$25,000 ITF women’s tennis: Zeel Desai beats Vaidehi Chaudhari in first round

Zeel Desai was in fine touch as she outplayed Vaidehi Chaudhari 6-3, 6-1 in the first round of the Federal Bank $25,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament at the Tennis Project in Baliawas on Tuesday.

It was only the second victory for the 25-year-old Zeel, ranked 550, over Vaidehi in their seven meetings in the international circuit.

In the pre-quarterfinals, Zeel will be up against second seed Ankita Raina, who eased past wild card entrant Akanksha Nitture for the loss of three games.

Ankita had beaten Zeel in three sets in their only previous meeting in the international circuit in 2022, and it could be an interesting match even though the 226rh ranked Ankita is playing strong.

Vaishnavi Adkar, Anjali Rathi and Madhurima Sawant qualified for the main draw, beating Saumya Vig, Sowjanya Bavisetti and Snehal Mane respectively in the final qualifying round.