CHENNAI: Robin Montgomery dominated in her straight sets win over Maaya Rajeshwar Revathi in the quarterfinals of the Chennai Open WTA 250 tour event here at the SDAT Tennis Stadium on Friday. Maaya, who has had a fairytale run in the event, became the first Indian quarterfinalist in a WTA 250 tour level event since Sania Mirza in 2012 after her round of 16 win against Weronika Falkowska. However, she was no match for Montgomery, a former junior World No 1.
Playing against the home favourite, the American World No 171 knew her task was cut out. “She (Maaya) is a home favourite. She plays free and I've been a home favourite before too, and I think I was just focusing on what I can control,” the southpaw said after winning the match 6-3, 6-3.
The 17-year-old from Coimbatore was patient enough to inflict unforced errors on her opponent but Robin’s serves helped her. Out of 32 legal serves, 78 per cent of it resulted in points. Another aspect in which Montgomery succeeded was in her returns. She won points in 19 out of 29 second return attempts.
The American will face top seed and defending champion Janice Tjen in the semifinal on Saturday. Indonesia's Tjen had to fight back from being a set down to beat her Uzbek opponent Polina Kudermetova 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 in another quarterfinal. “What helped me today is that I let her know that I'll not shy away from this match and she's going to have to earn it. She definitely came out better than I did so it was definitely a tough one,” Janice said after her win.
Janice had more to lose from this match than her opponent. After a breakthrough year in 2025, she could not match the performances from last year in WTA events. “It was very very hard for me to manage my own expectations and people's expectations of me. The way I saw their expectations was a bit tough for me to manage. And since the year is coming to an end, I am trying to accept losses more, and acknowledge that it's a learning year. I am trying to manage and see what works and what doesn’t work,” the world No 75 from Indonesia said.
