Maaya, 17, becomes youngest Indian woman pro tennis event winner

Mumbai: A stray tune she heard in the morning had been running in her mind for most of the day. It can be a needless distraction when you are playing in the final of a senior professional tennis tournament, but it served its purpose at the opportune moment for Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi.

On Sunday, the 17-year-old became the youngest Indian to win a women’s singles pro tournament, securing the final 6-4, 6-2 at the ITF W35 event against Spain’s Celia Cervino Ruiz in Lagos, Portugal. She also paired with Ukraine’s Yelyzaveta Kotliar to win the doubles title.

Back to that song. She had won the first set against her 28-year-old opponent, but had started to feel some pressure being one set away from winning her first pro title. And then that tune came back to her.

“I felt like I was taking a lot of pressure. I just zoned out, and started singing something in my head just to be light and let go (of the stress),” she said. “I think that really helped. And by the match point, I didn’t really think of it as match point. It was just another point for me.”

Maaya said: “The first one is always special and lots of sweet memories this week. For me, it just felt like another tournament because I’ve been competing for a while now.”

The world No.1038 started the tournament in the qualification round, but did not drop a set – even coming from 0-5 down in the first set to beat the top seed Justina Mikulskyte in the main draw first round.

“I came in with no expectations. I just went out there and tried to play as good as I can because I was the underdog. In pro tournaments, everyone plays at a decent level, so on any given day it comes down to who plays better. Overall, I delivered better tennis than my opponents.”

For a few years, Maaya has been expected to be the next big thing for women’s tennis in India. More so after she, as a 15-year-old, rose from the qualification round to reach the semi-final of the W125 Mumbai Open in 2025. That unexpected, but no less deserving run, earned her the first-ever WTA ranking points, and took her from being an unranked player to 642 in the world.

It helped her early career when she was enrolled in the Rafael Nadal Academy in Spain.

A few months ago, however, she left the academy and has now set her base in Cannes, France, where she now trains at the Elite Tennis Centre, where the reigning French Open champion Mirra Andreeva and former ATP World No.1 and US Open winner Daniil Medvedev, among others, trained.

The Coimbatore-native, who has not made the permanent switch to the senior division just yet, has been winning a few titles in the junior circuit. This year she has won two J300 events in Beaulieu-sur-Mer, France and Bamberg, Germany. She also won the J300 in New Delhi last year, and reached the semi-final of the J500 in Osaka last month.

The W35 in Portugal though is the biggest title she has won so far.

She asserted that this is just a beginning for her.

“This is just the start because it’s the first title and it’s a good sign. But I don’t think this is going to make that big of a deal,” she said. “It’s given me the confidence that I can compete better, so I’ll take that into the next tournaments.”