Ankita Raina clinches doubles title in China
Ankita Raina and partner Harriet Dart defeated the Chinese pair of Liu Fangzhou and Fang Ying Xun 6-3, 6-3 to clinch the doubles title in the $60,000 ITF women’s tournament in China.
Published : May 12, 2018 20:01 IST
Ankita Raina, in partnership with Harriet Dart of Britain, beat the Chinese pair of Liu Fangzhou and Fang Ying Xun 6-3, 6-3 for the doubles title in the $60,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament in Luan, China, on Saturday. With the win, 25-year-old Ankita avenged her singles quarterfinal loss in the third set tie-break at the hands of Fang Ying Xun. "I am very happy and proud of myself, especially because this was the seventh week in a row. I really enjoyed (playing) with Harriet, not just because we won, but I genuinely enjoyed," said Ankita on her triumph.
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She had competed in three tournaments in the $25,000 series in Japan and followed that up with two $125,000 events and two $60,000 events in China. Ankita will return home and fly to Paris for her maiden Grand Slam appearance, at the French Open. "I am very happy to be getting ready to play the Grand Slam. I cannot describe the feeling in words. I have played a lot of matches last few weeks. So, I am ready. I am going a few days early so that I get used to the weather and the courts," said Ankita, who pointed out that the $125,000 WTA event that she had played in Anning, was on French clay. It was the first doubles title of the season for Ankita, and the second title after the $25,000 singles title in Gwalior in March . She has six singles titles and 13 doubles titles in the professional circuit. Elsewhere, Udit Gogoi asserted his class as he outplayed top seed Chak Lam Coleman Wong of Hong Kong 6-2, 6-2 in the boys final of the Asian under-14 tennis championship in Bangkok on Saturday. In doubles, however, both the Indian boys and girls teams were beaten in the semifinals. There will be another tournament for the players as part of the development programme.
| The results: $60,000 ITF women, Luan, China Doubles (final): Harriet Dart (GBR) & Ankita Raina bt Fangzhou Liu & Fang Ying Xun (Chn) 6-3, 6-3. $15,000 ITF women, Cairo, Egypt Doubles (semifinals): Lamis Alhusssein Abdel Aziz (Egy) & Maria Patrascu (Can) bt Shelby Talcott (US) & Riya Bhatia 6-3, 6-3. $15,000 ITF men, Kampala, Uganda Singles (quarterfinals): Ivan Nedelko (Rus) bt SD Prajwal Dev 6-1, 6-4; Takanyi Garanganga (Zim) bt VM Ranjeet 7-5, 6-2. Doubles (quarterfinals): Kaza Vinayak Sharma & VM Ranjeet bt Giovani Samaha (Lbn) & Kunal Anand 3-6, 6-3, [11-9]. $15,000 ITF men, Cairo, Egypt Doubles (final): Mohamed Abdel-Aziz (GBR) & Orlando Luz (Bra) bt Tarun Anirudh Chilakalapudi & PC Vignesh 6-1, 6-4. |