Sanya Vats’ promising run ended in the final of the 2026 Ballarat Open, the PSA Women’s Challenger Tour 3 event, in Victoria, Australia, on Sunday.
The 24-year-old second-seeded player lost in straight games 6-11, 8-11, 6-11 to top seed home favourite Sarah Cardwell in 24 minutes to finish as runner-up.
This was her second consecutive final of the month, following a runner-up finish at the Victoria Open Challenger 6k event 2026 last week.
She started her campaign in the second round as Pakistan’s Wajeeha Altaf gave her a walkover; she then followed it with two back-to-back wins against South Korean opponents.
In the quarterfinals, she had a tough four-game 6-11, 11-9, 12-10, 11-4 win over Sunghee Oh and then a straight-game 11-5, 11-8, 11-4 win over Ain Jun in the semis.
She is currently at her highest-ever world ranking of 136, having jumped seven places after her last week’s runner-up finish at Victoria Open.
With this top 2 finish at Ballarat Open, she will further rise in the rankings, which will offer her a chance to compete at the bigger events in future.