Indore girl Mahak adds another feather to her cap by winning Rendez-vous

Indore girl Mahak Jain has emerged champion in the second edition of Rendez-vous a Roland- Garros by defeating Humera Shaikh 6-2, 6-3 in straight sets at the DLTA Complex in Delhi.

Rendez-vous a Roland- Garros is a junior tournament on red clay which offers wild card for the French Open Junior Tournament.

“Now I’m eying place among top-50 international junior players in under-18 category, and hope to achieve it by the end of this year,” 14-year-old Mahak said after her win on Friday.

Winning the tournament will help her feature in a play-off on a league basis with similar champions from China, Japan, Korea and Brazil to decide the wildcard entrant for the French Open Junior main draw.

In September 2015, Mahak achieved success on the grass courts of Wimbledon as she won the HSBC Road to Wimbledon 2015 for girls under-14 after defeating Hampshire’s Esther Adeshina 6-4, 6-3.

The promising tennis player from Indore, who currently holds 102nd rank in the world in the under-18 category, said her next target is to be among to-50 by the end of this year. “To achieve my goal, I’ve to perform well in the upcoming Grade-I under-18 junior tennis tournaments, which are going to be held in Bangkok, Tashkent and Malaysia,” she said.

Along with three top junior tournaments, the All India Tennis Association (AITA) has offered her wild card for the main draw of the Delhi Open, the $25,000 ITF women’s tournament.

Praising Mahak’s game and preparations for future tournaments, her coach Sajid Lodhi said she has work hard on her backhand and improved a lot, and now she is working on her service.