French Open: Ankita Raina loses to Rodina

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, stretched the World No. 116 to a tie-breaker in the second set before the experienced Russian closed out the match. 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 made sure India had at least one player in the singles competition by making it directly to the main draw.