ITF Montpellier: Vasanti Shinde moves to doubles quarterfinals

Vasanti Shinde had one of the best days in the ITF World Tour on Tuesday as she moved to the Round of 16 at ITF Montpellier in the doubles. The tournament which is conducted in France will have a total prize money of $60,000. The finals of the ITF Montpellier are scheduled to take on July 9th.

Partnering with Anastasia Zolotareva, Vasanti Shinde dominated the Brazilian-Australian pair of Rebeca Pereira and Alexandra Osborne in the first round of the ITF Montpellier in France. The pair won by 6-2, 6-3 to move to the Round of 16.

The Pune star rose to fame when she completed a double crown at the Walchand Cup U16 National tournament a few years ago. She won against Devanshi Bhimjiyani in the singles final. In the doubles category, she partnered with Dhruti Venugopal to clinch the title.

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Vasanti Shinde's busy year

2023 has been one of the busy years for Vasanti. The Indian star has played 15 ITF tournaments this year, and ITF W60 Montpellier is her 16th tournament of the year.

She had a slow start to the season, where she lost most of her matches in the Round of 16. However, the last few tournaments have been good for Vasanti.

She made it to the doubles semi-finals in the W25 Yecla in June, followed by a tough-fought final against USA pair Alana Smith and Dalayna Hewitt. Partnering with China's Zongyu Li, Vasanti fought hard in the final but lost by 6-10 in the 3rd set.

Vasanti comes into the tournament with a 48 percent win record in 2023, having won 14 matches and lost 15 matches.

She will definitely be keen to go deep in France, considering she is playing on her favorite surface- Clay. The 26-year-old currently ranks 420 in the doubles category, and her numbers are likely to go down if she makes it to the final four. Notably, she began 2022 with a ranking of 710.

Vasanti Shinde and Anastasia Zolotareva will face Amina Anshba and Sofya Lansere in the Quarter-final next. The match is scheduled to take place on Wednesday.