kayla Day, Yamalapalli was back in singles action after a two-day break. The 23-year-old from Hyderabad barely put a foot wrong in the opening set which she won in just over 20 minutes.
In contrast to her senior compatriot, such was Yamalapalli’s serving rhythm that she didn’t face a single break point until the sixth game of the second set. And then things took a dramatic turn as she went on to lose 12 out of the next 13 points on serve.
Meanwhile, Alina Korneeva, the highly-rated Russian 16-year-old who won the Australian and French Open junior Grand Slam titles last year, was forced to pull out of the tournament due to a fever, allowing Australia’s Storm Hunter to advance to the semifinals with a walkover.