14-year-old Jensi takes a set off fifth seed as all four Indians exit Chennai Open 2026 qualifying

On Saturday at the SDAT Tennis Stadium Nungambakkam in Chennai, 14-year-old wild card Jensi Kanabar forced a three-set match against fifth seed Weronika Falkowska but ultimately lost, and all four Indian players competing in the Chennai Open 2026 qualifying were eliminated.

The singles main-draw ceremony was held on Saturday in the presence of Vijay Amritraj, President of the Tamil Nadu Tennis Association (TNTA), with tournament supervisor Sheetal Iyer conducting the draw. Defending champion and top seed Janice Tjen of Indonesia headlines the 32-player field. Three Indians — Vaishnavi Adkar, Sahaja Yamalapalli and Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi — have been awarded wild cards, with Adkar the highest-ranked Indian in the draw at World No. 334 and Yamalapalli at World No. 369.

Kanabar conceded the opening set comfortably to Poland’s Weronika Falkowska. She then settled into the match in the second set, matching Falkowska shot for shot. Kanabar converted her sixth set point to level the contest.

In the decider Falkowska steadied her game and held off two break points at 4-3 before taking control. Jensi had raced to a 40-0 lead while serving but was unable to close out the game, allowing the Pole to seal the contest.

Indian wild card Diya Ramesh pushed second seed Kyoka Okamura but lost in straight sets; the Japanese player kept her composure to register the victory. Shrivalli Bhamidipaty was beaten by fourth seed Viktoria Morvayova, while Zeel Desai exited after a loss to third seed Mei Yamaguchi.

Rutuja Bhosale returns in the doubles draw after reaching the semi-finals last year and will partner Vaishnavi Adkar. India will feature four doubles pairings, including the wild-card team of Diya Ramesh and Deepshika Vinayagamurthy, the pairing of Shrivalli Bhamidipaty and Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi, and Ankita Raina, who will partner Japan’s Hiroko Kuwata.

Austria’s Lilli Tagger is seeded second in the singles main draw, Poland’s Magda Linette is third, and Hungary’s Panna Udvardy is fourth. Thailand’s Mananchaya Sawangkaew occupies the fifth seed, while Uzbekistan’s Polina Kudermetova, Serbia’s Teodora Kostovic and Poland’s Katarzyna Kawa hold the sixth, seventh and eighth seed positions respectively.

The final round of qualifying on Sunday will decide the four remaining main-draw places and complete the 32-player field.