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Maaya Rajeshwaran, 17, wins her first professional singles title
The qualifier beat seventh seed Celia Cerviño Ruiz 6-4, 6-2 in the ITF W35 final in Lagos, without dropping a set all week, and also took the doubles title.
Key points
- Maaya Rajeshwaran won the ITF W35 Lagos singles title, beating Celia Cerviño Ruiz 6-4, 6-2.
- At 17 years and three months she is the youngest Indian woman to win a professional singles title.
- She came through qualifying and did not drop a set, and won the doubles too.
Maaya Rajeshwaran won her first professional singles title on Sunday, beating Spain’s Celia Cerviño Ruiz 6-4, 6-2 in the final of the ITF W35 tournament in Lagos.
At 17 years and three months, she becomes the youngest Indian woman to win a professional singles title. She came through qualifying and did not drop a set all week, then completed a double by winning the doubles with Ukraine’s Yelyzaveta Kotliar.
From 0-5 down to the title
The week nearly ended at the first hurdle. In her opening main-draw match she trailed top seed Justina Mikulskyte of Lithuania 0-5 in the first set before turning it round. She then beat Cerviño Ruiz, the seventh seed, in straight sets in the final.
“I came in with no expectations,” she said. Of the pressure in the final, she said: “I just zoned out.”
I really have to trust myself more.
Maaya, listed at No. 1038 in the WTA rankings, travelled to the tournament with coach Jean-René Lisnard, head coach at the Elite Tennis Centre. The comeback from 0-5 down in her first match set the tone for a week in which she was never taken to a deciding set.
On her plans in junior tennis, she kept it light. “I’m in for surprises. We’ll see,” she said.