Shruti Ahlawat Caps Stunning Delhi Week With Maiden Pro Singles Title
Shruti Ahlawat walked off the court in New Delhi on Sunday with something she had been building toward for years — her first professional singles title. The 19-year-old, seeded sixth at the ITF W15 New Delhi, didn’t have a straightforward week. She was tested in every round this week, and every time the test got harder, her tennis got cleaner.
The early rounds built her momentum, while the quarterfinals tested its weight — top seed Zeel Desai, ranked nearly 400 spots above her, stood across the net. Ahlawat dropped to 1-4 in the first set before pulling it back, then navigated a nervy second set where she almost let a commanding 5-1 lead unravel. She held when it mattered, taking the match 6-4 6-4 — composed enough to suggest she was just getting started.
If the quarterfinal was about ranking parity, the semifinal was about something harder to measure. Kanabar, just 14, had just broken two of Sania Mirza’s long-standing records in back-to-back matches to reach this stage. Ahlawat brought Kanabar’s remarkable run to a halt — from 2-4 down she reeled off 10 straight games and closed it out 6-4 6-0.
The final against Poland’s Zuzanna Kolonus was where the week’s true test revealed itself. Ahlawat took the first set 7-5, lost the second 2-6, and found herself in a deciding set that went all the way to a tiebreak. At 2-2 in a third set tiebreak, most players tighten. Ahlawat did the opposite — she won five straight points to close it out 7-6(3).
It is worth remembering what preceded this week. In October 2022, Ahlawat had cracked the ITF Juniors Top 50 — a genuine marker of where her career was heading. Then injuries intervened, and she spent the next two years largely off the tour. Sunday’s title is not just a first. It is a statement about what those two years did not take away.
Currently sitting at WTA 902, her ranking is set to move upwards. But more than the numbers, Ahlawat now has confirmation of something that rankings alone cannot give — that when a match is tight, she finds another gear. First title at 19 — and her career has plenty of pages left to fill.
