Ankita Raina thread

[jayakris]

At the W100 in Tokyo, JPN (Hard)

[R1] Ankita Raina (IND,189) d. (Q) Sofya Lansere (RUS,321), 64 62
so
[R2] Ankita Raina (IND,189) vs (2) Jule Niemeier (GER,91)

[jayakris]

Ankita lost the first set 2-6, but went up 4-1 in the second, got broken back, and then played a never-ending 11th game with 9 decues to hold after saving three BPs to 6-5. From 40-15 on Jule's serve, she won 3 points, and converted the second AD-out set point to pull even... 26 75 00... Come on Ankita, let us get a top-100 win!!

Update: Breakfest at the start of the third set in the first few games. AR broke back twice to even things. At 4-3, she had one 30-40 BP which she could not convert, and then dropped serve at 30-40, to fall to 4-5 and face serve, trying to stay alive. She broke Jule at 30-40 again. 5-5.. No further breaks. 6-6. In the final tiebreaker, she was down a mini at 2-4 but fought back to a 6-5 match pt, and then saved two MPs to reach 8-8 on serve. Lost one point on serve and then netted a return at the final match point.

A tremendous 3 hour 33 minutes match by Ankita against a top-100 player, but no cigar in the end

[R2] Ankita Raina (IND,189) l. (2) Jule Niemeier (GER,91), 26 75 67(8)

[Dinesh]

That hurts She comes so close to beating these top-100 players but to no fruition. I wonder if a foreign coach at this stage in her career could help, although she would have done that long ago if she had the resources and the desire.

[Sanjay]

Oh crap, she had match points too

[sameerph]

Damn, she was so close to getting a top 100 win. Since, May this year this is the 4th match where Ankita has taken a top 100 player to 3 sets- 63 36 36 against 78th ranked Sara Errani in Florence on clay, 64 46 67(4) loss against Jodie Burrage at Warsaw on hard, 61 57 16 loss against Noskova on Prague on had and now this. And these are only 4 matches that she has played against top 100 players during this 4 month period and all of them were closes.

Again an indication that she is playing close to top 100 level and if it continues that she will soon starting getting those big wins.

[Omkara]

Yes she is playing 100-125 levels. She needs to win more. She is choosing higher level tournaments. Which I feel is good

[Dinesh]

Ankita, seeded #3, will start her qualifying campaign at the Osaka WTA 250 tournament tomorrow. She faces a local player who’s ranked #435 in the charts. Hope she starts with a win.

[sameerph]

Ankita starts with a win here.

At Osaka WTA 250 (Hard), Japan

[Q1] (3) Ankita Raina (IND,189) d. Yuki Naito (JPN,375) 63 75

After winning the first set easily, Ankita was down 3-5 and 2 set points with Naito serving at 40-15 but saved them and won the next 2 games.

Next,

[Q2] (3) Ankita Raina (IND,189) vs. Kateryna Volodko (UKR,277)

[Dinesh]

Ankita qualifies for the main draw thanks to a retirement from Kateryna trailing at 1-2 in the first set. Hope she draws an easy first round opponent in the main draw.

[Omkara]

This is a great result for her. She should start winning a round or two. Tough ask for her. But that's what her ask rate should be...

[SaniaFan]

She will play against 135th ranked Moyuka Uchijima. Not a bad draw I guess.

[sameerph]

Well, Ankita lost to Moyuka Uchijima in straight sets at French open qualies, so not an easy draw.

At Osaka WTA 250 (Hard), Japan

[R1] (Q) Ankita Raina (IND,181) vs. (WC) Moyuka Uchijima (JPN,139)

[sameerph]

She lost in straight sets.

At Osaka WTA 250 (Hard), Japan

[R1] (Q) Ankita Raina (IND,181) l. (WC) Moyuka Uchijima (JPN,139) 46 26

Second straight sets loss to her. Uchijima seems to have Ankita's number.

[jayakris]

Maybe they will play each other in Asiad and Ankita will turn the tables!

[sameerph]

Ankita is making a return to pro tour this week after about a month due to Asian games.

She is top seed in qualies at Romania WTA tournament.

At Transylvania Open WTA 250, CLUJ-NAPOCA, ROMANIA (Hard)

[Q1] (1) Ankita Raina (IND,198) vs. Ilona-Georgiana Ghioroaie (ROM,366)

Her match will be there in about an hours time.