Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi’s loss ends India’s junior singles challenge

New York City: India’s Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi, the 15th seed, saved four match points after fighting back from a set and a break down in the decider, but could not complete the comeback, going down 3-6, 7-5, 5-7 to Russian qualifier Arina Malygina in two hours and 16 minutes in the US Open girls’ singles second round.Malygina, ranked 104, has an unorthodox game. The 18-year-old uses a generous dose of underspin from the back of the court, chipping her returns and taking pace off the ball whenever the rallies pick up, before suddenly producing some clean ball-striking of her own.Maaya, 17, doesn’t hold back. She likes to go for her shots, a strategy that is likely to pay off when she plays the pros, but in the juniors there is always the risk that the error count keeps climbing.On Tuesday, Maaya was clocking upwards of 110 mph on her first serve for most of the match, but also had 10 double faults. She fought back from 1-3 and 3-5 in the third set, with all five of Malygina’s match points coming on Maaya’s serve, two in the 10th game and three in the 12th.“I felt like my level dropped today. She played great, I don’t want to take anything away from her. She found ways to win the match,” Maaya said.“She played important points better than me. It was a very close match and whoever managed to handle that situation better would come through, she did that better than me.”She added, “I should have gone for my serves in the third set, the speed dropped to 95 mph in some games.”Meanwhile, in the boys’ doubles, India’s Arnav Paparkar and Thailand’s Kunanan Pantaratorn fell to American Safir Azam and Kazakhstan’s Damir Zhalgasbay 4-6, 2-6.Get the latest Sports News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.