CHENNAI: Pushed to the brink of defeat and battling exhausting humidity, Vaishnavi Adkar produced a stirring display of grit and endurance to overturn a 3-5 deficit in the deciding set and beat Britain's Jodie Burrage 3-6 6-3 7-5 for her maiden WTA Tour-level victory at the Chennai Open here on Tuesday.
The 21-year-old Pune player, who has been making steady progress on the international circuit, had to dig deep against the experienced Burrage, a former top-100 player who has featured in Grand Slam main draws on multiple occasions.
Vaishnavi, who had a nervous start and lost the opening set, raised her level considerably in the second, improving her returns and finding greater consistency from the baseline to draw level.
She broke Burrage twice in the set, despite surrendering her own serve once, to force a decider after an intense middle phase in which both players struggled to hold serve.
“First set was a bit shaky, I wasn't feeling that great, but then later on, I started thinking that I have nothing to lose here, so I just started going for my shots,” Vaishnavi told the media after the landmark win.
“Once I started getting more points, I started feeling more confident about my game. It also somehow helped with self-belief. I started believing that I can match the level and get even better. That was the turning point.”
The Indian appeared in control after securing an early break in the decider, but the experienced Brit fought back to take a 5-3 lead and move within a game of victory. Vaishnavi produced a remarkable late fightback, winning four games in a row to turn the match around, breaking Burrage twice before serving out the contest at love to seal a landmark victory.
“After the year I have been having, this win is the biggest so far, like tournament level-wise. So, I'm really happy about it. I was doubting myself and a lot of other things were going on. But as the match progressed, I hung in there,” she added.
Towards the end of the match, there was an extended break when Brit Burrage took a medical timeout, which stretched the game. While it potentially could have made Vaishnavi more anxious, the 21-year-old insisted that the break actually helped her recover.
“I think it was a good break for me as well because the match was going pretty close and it was the third set, so I think both of us were kind of tired. Her taking that medical timeout also gave me some time to recover. That extra time worked well for me.”
In other matches of the day, Indonesian top seed Janice Tjen made a strong start, beating American Katherine Hui 6-1 6-2 in less than an hour but fourth seed Hungarian Panna Udvardy was knocked out by American Robin Montgomery, who was a US Open doubles finalist this year, 6-4 1-6 6-1.
Taipei's Joanna Garland defeated Switzerland's Jil Teichmann 6-3, 6-4, while Poland's Weronika Falkowska overcame Czech Republic's Linda Fruhvirtova 7-6(3), 6-4. Russia's Oksana Selekhmeteva also advanced to the second round with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Serbia's Teodora Kostovic.