India’s 17-year-old tennis sensation Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi has become the first Indian woman since Sania Mirza in 2012 to reach the quarter-finals of a WTA Tour-level singles event.

Ranked 669th in the world, Maaya defeated Polish qualifier Weronika Falkowska, ranked 277th, 6-4, 6-3 in straight sets in the second round of the Chennai Open. No Indian player had progressed beyond the second round in the previous two editions of the tournament.

Maaya’s breakthrough marks India’s return to the quarter-finals of a WTA Tour singles event after nearly 15 years. Sania Mirza last achieved the feat in February 2012, when she reached the quarter-finals of the Pattaya Open. Maaya continued her impressive rise this season by winning her maiden W35 singles title in Lagos, Portugal, in October as a qualifier without dropping a set. She also claimed the doubles title alongside Ukraine’s Yelyzaveta Kotliar.