Indian tennis player Ankita Raina recorded her first victory in the singles main draw of a WTA Tour event with a three-set win over Elisabetta Cocciaretto at the Phillip Island Trophy here on Sunday. Ankita came from behind to beat the Italian 5-7 6-1 6-2 in the opening round of the USD 235,238 hardcourt tournament.
The two-hour and 11 minutes win will take Ankita to her new career-high singles rank of 156 from 181. If she goes deep, then she will ensure her place in top-150. Ankita had competed in the Yarra Valley Classic and Thailand Open on the WTA Tour but lost in the first round.
The 28-year-old Indian said the conditions were tough but eventually she found a way to win. "It was very very windy today. I began well but she (Elisabetta) got more consistent. But in the second and third set I played solid," she said.
Meanwhile, Sofia Kenin's week got from bad to worse after she was stunned by unranked teenager Olivia Gadecki at the Phillip Island Trophy on Sunday.
Kenin, the world number four, had been in tears after her straight-sets Australian Open loss to Estonia's Kaia Kanepi on Thursday.
But the American top seed also failed to get further than the second round in the Phillip Island Trophy, which is being held alongside the Australian Open in Melbourne.
Gadecki becomes the first unranked player to beat top-10 opposition in 24 years, following a 15-year-old Mirjana Lucic-Baroni's win over Amanda Coetzer in the 1997 Bol semi-finals.
The Gold Coast resident, who had never before played anyone inside the top 200, has just $2,189 in career prize money -- compared to the $2.8 million Kenin picked up for winning the Australian Open last year.
(With Agency inputs)