Seventeen-year-old wildcard Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi has become the first Indian woman to reach a WTA Tour-level singles quarter-final since Sania Mirza, defeating Polish qualifier Weronika Falkowska 6-4, 6-3 in the Chennai Open second round on Wednesday night, the WTA reported. No Indian woman had progressed this far in a tour-level event since Pattaya 2012, the last quarter-final run of Mirza's career.

Source: WTA Tour

Rajeshwaran Revathi, ranked world No. 669, beat the world No. 277 Falkowska in straight sets at the SDAT Tennis Stadium in Nungambakkam to continue her run at the WTA 250 event, Khel Now reported. She is also the first Indian ever to reach the quarter-finals of the Chennai Open, a tournament that runs until November 8 with a total prize purse of US$283,347.

Source: Khel Now

A 14-year wait ends

The significance of the breakthrough is the company it puts her in. Sania Mirza, who retired in 2023, remains the only Indian woman to have won a WTA singles title (Hyderabad 2005) and to have reached the fourth round of a Grand Slam (US Open 2005), the WTA noted. Only one other Indian player has made a WTA quarter-final this century — Shikha Uberoi, who reached the last eight at Kolkata in 2005. The Bridge reported that the teenager is in no hurry to get carried away and prefers to let her tennis do the talking after ending the long wait.

Source: WTA Tour

Her Chennai run began with an upset of eighth seed Katarzyna Kawa of Poland, 6-4, 2-6, 7-6(5), in the first round. In the quarter-finals she will face American Robin Montgomery, who reached the last eight by beating Belgium's Jeline Vandromme 6-4, 3-6, 7-5, Khel Now reported. A win would make Rajeshwaran Revathi the first Indian woman in a WTA singles semi-final since Mirza at Osaka in 2009.

Source: Khel Now

The Chennai breakthrough follows a title run in Portugal last month, where Rajeshwaran Revathi won her maiden W35 singles title in Lagos after coming through qualifying without dropping a set, and also claimed the doubles title — form that has now carried onto the WTA Tour stage at home.

Source: The Bridge