Vandewinkel Dominates Final, Ends Adkar's Historic Run at ITF Bengaluru

Adkar, the 21-year-old from Pune, ranked World No. 690, was playing the biggest match of her career after becoming the first Indian woman since Sania Mirza to reach an ITF W100 Final, but Vandewinkel's experience and consistency proved decisive from the outset, as per a press release from ITF.

For her title run, Vandewinkel earns 100 WTA ranking points and prize money of USD 15,239. Adkar, meanwhile, takes away 65 ranking points and USD 8,147, a significant boost that will propel her up the rankings.

The Belgian broke Adkar in the opening game before she could settle and quickly built a 3-0 lead, capitalising on unforced errors while dictating play with her forehand. Maintaining relentless depth from the baseline, Vandewinkel closed out the opening set 6-0 with a service ace.

The second set began in similar fashion, with another early break giving the world number 124 control. Adkar showed glimpses of her fighting spirit in the third game, striking a couple of winners to hold serve for the first time in the match. She then earned three break points in the fourth game as Vandewinkel briefly faltered.

However, the Belgian responded intelligently, taking pace off her returns and varying her patterns to disrupt Adkar's timing. She saved all three break points, held for 3-1, and continued to apply pressure. Vandewinkel pushed Adkar to deuce again before stretching the lead to 4-1, and despite the Indian's efforts to extend rallies and force errors, the Belgian remained composed.

In the seventh game, Vandewinkel surged to two match points and converted the second to seal the championship in just over an hour.

"It was a bit of an unknown coming into the match, but I knew she beat some really good players, so I was very aware of that. I didn't want to make the mistake of not being fully there in the match and letting her come into the match, because I saw the last few matches she could play some really good tennis. So I think I was just there from the beginning. I made her work for every point, and I think that was the goal of today, and I think I managed pretty well," Vandewinkel commented after clinching the title.

"I think it was a very solid week for me, learned a lot of things and especially after a tough year last year, a week like this is really going to be helpful. I already feel so much better about my game, and it has helped a lot with the self-belief and confidence," Adkar emphasised on the positives after the Final.

While the final proved a step too far, Adkar's breakthrough week as a wildcard, defeating multiple higher-ranked opponents and reaching a historic W100 Final, to break into the top 500 for the first time in her career and is projected to be the second highest ranked Indian.

- ANI