Chennai Open: Adkar and Bhosale finish runners-up as Swiss pair Karamoko and Waltert win doubles final 6-2, 6-0

Vaishnavi Adkar and Rutuja Bhosale finished as runners-up at the Chennai Open on Sunday, 8 November. Naima Karamoko and Simona Waltert of Switzerland beat them 6-2, 6-0 in the doubles final at the SDAT Tennis Stadium in Nungambakkam, and the match lasted 70 minutes, according to the WTA’s official match record.

The Indian pair had made history a day earlier by becoming the first all-Indian team to reach a doubles final at WTA Tour level. They got there by beating the second seeds, Weronika Falkowska and Alana Smith, 6-2, 2-6, 10-8 in a semi-final that ended with Adkar playing on a strapped left thigh. The unseeded Swiss pair had reached the final by beating Isabelle Haverlag and Panna Udvardy 6-4, 6-4.

A first final, and what it means

No all-Indian pair had gone this far on the main tour before. The nearest result was the WTA 125 title won by Ankita Raina and Karman Thandi in 2018, one tier below. Bhosale, 30, an Asian Games mixed doubles gold medallist from Hangzhou, reached a career-best doubles ranking of 114 in October. Adkar is 21 and plays most of her tennis on the ITF circuit, as does her partner.

The WTA 250 event closes with the singles final, scheduled for not before 6.30 pm IST on the same day, between top seed Janice Tjen of Indonesia and Poland’s Magda Linette, the third seed.