Sahaja Yamalapalli set to become India’s new tennis women’s singles No. 1

Indian tennis player Sahaja Yamalapalli is all set to become the new Indian women’s singles No. 1 player in the latest Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) rankings, overtaking Ankita Raina.

Yamalapalli, currently ranked No. 303 in the WTA World Rankings, will go past Ankita Raina to become the country’s highest-ranked women’s singles player.

This has been a meteoric rise for the 23-year-old Yamalapalli, who was ranked No. 1414 three years ago. Since then, she has risen to the top of the rankings at some pace, reaching World No. 420 in 2023, and then her career-high rank of 303 in August 2024.

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Sahaja Yamalapalli’s career in brief

While youngster Sahaja Yamalapalli has been one of the rising stars in India’s women’s tennis circuit, she currently does not enjoy the public attention that the former Indian No. 1 Ankita Raina does.

The Hyderabad-born athlete picked up the sport at the age of 10 to maintain her fitness. She joined the Sinnet Tennis Academy in Secunderabad in 2016 but later moved to the United States to study in Sam Houston State University.

Yamalapalli made her big-match debut five years ago and won a host of awards such as the Women’s Tennis Player of the Year 2019 in the Collegiate Circuit in the United States. Like many tennis stalwarts such as Mahesh Bhupathi and Somdev Devvarman, Yamalapalli claims to have benefited from her time studying in the US to refine her tennis skills.

She made her International Tennis Federation (ITF) Pro Circuit debut in September 2021 and has since won two ITF Futures titles.

Yamalapalli made her WTA debut in 2024, playing in the WTA 250 Tennis in the Land event in Cleveland, Ohio. However, as a result of not being “100% ready” by her own admission, she lost in the opening round to World No. 91 Jessica Bouzas Maneiro of Spain.

Yamalapalli has picked up her form since then, rising up the WTA rankings slowly to become India’s top-ranked singles player. She would aim to become one of the top 100 singles players in the world.

Sahaja Yamalapalli is currently taking part in the W35 Punta Cana 009 event. She defeated Colombia’s Mariana Isabel Higuita Barraza 6-1, 6-1 in the Round of 32 match on Tuesday, and will face Canada’s Ariana Arseneault in the Round of 16 match on Thursday.