Published: November 6, 2026 at 9:43 pm
Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi’s campaign at the Chennai Open 2026 WTA 250 tournament may have come to a shuddering stop at the quarterfinal stage but in defeat also the 15-year-old teenager ended India’s 14-year long wait in tennis.
The run to the last eight made Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi the first Indian player to reach a WTA Tour-level singles quarterfinal since 2012. The previous Indian woman to go that deep at an event of such scale was the legendary Hyderabadi Sania Mirza, who made the quarterfinals in Pattaya back in 2012.
Mirza, who retired in 2023, remains the sole Indian woman to win a WTA singles title, at Hyderabad in 2005, and the only one to reach a Grand Slam fourth round, at that year’s US Open. Her biggest achievements, though, came in doubles tennis.
Before Mirza, the only other Indian to reach a WTA quarterfinal in this century was Shikha Uberoi, who made the last eight at Kolkata in 2005.
Maaya loses to Montgomery
Maaya’s breakthrough run came to end on Friday with a loss to USA’s Robin Montgomery in the last eight stage of the singles competition. The Indian lost the match 6-3, 6-3 to Montgomery, who had bagged the Libéma Open WTA 250 crown in the Netherlands back in June.
World No. 669 Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi had begun her run with a first-round upset of Polish eighth seed Katarzyna Kawa, who is 115th in the singles tennis rankings.
Sania Mirza was felicitated by Telangana CM Revanth Reddy in Hyderabad recently
The Indian teenager recovered from 5-2 down in the deciding set to win 6-4, 2-7, 7-6 (5). She then beat Polish qualifier Weronika Falkowska 6-4, 6-3 in the second round to qualify for the quarterfinals.
Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi is also only the fourth player born in 2009 or later to reach a WTA Tour-level quarter-final, following USA’s Julieta Pareja, Russia’s Kristina Liutova and Sun Xinran of the People’s Republic of China.
Vaishnavi, Sahaja make exit
Elsewhere, India No. 1 Vaishnavi Adkar secured her first career main-draw win in a WTA Tour tournament by defeating England’s Jodie Burrage 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 in the opening round but bowed out in the second.
Sahaja Yamalapalli was ousted in the opening round. Maaya’s ouster brought the home challenge at Chennai Open 2026 to a close but hopes still linger in doubles.
Maaya, along with Shrivalli Bhamidipaty, and another all-Indian pairing of Vaishnavi Adkar-Rutuja Bhosale have won their opening round matches to march into the quarters.
Maaya had reached the semifinals of the Mumbai WTA 125 event last February in only her fourth professional tournament and last month claimed her first professional title at the W35 event in Lagos, Portugal, after coming through qualifying.
The win also made her the youngest Indian to win a professional singles tennis title since Sania Mirza.
