Fenesta Open: Gutsy Vaidehi reclaims National tennis women’s crown

All the buzz through the week had been around her 15-year-old rival, Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi, but it made little difference to Vaidehi Chaudhari.

The 24-year-old from Gujarat, who hadn’t dropped a set the whole week, maintained the clean slate by taming Maaya 6-3, 6-3 to reclaim the women’s singles title at the Fenesta Open National tennis championship in New Delhi on Saturday.

“It was a really good match. I was playing a young girl. I had pressure as I was the top seed here, and had won the title before also. She (Maaya) had nothing to lose,” said Vaidehi, referring to her success in the tournament in 2022.

She had also been runner-up to Shrivalli Rashmikaa last year, making it “three finals in a row”.

Tamil Nadu’s 17-year-old Rethin Pranav claimed the men’s singles title, overcoming Nitin Kumar Sinha of Railways 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 for his maiden championship.

Maharashtra’s Prisha Shinde clinched the Under-18 girls’ trophy, fighting back from 2-5 in the second set to beat Tamil Nadu’s Diya Ramesh 1-6, 7-6 (4), 6-2 in a two-hour long final.

Aradhya Kshitij of Karnataka lifted the boys’ title with a 5-7, 7-5, 6-4 win over Manipur’s second seed Shanker Heisnam.

The women’s final lasted an hour and 35 minutes, but it could have been even shorter. Vaidehi was up 5-0 in the second set when Maaya fought back to make it 3-5 before the Indian Billie Jean King Cup player nipped the late challenge from her rival.

“I started cramping at 5-0. I was sick, was having cold and fever the last three days,” revealed Vaidehi.

The title caps a fine run in the past few months for Vaidehi, starting with the $25,000 title in Chinese Taipei in June and followed by a semifinal in Kazakhstan and another final and a semifinal in Thailand.

Despite the progress on court, it has been a struggle for Vaidehi to improve her tennis finances.

“I was travelling alone in Taipei, and it was really hot out there. I played really well, I beat two players ranked higher than me. I was down 0-6, 0-3 in the second round, but came back strongly. In the final, I was again first set down. It’s the biggest title of my career so far,” she said.

“The challenge for me is, being a woman, I cannot travel alone to some places (tournament venues) because they are not safe. If I take sponsorship, then I can have someone to travel with me,” said Vaidehi, who has her own travelling expenses covered by the Gujarat State sports authority.

Yet, now that her goal for the year of winning a $25K title is achieved, Vaidehi is looking ahead with positivity.

“I have slowly taken one step at a time. Now I am just more confident,” said Vaidehi, who will be travelling to Australia after a 10-day break.

“There are a series of five big tournaments. I am looking forward to playing my first $75K event.”