Ankita Raina shocked former World No. 4 and US Open champion Samantha Stosur of Australia 7-5, 2-6, 7-5 in a nerve-wracking battle that lasted nearly three hours in the first round of the $125,000 WTA tournament on Wednesday.
Ankita missed two break points at 4-4 in the decider, but broke Stosur in the 11th game and served out the match.
At 40-15, in what proved to be the final game of the contest, the 26-year-old Ankita, ranked 178th, missed two match points as Stosur saved one with a good shot and the Indian made an unforced error on the other.
“On the third match point that I won, I just told myself ‘believe, it is now or never, and grab the opportunity,’” said Ankita, recapturing her feelings during the marathon battle.
“This is a big confidence-booster for my goal to achieve the top 100,” said Ankita.
“When I won the last point, I did not know how to react. After the handshake, when I went back to my chair, I could not control myself.
“I started crying. I had a flashback of everything that I had gone through all these years,” said Ankita.
Ready for it
Having stretched Stosur in Dubai last year, Ankita said she had visualised a way to break through.
“I knew what was coming, and was mentally prepared. Considering her strengths, I had a plan and it worked. I was anxious as it was an intense match with a lot of emotions and nerves,” said Ankita, who converted seven of the 16 break points. She also dropped serve seven times.
Ankita won 120 points to Stosur’s 119, reflecting how close the contest was. Stosur had seven aces and 18 double faults while Ankita had three aces, six double faults and a first serve percentage of 70.
“I have been working hard. My team believed in me, especially, my coach Hemant Bendrey, who had told me that I would definitely do well on the WTA circuit and be in the top-100,” said Ankita after one of the biggest wins of her career, against the 77th-ranked Stosur.
Divij-Demoliner advance
In the ATP Tour event on the red clay of Budapest, Divij Sharan and Marcelo Demoliner of Brazil prevailed 6-3, 4-6, [11-9] over Robert Lindstedt of Sweden and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan in the pre-quarterfinals.
In the Nanchang Challenger, Ramkumar Ramanathan cruised into the pre-quarterfinals, but lost in doubles with partner Vishnu Vardhan.
The results:
€586,140 ATP, Budapest, Hungary: Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Marcelo Demoliner (Bra) & Divij Sharan bt Robert Lindstedt (Swe) & Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi 6-3, 4-6, [11-9].
$125,000 WTA, Anning, China: First round: Ankita Raina bt Samantha Stosur (Aus) 7-5, 2-6, 7-5.
$54,160 Challenger, Nanchang, China: Second round: Go Soeda (Jpn) bt Sriram Balaji 6-4, 6-4; Ramkumar Ramanathan bt Rigele Te (Chn) 6-3, 6-2; Andrew Harris (Aus) bt Vishnu Vardhan 6-2, 6-3.
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Jamie Cerretani (US) & Sriram Balaji bt Rigele Te & Di Wu (Chn) 6-2, 6-4.
Sander Arends (Ned) & Tristan-Samuel Weissborn (Aut) bt Ramkumar Ramanathan & Vishnu Vardhan 6-4, 7-5.
$54,160 Challenger, Tallahassee, US: Second round: Sumit Nagal bt Santiago Giraldo (Col) 6-2, 4-3 retd.
$25,000 ITF men, Abuja, Nigeria: First round: Sadio Doumbia (Fra) bt Kunal Anand 6-4, 6-1; Tom Jomby (Fra) bt Suraj Prabodh 6-1, 6-3; Danylo Kalenichenko (Ukr) bt Vijay Sundar Prashanth 6-1, 6-0.
$15,000 ITF men, Cairo, Egypt: First round: Giovanni Samaha (Lbn) bt Muthu Aadhitiya Senthilkumar 6-4, 6-2.
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Julius Tverijonas & Simonas Zukauskas (Ltu) bt Muthu Aadhitiya Senthilkumar & V.M. Ranjeet 7-5, 2-6, [10-4].
Giovani Samaha (Lbn) & Anirudh Chandrasekar bt Yeongseok Jeong & Uisung Park (Kor) 6-3, 3-6, [10-7].
$15,000 ITF women, Cairo, Egypt: First round: Aneta Laboutkova (Cze) bt Snehal Mane 6-0, 6-0; Melanie Klaffner (Aut) bt Saumya Vig 6-0, 6-1.