No amount of out-of-competition drill can quite prepare you for dragging your aches and pains through a full day of in-tournament action.
Chennai was hosting its first Tour-level tournament in five and a half years. Karman Thandi was playing her first Tour-level main draw match in four years. Eugenie Bouchard was playing her first Tour-level main draw match in 18 months.
Chennai seemingly passed the test. Karman and Bouchard definitely did, beating eighth seed Chloe Paquet of France 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 and Swiss Joanne Zuger 7-6(4), 6-2 respectively to set up a mouth-watering second-round clash at the WTA Chennai Open.
