The chant went up from the small but enthusiastic group of supporters at Court 14 as Indian junior Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi and her Australian partner Renee Alame played their second round doubles match.
“Maaya, Maaya, She’s on fire.”
“Let’s go Maaya, let’s go. Let’s go Renee, let’s go”.
And, of course, “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie. Oi, Oi, Oi.”
Rajeshwaran Revathi is 16 and the tennis lovers of India have high hopes for her. Sania Mirza, Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna have recently retired and Indians are waiting for a player who can equal their feats.
In February of last year, Rajeshwaran Revathi qualified for the WTA 125 Mumbai Open, where she made it all the way to the semis. There she was stopped by the eventual champion and former WTA No. 21, Jil Teichmann.
Her best win came six weeks ago in the US at the J500 Orange Bowl International Championships. She held up the U18 doubles trophy alongside Anastasija Cvetkovic of Serbia.
After arriving in Australia for the first time, Rajeshwaran Revathi partnered with Alame in the J300 at Traralgon and made the final there. Traralgon is the traditional warm up event for the Australian Open Juniors tournament and the girls decided to play together in Melbourne.
The pair successfully navigated their first round match at Melbourne Park, defeating Japanese team Azuna Ichioka and Ran Wakana, 6-2 6-4. Despite some erratic serving, they returned well and were able to convert four of their nine break points.
In the next round they faced Russian duo Alisa Terentyeva and Alexandra Malova.
The first set passed quickly as the Indian/Australian combo struggled against the power and teamwork of the Russians.
But in the second set, despite being broken in the first game, they were able to pull level at 2-2. Another break saw them fall behind for 3-4, but they again broke back immediately.
Rajeshwaran Revathi had lifted to become the best player on court. Though still struggling sometimes with her serve, including a few foot faults, she got her groundstrokes going and pounced at the net for several volley winners.
At 5-5, she served to love and in the next game her powerful forehand winner down the line won the set.
So a Match Tiebreak was necessary to decide the winners. Despite the Russians bolting out to a 5-0 lead, it took 15 suspenseful minutes to know the outcome.
Rajeshwaran Revathi and Alame pushed back to get to 5-7 before their opponents surged again, to 9-5. The cheer squad braced at the first match point but Rajeshwaran Revathi’s blazing backhand winner saved it.
There were still two match points, but now on the Indian’s serve. She won the first but on the next couldn’t hold off the Russians any longer.
Still, she and Alame showed plenty of talent and willingness to fight to the end. As did Alisa Terentyeva and Alexandra Malova in their 6-1 5-7 [10-7] win.
Updates
Alisa Terentyeva and Alexandra Malova reached the semifinals, where they lost to Tereza Hermanová and Denisa Žoldáková, 4-6, 6-7(6).
The No. 1 seeds took the Junior Girls’ doubles title in an all-Czechia final. Sisters Alena Kovačková and Jana Kovačková hit 29 winners between them to defeat Hermanová and Žoldáková, 6-1 6-3.
After Renee Alame’s time at the Australian Open came to an end, she stayed positive. “We keep working, we keep learning and most importantly, keep having fun”.
Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi continues her scholarship with the Rafael Nadal Academy and announced in early February that she has signed with Nike.
Title photo by Vanessa Taylor