MUMBAI: It didn't seem like Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi had done much wrong. She had just completed a 6-4, 6-1 over Belarusian Iryna Shymanovich, finishing the match exactly how she had started it, with an ace. It was not just her first round match of the L&T Mumbai Open, this was her WTA main draw debut, and for most part, the 15-year-old looked to have ticked a lot of the right boxes judging by the applause she drew from the Cricket Club of India crowd here on Tuesday.
And yet, the promising teenager wasn't totally pleased with her performance while reflecting on it later. “Well, one thing is that I think I played my qualifying rounds better than today. So one thing that I'm happy about is that I managed to win even though I didn't play my best today,” Maaya would say.
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Winning despite not being at your best! That's a trait that the man whose famous academy Maaya currently trains at often fell back on over the course of his storied career. For now, she is still in the early days of her one-year stint at the Rafa Nadal Academy in Mallorca, and apart from saying “it's going good” and mentioning a “small conversation” she had with Toni, Rafa's uncle and long-time coach, there's not much else Maaya can share just yet.
Her racket, however, did the talking against the 225th-ranked Shymanovich, who, Maaya happened to learn would be her opponent “just five minutes” before she was to step on court.
As she and Shymanovich were hitting to each other in the warm-up, a livescoring app still showed Yuriko Miyazaki of Great Britain as Maaya's opponent. Miyazaki was forced to withdraw due to illness.
Did the late twist throw Maaya off in any way? “Nah, because either way, I didn't know anything about my previous opponent. The same applies to this (player),” the Coimbatore girl grinned.
There was notable support for Maaya in the crowd as Grand Slam doubles champion Rohan Bopanna followed the youngster's progress over the first set. “I'm really honoured to have him here because I think he flew down to watch this match and I'm really happy that he was here,” she said.
Tuesday's win coupled with her two victories in the qualifiers have earned Maaya 21 WTA ranking points, taking her total points tally to 24 and earning her an entry into the WTA rankings.
She will take on Zarina Diyas in the second round, after the Kazakh eliminated defending champion Darja Semenistaja 6-3, 6-3.
Meanwhile, Ankita Raina and Shrivalli Bhamidipaty were the other Indian players to advance to the last 16 stage on Tuesday. Raina proved too strong for compatriot Vaishnavi Adkar, coming through 6-2, 6-2, while Bhamidipaty produced a devastating display to take out the 182nd-ranked Elena Pridankina of Russia 6-1, 6-0 in just 64 minutes.
Results:
Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi (India) bt Iryna Shymanovich (Belarus) 6-4, 6-1; Ankita Raina (India) bt Vaishnavi Adkar (India) 6-2,6-2; Shrivalli Bhamidipaty (India) bt Elena Pridankina (Russia) 6-1,6-0; 3-Anna Schemiedlova (Slovakia) bt Tina Smith (Australia) 6-7(2), 6-4, 6-1; Zarina Diyas (KAZ) beat 4-Darja Semenistaja (LVA) 6-3 6-3; 5-Jil Teichmann (Switzerland) beat Emina Bektas (USA) 6-1, 0-0 (retd); Mai Hontama (Japan) bt 6-Nao Hibino (Japan) 7-6, 6-2.
