Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi bows out of US Open girls’ doubles semifinals

India's Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi and Ukraine's Antonina Sushkova lost to American sisters Kristina and Annika Penickova in the US Open girls' doubles semifinals. The Indo-Ukrainian pair's impressive run ended after wins over the fourth and fifth seeds.

New York: India’s Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi and Ukraine’s Antonina Sushkova lost their US Open girls’ doubles semifinal against the American pair of Kristina Penickova and Annika Penickova at Court 12 on Saturday.

Revathi and Sushkova, who had defeated Russian fourth seed Felitsata Dorofeeva-Rybas and Anna Pushkareva in the quarterfinals, lost to the Penickova sisters in the last four, 6-7 (3), 2-6, as their strong run came to an end in a 1-hour-and-six-minute battle.

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The Indo-Ukrainian pair were right in the game and had broken the American duo twice in the first set despite winning only 60% of their first serve in comparison to the American duo’s 74% first serve win. Revathi and Sushkova were significantly better than their opponents on second serve, winning 48% of points, while the American pair won just 31%.

They also made fewer unforced errors in a tight opening set. The set went into the tie-breaker, where the Penickova sisters edged out Revathi and Sushkova.

The American pair brought their A-game in the second set, while the Indo-Ukrainian pair struggled and lost their serve twice. The Penickova sisters won a whopping 85% of points on first serve and also bagged 63% of second serve points, while Revathi and Sushkova won only 67% and 40% of their two serves.

Earlier, Revathi and Sushkova had also defeated the fifth-seed Czech pair of Katerina Zajickova and Jana Kovackova in the round of 16, but their strong run came to an end in the semifinals.

Revathi also made it to the second round of the junior singles in the Big Apple. She was seeded 15th and had defeated USA’s Emery Combs in the first round before losing to Arina Malygina in the round-of-32 clash. Meanwhile, Revathi had also reached the quarterfinals of the Wimbledon Juniors, alongside USA’s Thea Frodin.