Maaya enters WTA Chennai Open quarters, follows in Sania’s footsteps

Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi loves playing in India, evidently. Even better if it's a bigger WTA tournament.

A year after her breakthrough tournament into the pros at the WTA 125 Mumbai Open where she went from a wildcard qualifier to a semi-finalist, the 17-year-old sizzled at the WTA 250 Chennai Open and stormed into the quarter-finals on Wednesday.

The Indian wildcard, ranked 669th in the world, defeated world No.277 Weronika Falkowska of Poland 6-4, 6-3 on Wednesday. The teenager is the first Indian female since Sania Mirza to reach a WTA 250 level quarter-final in singles.

The result, and the scoreline, is even more creditable given Maaya returned to court less than 24 hours after registering her career's best victory. In a match that ended close to midnight on Tuesday, the teen took down 115th-ranked Pole Katarzyna Kawa 6-4, 2-6, 7-6(5) for her first victory at the WTA 250 level.

Indian players competing in ATP and WTA tournaments has been a rare sight of late in singles, let alone reaching as far as the last eight. That Maaya's run – 21-year-old Vaishnavi Adkar also won her opening match – would come at the Chennai Open, which is staging its last edition for the foreseeable future as the WTA 250 Asian event moves to The Philippines, is somewhat unfortunate.

"Honestly, I came in as a wildcard. So, I'm just trying to play my best tennis here, with nothing to lose," Maaya said on court after her win.

Maaya has been in good form lately. She won the ITF W35 event in Lagos last month as the youngest Indian to capture a women’s singles pro tournament. A coaching shuffle from the Rafa Nadal Academy to the Elite Tennis Centre in Cannes, France, seems to be working too.

In Chennai, Maaya has two support staff by her side. Stepping on court for another night match, the youngster did not show too many signs of fatigue from the previous late-night finish. Both players, however, struggled with their serves all through.

The match began with five straight breaks of serves, until Falkowska held to go 4-2 up. Maaya broke her again in the eighth game, held for the first time, and then unlocked two set points on the Pole's serve. The Indian took the set with a brilliant volley at the net that showed her increasing variety to go with some solid baseline play.

Maaya's serve, still a work in progress, was under pressure early in the second set again, and breaks were exchanged again. A rare hold to love came from Maaya in the seventh game, and a routine break in the 10th, this time for the match by Maaya.

Maaya will take on American 151st ranked Robin Montgomery for a place in the semi-final.