WTA Chennai Open: Zakharova wards off Vaishnavi’s challenge

Vaishnavi Adkar fought well in the first set before being blown away in the second as she lost 3-6, 0-6 to Anastasia Zakharova in the second round of the WTA 250 Chennai Open on Thursday.

Vaishnavi, one of the three Indian wild cards, had the challenging task of following up her gritty maiden Tour-level win over Britain’s Jodie Burrage and she was up for it in the initial stages of her battle against World No. 107 Zakharova in front of 200-odd spectators under the floodlights on Centre Court at the SDAT Stadium here.

But the Russian’s lithe movement and a lethal backhand put the top-ranked Indian consistently under pressure.

After being broken in the third game of the opener, the 21-year-old Vaishnavi drew Zakharova into a long deuce game immediately. The Russian, however, managed to consolidate the break.

Another lengthy deuce game followed and once again, the 24-year-old Zakharova edged the Indian World No. 344 to extend her advantage.

In the fifth game, Vaishnavi upped the tempo and raced to a 40-0 lead on the Russian’s serve, hitting cracking down-the-line return winners from both wings. But, once again, she failed to take her chances.

Down 2-5, the Indian was forced to take a medical timeout before playing the rest of the match with her left thigh strapped.

With her movement restricted, Vaishnavi started swinging freely and it worked briefly as she finally converted her seventh break point.

However, any hopes of a comeback were doused by the Russian who broke back straight away to clinch the 59-minute first set.

Vaishnavi’s level dropped drastically in the second set — she won only four out of 26 points — which lasted just 23 minutes.

Maaya Rajeshwaran, the only Indian left in the draw, will face left-handed American Robin Montgomery in Friday’s quarterfinal.

The results (second round): Anastasia Zakharova (Rus) bt Vaishnavi Adkar 6-3, 6-0; Magda Linette (Pol) bt Moyuka Uchijima (Jpn) 7-6(5), 6-0.

Lucrezia Stefanini (Ita) bt Simona Waltert (Sui) 6-2, 6-3; Mai Hontama (Jpn) bt Zhibek Kulambayeva (Kaz) 4-6, 6-4, 7-5.