Vaishnavi Adkar becomes first Indian to reach ITF W100 final after Sania Mirza

Wild card Vaishnavi Adkar on Saturday recorded her career-best performance, reaching her maiden singles final of a W100 ITF event following a stunning win over second seed and World No. 126 Lanlana Tararudee of Thailand.

The 21-year-old from Pune, ranked 690, beat Tararudee 6-3 6-3 in the semifinals.

Sania Mirza was the last Indian to reach the singles final of an ITF W100 or higher tournament.

Adkar’s run in Bengaluru has been remarkable as she has beaten two top 150 players en route to the final.

"I'm still trying to process that I'm going to be playing the final tomorrow. Getting on to the court, I wasn't really thinking much about the result or how it's going to go, I just wanted to take it one point at a time is what I've done," said Adkar.

"The only thing that's been on my mind was that I wanted to make the best out of the opportunity that I've gotten here from KSLTA, so really grateful for that and I'm glad that I was able to make the best of it," she added.

The semifinal began evenly, with both players holding serve confidently in the early games. Adkar drew first blood by breaking her rival in the seventh game as the Indian's deep baseline returns forced errors from Tararudee.

Growing in confidence, Adkar applied sustained pressure on serve and attacked the net to earn two set points and convert following errors from the Thai player.

Adkar carried that momentum into the second set with a comfortable hold as Tararudee's service inconsistencies began to show.

Though the Thai briefly broke back after Adkar had secured an early advantage, the Indian responded immediately. In the sixth game, she struck a pair of superb backhand winners to reclaim the break and move 4-2 ahead.

Calm under pressure, Adkar saved a deuce game with a forehand winner to stretch the lead to 5-2 before sealing the match in the ninth game with a confident forehand winner.

In the other semifinal, third seed Hanne Vandewinkel of Belgium beat fifth seed Polina Iatcenko 6-4, 7-6 (5) to book her place in the final.

Later in the day, the Japanese pair of Misaki Matsuda and Eri Shimizu lifted the doubles title with a 6-4, 3-6, 10-5 win over third seeds India’s Ankita Raina and Indonesia’s Priska Madelyn Nugroho.

Results:
Singles Semi-final:

Vaishnavi Adkar (IND) bt 2-Lanlana Tararudee (THA) 6-3, 6-3; 3-Hanne Vandewinkel (BEL) bt 5-Polina Iatcenko 6-4, 7-6(5)

Doubles Final:
Misaki Matsuda/ Eri Shimizu (JPN) bt 3-Priska Madelyn Nugroho (INA) / Ankita Raina (IND) 6-4, 3-6, 10-5.