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Next up for Ankita is a seemingly much easier match against Kailin Zhang (CHN, 209).

Our top player among both men and women (Prajnesh and Ankita) have something in common -- they are tough and don't give up easily. None of the mental fragility that we typically associate with Indians.

True! And the draw has opened up nicely for Ankita, with the other seed in her quarter also knocked out in R1. A possible SF against top seeded Shuai Zhang (CHN, 42) is a distinct possibility! But one match at a time!

Wow, what an amazing win by Ankita.

Easily the best win of her career for Ankita on pro tour. I am getting a feeling that she is now getting ready to take the next step towards top 100 or top 125 at least.

Ankita had double bagled her next opponent in the Pune 25K in November 2018. She has to only guard against any complacency which usually hampers the Indian from following up a great win with another routine one in next round.

Wow .. wow ... wow ... Yes, an undoubtfully the best win of her career against the former top-5 player Stosur.

Hopefully, she will built on this and accumulate more points from this tournament to get seeded at the French open qualifying.

Ankita's progression this year has been quite phenomenal. She beat top-seeded Arantxa Rus (NED, 122) in the Singapore final (which I watched , although I missed the first set because she raced away to a 63 62 win) -- after beating the third and second seeds in the previous rounds. Last week in Istanbul, she made the final -- beating 2014 US Open junior champ Bouzkova (CZE, 115) in the SF -- and now she has beaten the former world #4 (and US Open singles champ of 2011) Samantha Stosur (AUS, 77; 75 in live rankings).
These wins can only generate more and more self-belief in her. At the Dubai Open she was overwhelmed, but I don't think that'll happen too often in future. The key, however, is to steadily progress through the ranks, not jump levels.

True, she is surely taking the next step this year. She is featured in WTA page story today-

Raina dims Stosur's sunshine in Anning marathon upset

Awesome win by Ankita! She is definitely making the most of her talent and with a lot of grit in her performances. Onward and upwards!

The best win by anybody other than Sania in a long long time, right? How long.... I need to figure out.

Ankita is the biggest fighter in Indian sport. She has kept grinding upwards for years from a relatively low base.

I know PKB mentioned Prajnesh but he is closer to Saketh without the major injuries right after breaking into the top 150, in that both spent significant amount of time in their 20s working on their game and fitness before giving the pro tour a real shot late in their careers.

Ankita won the first set 6-1 against Kai-Lin Zhang (CHN, 209), but then ran out of steam. She fought back from 3-5 and had a few match points at 6-5 but then lost the tiebreaker 2-7. So it’s 6-1, 6-7, 2-1 now.

Ankita was serving for the match at 5-1, but got broken. Now again serving for the match at 5-3, but down 0-30.

Broken at love. 5-4 now, final set.

All over. Ankita also missed a couple of match point at 6-5 ahead on Chinese serve. In the tie break, came back from 2-6 down to level it at 6-6 but the Chinese won the next 2 points.

[R2] Ankita Raina (IND,180) l. Kailin Zhang (CHN,209) 61 67(2) 57

I think Ankita would be pretty tired too playing second 3 hour match in 2 days.

The scheduling was a bit cruel, with Ankita coming back from a near-3 hour match while her opponent had 3 days rest before this match. Ankita just didn’t have enough in the tank physically and mentally. Up 5-1 in the final set, she should have put it away, but lost 5 games in succession. She had 3 match points on her opponent’s serve at 6-5, but couldn’t convert. Then she quickly went down 0-3 in the tiebreaker, but did well to level it at 6-6 and 7-7 before going down. Pity!