pune the high of winning her first 60000 itf title was followed by an early retirement the subsequent week but indias new no 1 karman kaur thandi was quick to allay injury concernseverything is good i am back training i will be playing calgary 60k next week i was scheduled to play midland wta 125k series this week but had to drop it it is nothing serious i am glad karman said from canadathe 24yearold delhi girl became the first indian woman since sania mirza to win a 60000 title a fortnight ago when she triumphed in the indoor hardcourt event in saguenay it was karmans third career title and second this season it was also her first abroad and has seen her move up to 220 in world rankingsthe victory was all that sweeter since a combination of the pandemicforced lockdown and injuries had disrupted her progress in recent yearsit was a special week with all the situation the ups and downs i realised that it doesnt matter and kept pushing through all that said karman who defeated local girl katherine sebov 36 64 63 in the final to claim the trophythat was the only set she dropped in a weekthankfully there were not too many long matches you know how its with me the 5foot 115inch tall girl known for her nervewracking threesetters said with a laugh i was happy to close them out i got to know myself this week how strong mentally i am believing in my strengths and backing it up stepping in and taking on the ballit has been about understanding my game style and knowing ok this is what works for methings might have come together for karman in saguenay but the momentum had been gathering since the start of the season after a retirement in glasgow in february she returned to the courts in may to win her second 25k title in gurugram in june then came the wta tour event in chennai where the pieces fell in place for herchennai open was some pretty good matches especially with my team coach aditya sachdeva and physio deeksha gautam watching me live she said i was really happy because for the first time adi sir was travelling with me thats very important at that level to see me as a team and understand where i need to get betteragainst chloe pacquet of france winning with the support of the home crowd was different it was a very special feeling the fans gave me a different energyeugenie bouchard was again a very good match we saw some gaps in my game and started immediately to work on themkarman had been based in canada for a short period during her junior years but she was playing in north america for the first time in more than four years thanks to the pandemic largely europe offered the opportunities and challenges including that of playing on clayplaying the north american circuit is a testimony to her