French Open Qualifiers: Ankita Raina falls at the first hurdle

Ankita Raina lost to Russia's Evgeniya Rodina 6-3, 7-6(2) in the first round of the French Open qualifiers on Tuesday.

Ankita Raina was trying to become the first female player from India since Sania Mirza to qualify for the main draw of a Grand Slam competition.

Ankita Raina lost to Russia's Evgeniya Rodina 6-3, 7-6(2) in the first round of the French Open qualifiers on Tuesday.

Ankita, enjoying a career-high ranking of 181 after delivering consistent results in the last six months, managed to stretch the World No. 116 to a tie-breaker in the second set, but the experienced Russian closed out the match with considerable ease.

The battle lasted one hour and 41 minutes.

Prajnesh Gunneswaran is the only Indian remaining in the qualifiers after Ramkumar Ramanathan and Sumit Nagal suffered losses in the first round of qualifiers on Monday.

World No. 94 Yuki Bhambri had already made sure India had at least one player in the singles competition of the claycourt Grand Slam by directly qualifiying for the main draw.