Ankita bows out to end Indian challenge
MUMBAI: Last year, Ankita Raina made a brave run into the quarterfinals of singles competition at the L&T Mumbai Open WTA 125K tournament. However, this year she failed to replicate that as she went down against Danka Kovinic of Montenegro in the second round on Thursday, thus brining to an end India’s challenge in singles competition.
Ankita had defeated compatriot Rutuja Bhosale in three hard-fought sets in a first round encounter that finished past midnight on Wednesday.
On Thursday, the 25-year-old looked to be suffering from the aftereffects of that match as she struggled to find her rhythm and went down 2-6, 5-7.
The 197th ranked Ankita, who may have fancied her chances against the 194-ranked Danka, put up a brief fight back in the second set but that was not enough.
“I have to work on my fitness as I had not sufficiently recovered from yesterday’s match, I was a bit slow in the first set and i got my rhythm back very late in the game,” said Ankita in a post-match interview.
That brought to an end India’s challenge in the singles section as Karman Kaur Thandi, Rutuja and Pranjala Yadlapalli had already ended their campaign.
In other 2nd round matches, top seed Zheng Saisai of China booked her spot in the quarterfinals with a comprehensive 6-4, 6-2 win over Bibiane Schoofs of The Netherlands.
Fifth seed Luksika Khumkhum of Thailand, who got the better of Barbora Stefkova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-4.