Ankita wins maiden WTA title ; to crack WTA Top 100
Ankita Raina, partnering Russia’s Kamilla Rakhimova, scripted a fairytale run at the WTA 250 Phillip Island Trophy, being played alongside the Australian Open second week at Melbourne Park. She also won her first WTA main draw level match in singles this week
After this title, Ankita will herself move into top 100 of WTA doubles for the first time in her career. She will be only the third Indian player after Sania Mirza and Shikha Uberoi to be ranked inside WTA doubles top 100
These are her results from this week –
Phillip Island Trophy, WTA 250, Melbourne
Singles –
[Q1] Ankita Raina (IND,181) d. (WC) Gabriella Da Silva Fick (AUS,474) 60 46 64
[R1] Ankita Raina (IND,181) d. Elisabetta Cocciaretto (ITA,126) 57 61 62
[R2] Ankita Raina (IND,181) vs. (WC) Kimberly Birrell (AUS,739) 36 63 46
Doubles-
[R1] Ankita Raina (IND) /Kamila Rakhimova (RUS) d. Mihaela Buzarnescu (ROM)/Patricia Tig (ROM) 61 76(3)
[R2] Ankita Raina (IND) /Kamila Rakhimova (RUS) d. (5) Oksana Kalashnikova (GEO) / Cornelia Lister (SWE) 63 64
[QF] Ankita Raina (IND) /Kamila Rakhimova (RUS) d. Vera Lapko (BLR) / Aleksandra Sasnovich (BLR) 64 76(2)
[SF] Ankita Raina (IND) /Kamila Rakhimova (IND/RUS) d. Francesca Jones (GBR) / Nadia Podoroska (ARG) 46 64 11-9
[F] Ankita Raina (IND) /Kamila Rakhimova (IND/RUS) d. Anna Blinkova (RUS) /Alexandra Potopova (RUS) 26 64 10-7
Photo Credits – Tennis Australia
Incidentally, Pranjala Yadlapalli made her WTA debut in this tournament when she got a wild with Australian Gabriella Da Silva Fick. After getting a walkover in first round, she lost in the second round but after a good fight
[R1[ Pranjala Yadlapalli (IND) / Gabriella Da Silva Fick (AUS) d. (8) Misaki Doi (JPN) / Nao Hibino (JPN) walkover
[R2] Pranjala Yadlapalli (IND) / Gabriella Da Silva Fick (AUS) l. Petra Martic (SRB) / Anastasia Sevastova (LAT) 36 62 6-10
Rajeev Ram wins Mixed Doubles title at AO ; loses in final of Men’s Doubles
Indo-American Rajeev Ram had quite a fortnight at the Australian Open, culminating with two final appearances – one successful and one unsuccessful. He won the Mixed Doubles title partner Barbora Krejcikova, beating local favorites Matthew Ebden and Sam Stosur in the final
Arjun and Prajnesh lose in 1st round of South African Challenger
[R1] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND, 131) l. Akira Santilan (AUS,266) 36 63 57
Arjun Kadhe played doubles and lost in the first round too
[Q1] Arjun Kadhe (IND,669) l. (5) Viktor Durasovic (NOR,341) 26 16
[R1] Arjun Kadhe (IND) / Benjamin Lock (ZIM) l. (3) Teymuraz Gabashvili (RUS) / Mark Vervoort (NED) 57 75 7-10
ITF Futures Roundup
Zeel Desai and 3 mens players played in main draws of ITF tournaments in Tunisia and Egypt respectively but with not much success.
At $15K ITF Women, Monastir, Tunisia
[R1] Zeel Desai (IND,636) l. (Q) Melis Yasar (SWE,1243) 60 46 67(1)
At $15K ITF Men, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt
[R1] [1] Sasikumar Mukund (IND,305) d. Rimpei Kawakami (JPN,949) 63 61
[R1] Sidharth Rawat (IND,469) l. Keisuke Saitoh (JPN,1135) 67(3) 26
[R1] Manish Sureshkumar (IND,667) l. Robert Strombachs (GER,675) 64 67(6) 62
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