Bengaluru, Feb 19 (PTI) India’s Vaishnavi Adkar battled past eighth seed Mai Hontama in a pulsating three-set encounter to storm into the quarterfinals of the ITF Women’s Open W100 here on Thursday.
Vaishnavi defeated her Japanese opponent 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(8).
The 21-year-old Indian had to dig deep after a slow start as Hontama came out sharp, covering the baseline superbly and capitalising on Adkar’s early errors to break in the second game.
Dictating rallies with consistency and depth, the Japanese player carried that momentum through to take the opening set 6-2.
Adkar, however, transformed the contest in the second set.
Raising her intensity and stepping inside the baseline, she began forcing Hontama into uncomfortable positions.
An early break in the second game gave her a foothold, and she raced to a 3-0 lead.
Though Hontama broke back to narrow the gap to 3-2, Adkar continued to hammer returns and stretch rallies, drawing a flurry of errors.
Even after failing to close out the set at the first opportunity, she responded with renewed aggression to break Hontama’s serve again and claim the second set 6-4.
In the decider, Hontama struck first with a break in the third game, but Adkar immediately retaliated.
The pair exchanged breaks again in the seventh and eighth games.
Adkar came within a point of victory in the 10th game, only for Hontama to stave off match point and push the contest into a tie-break.
In the tie-breaker, Hontama surged to a 5-2 lead after a failed drop shot from Adkar.
But the Indian refused to buckle as a pair of scorching forehand winners brought her back into contention and took the lead.
Despite missing three more match points, she held her composure and at 9-8, Hontama sent a backhand into the net, handing Adkar a memorable win.
Adkar will face fourth seed Aussie Taylah Preston in the quarterfinals on Friday.
Bee swarm ======== Earlier, Sahaja Yamalapalli fell 0-6, 0-6 to top seed Talia Gibson of Australia.
The match was interrupted when bees swarmed the KSLTA complex, forcing the players to retreat to the locker room. None of the players, officials or spectators were bitten during some 20-minute delay.
Once the match restarted, Gibson found her range, mixing deep forehands with delicate drop shots to dominate proceedings.
She maintained that authority on serve in the second set, repeatedly punishing Sahaja with powerful returns to wrap up the match efficiently. PTI UNG AM AM
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