Bengaluru, February 21 Wild card Vaishnavi Adkar recorded her career-best performance on Saturday, reaching the final of a W100 ITF event for the first time, following a stunning victory over second seed and World No. 126 Lanlana Tararudee of Thailand.
The 21-year-old from Pune, ranked 690, defeated 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 defeated two players ranked in the top 150 to reach the final.
"I'm still trying to process that I'm going to be playing in the final tomorrow. When I got on the court, I wasn't really thinking about the result or how it was going to go; I just wanted to take it one point at a time," said Adkar.
"The only thing on my mind was that I wanted to make the most of the opportunity I had been given by KSLTA, and I am very grateful for that, and I am glad that I was able to do so," she added.
The semifinal began evenly, with both players confidently holding serve in the early games. Adkar broke her opponent 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 them after errors from the Thai player.
Adkar carried this 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 regain the break and move ahead 4-2.
Calm under pressure, Adkar saved a deuce game with a forehand winner to extend her 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 defeated 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 Ankita Raina of India and Priska Madelyn Nugroho of Indonesia.
Results:
Singles Semifinal:
Vaishnavi Adkar (IND) bt Lanlana Tararudee (THA) 6-3, 6-3; Hanne Vandewinkel (BEL) bt Polina Iatcenko 6-4, 7-6(5)
Doubles Final:
Misaki Matsuda/ Eri Shimizu (JPN) bt Priska Madelyn Nugroho (INA) / Ankita Raina (IND) 6-4, 3-6, 10-5.
