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Indian tennis sensation Ankita Raina has achieved a major feat as she won her first WTA title of her career. The 28-year-old paired up with Russian player Kamilla Rakhimova emerged winners of the Phillip Island Trophy WTA tennis tournament in Melbourne. They defeated the Russian pair of Anna Blinkova and Anastasia Potapova in a three-set thriller. After going down in the first set, the Indo-Russian pair bounced back in the contest to win 2-6, 6-4, 10-7.
Road to Finals
Winning a WTA 250 title was never going to be easy as the pair of Ankita Raina and Kamilla Rakhimova faced some tough fixtures on the road. They started their tournament with a win against the Romanian duo of Patricia Tig and Mihaela Buzarnescu in straight sets 6-1, 7-6 (3).
The Indo-Russian pair came up with a comprehensive 6-3, 6-4 win against Oksana Kalashnikova and Cornelia Lister in the next round. They continued their impressive performance in the tournament and secured another straight set victory 6-4, 7-6 (2) against the Belarusian pair of Vera Lapko and Aliaksandra Sasnovich in the quarter-finals.
The duo faced their toughest challenge in the semi-finals facing Francesca Jones and Nadia Podorosca. After dropping the first set, the Indo-Russian pair remarkably found their way back into the match. They eventually won an action-packed contest 4-6, 6-4, 11-9 to secure their place in the Finals.
The Grand Finale
In the final of the Phillip Island Trophy WTA tennis tournament, the Indo-Russian pair faced Anna Blinkova and Anastasia Potapova of Russia – ranked 47 and 111 respectively. On the other hand, Raina (115) and her partner Rakhimova (192) definitely came into the contest as underdogs.
They lost the first set quite comfortably in what was a one-way traffic. Surprisingly, Raina and Rakhimova bounced back brilliantly in the second set to take the finals into a decider. They eventually won the final set to secure an unbelievable win 2-6, 6-4, 10-7. This was Ankita Raina’s first WTA title of her career. She has won 1 WTA 125k title and 18 ITF doubles titles before.
Dream run for Ankita Raina
The 28-year-old has had a dream run in Australia so far. She recently became the fifth Indian woman in Open era to secure a place in a Grand Slam main draw. Raina had participated in the women’s doubles category at the Australian Open 2021 with Romania’s Mihaela Buzarnescu.
She also won her first WTA singles match after defeating Italy’s Elisabetta Cocciaretto in the Philip Island Trophy. She eventually finished her fantastic run with a WTA title in women’s doubles.