Tennis: 15-year-old Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi’s impressive run in Mumbai Open ends with semifinal defeat and promise of a bright future | Tennis News
It’s easy to look at a scoreline of 3-6, 1-6 and conclude a tennis match was lopsided and not many positives to take for the one who ended on the losing side. But that’d not necessarily be true in Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi’s case. The 15-year-old from Coimbatore lost against 5th seed Jill Teichmann in the last four of the L&T Mumbai Open 2025 WTA 125 at the CCI Club in Mumbai, but it will be remembered as a week where she shot to the limelight.
As a qualifying wild card who was unranked on the WTA circuit, Maaya was playing only her fifth professional event. In the main draw, she went on to defeat Iryna Shymanovich, former Top 50 player Zarina Diyas, and Japan’s Mei Yamaguchi but the Swiss leftie Teichmann was a step too far.
“Today was not as good as I’d hoped it to be, but still happy with a good week,” Maaya said in a brief on-court interview before walking off to a healthy round of applause. There was appreciation from the opponent too. “The result might look easier than the match was, I am really happy with that win. It’s a very good week for her. She’s very young, and has a lot of power, she has a good future if she keeps working on her game, just a few things here and there. But a brilliant talent,” Teichmann said.
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Maaya trained at Rafael Nadal’s academy in Mallorca at the end of last year, and according to WTA, the Indian youngster has been offered a yearlong contract to train there and will move to Spain this month. She recalled watching the Spanish legend drain for his farewell event at the Davis Cup: “It’s one of my most favorite memories. Even a man that’s won so much, he’s still got that hunger and that’s really impressive.”
In the semifinals, Maaya started tentatively, losing serve twice and going down 0-4. But once she got her footing in the set, she started pushing Teichmann more frequently, with a sting in her groundstrokes that made the Swiss player work hard to stay in points. Maaya got on the board in the first set breaking Teichmann’s serve and then held serve for the first time too, to get the crowd going.
The Indian youngster had a breakpoint in the seventh game to bring the set back in serve but Teichman forced a deuce. Then came another breakpoint chance with what was till then the point of the night as Maya nailed a backhand winner that had Teichmann scrambling at the baseline. Eventually though, Teichmann ground out a tough service hold to keep her advantage. Maaya stayed alive in the first set with her best service game of the night yet, holding at 15, including a delicious drop shot winner from the baseline. It ensured that Teichmann would have to serve out the set, but the 27-year-old managed to do so with relative ease.
Despite some momentum towards the end of the first set, the second set didn’t start well for Maaya as she dropped serve once more despite a 30-0 lead. It turned out to be a similar story to the opening set as Maaya went for an aggressive crosscourt backhand that sailed wide and she was down two breaks again. But as it tends to happen in tennis, the scoreboard pressure started having an impact on Maaya, who continued to hit the ball with an aggressive intent but was unable to wrestle back enough initiative from her opponent. A deuce game on serve from Maaya pushed her to the limits, but she came through to ensure at least she won’t be bagelled in the second set. Teichmann continued to stay strong on serve, going up 5-1 with a love hold. With a inside-out forehand winner down Maaya’s forehand side, Teichmann broke serve for the fifth time on the night and closed outStory continues below this ad
After her groundbreaking week, there is bound to be a certain level of interest in seeing how her career unfolds for a country starved of sustained tennis success in singles. Maaya told WTA that her immediate goal is to do well in the junior Slams in 2025. “I’ll be playing the main draws for the first time. But since I’ll be Top 700 [after Mumbai] I’ll have to play some women’s ITFs too. I’m making the transition [from juniors] a bit quicker than I thought.” She also said that she has always looked up to Sania Mirza, who once broke into the top 30 in the world.
It’s a long way to go for the girl from Coimbatore, who loves studying hory, but she has shown some promising signs in Mumbai. Her ambition? “Win Slams and end up as World No. 1. That’s where it all ends.”
Vinayakk Mohanarangan is Senior Assant Editor and is based in New Delhi. … Read More
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