Ankita Raina thread

[jayakris]

Ankita is playing doubles with Snehal Mane this week, which surprised me. They just won the first round at the Lopota W50, Christine Gouws (RSA) and Georgia Kalamaris (FRA) in a dominating fashion too, 61 61.

Actually Ankita and Snehal had played doubles together once, over 4 years ago at the Jodhpur W25 in 2020. They even reached the final there in their first event together. This is the first time they are playing together on the ITF tour since then. Maybe these two click well.

Snehal is 25 and seemed to be coming up as a good player with a top-250 junior rank once. She then went up as high as #828 in the WTA as a 19 year old in 2018. But then she fizzled out. Maybe she has some good doubles in her, and Ankita is the right one to bring her along, if this is with any long-term plan (probably not, I assume).

[sameerph]

This week Ankita is playing in WTA 125 in Parma, Italy on clay.

At WTA 125 Parma Ladies Open, Italy (Clay)

[R1] Ankita Raina (IND,269) vs. Astra Sharma (AUS,130)

Considering her current form, not an easy match for Ankita. Her match should be there on Tuesday,

[Dinesh]

At WTA 125 Parma Ladies Open, Italy (Clay)

[R1] Ankita Raina (IND,269) 3-6 6-4 6-1 Astra Sharma (AUS,130)

Ankita never ceases to come up with these unexpected wins.

[Atithee]

Yeah! Where did Ankita pull this out of suddenly? This is so unexpected. What a way to silence the critics—me included lately. Her BJK Cup play was so insipid. I am over the moon for Ankita.

[jayakris]

^^^ Me too. Vishnu said on the ITD whatsapp group that it was a "good opportunity for Raina to get back to winning ways" and I responded, "Why? Astra is good and there isn't even a 20% chance for Ankita to upset her" ... Haha. Crow tastes good this morning for me

[sameerph]

Excellent win by Ankita after some time and this comes as a real surprise.

Next,

At WTA 125 Parma Ladies Open, Italy (Clay)

[R2] Ankita Raina (IND,269) vs. Jule Niemeier (GER,105)

[arjun2761]

That’s a quality win for Ankita! Hope she can win at least one more here…

[sameerph]

One sided loss for Ankita.

At WTA 125 Parma Ladies Open, Italy (Clay)

[R2] Ankita Raina (IND,269) l. Jule Niemeier (GER,105) 16 36

[jayakris]

At the WTA 500 at Strasbourg, France (Clay)

[Q1] Ankita Raina (IND,269) l. Yulia Putintseva (KAZ,41), 16 06

[jayakris]

Ankita will be at the ITF W50 in Montemor-o-Novo, Portugal (Hard) next week.

[sameerph]

Ankita up against a qualifier in first round.

At the ITF W50 in Montemor-o-Novo, Portugal (Hard)

[R1] Ankita Raina (IND,278) vs. (Q) Alice Gillan (GBR,774)

[sameerph]

Good start by Ankita.

At the ITF W50 in Montemor-o-Novo, Portugal (Hard)

[R1] Ankita Raina (IND,278) d. (Q) Alice Gillan (GBR,774) 64 62

Next,

[R2] Ankita Raina (IND,278) vs. Linda Klimovicova (CZE,250)

This is a tough match for Ankita. Linda is a rising 19 year old who has won a couple of titles in last 2 weeks and upset the 5th seed here. Moreover, Ankita played her first round match late evening yesterday and now plays a match today at around 12 noon. So, her in current form I would be surprised if Ankita wins this.

[sameerph]

Ankita proved me wrong, Excellent win by her.

At the ITF W50 in Montemor-o-Novo, Portugal (Hard)

[R2] Ankita Raina (IND,278) d. Linda Klimovicova (CZE,250) 36 62 61

19 year opponent was on a roll this year with 74% win rate and raised her ranking from 485 to 250 since Jan 24.

Next,

[QF] Ankita Raina (IND,278) vs. (4) Destanee Aiva (AUS,186)

Ankita is 1-2 career head to head against Aiva.

[jayakris]

That was a good win for Ankita, considering the indifferent form she has had lately. She can handle Destanee if she is in form, but her form has been off and on, so no idea how the match will go.

[PKBasu]

Another quality win for Ankita (after the one over Astra Sharma a couple of weeks ago), this time a genuine hammering:

[QF] Ankita Raina (IND,278) d. 4-Destanee Aiava (AUS,186) 76(0) 60


Ankita is such a fighter. Went through a bit of a dip in form soon after getting married. But May 2024 has seen a fantastic rebound in form. Ankita is BACK! It is so gratifying that Ankita continually lives up to the potential I saw when I started this thread for her 12 years ago. If only other Indian players would do the same