Ankita Raina played her heart out against top seed Shuai Zhang before settling for bronze, while Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan used all their experience to bounce back and enter the men’s doubles final on Thursday.
Silver, at least
Divij and Bopanna are assured of at least a silver but will be going for gold in the final on Friday.
Another medal was assured when World No. 161 Prajnesh Gunneswaran outlasted 273rd ranked Kwon Soonwoo of South Korea 6-7(2 ), 6-4, 7-6(8) in a marathon quarterfinal lasting almost four hours.
Earlier, against the World No. 34 from China and a Grand Slam quarterfinalist, 189th ranked Raina had nothing to lose.
She went for her shots and that surprised her seasoned opponent.
The spirited Indian, who agreed to playing all three events, eventually lost 6-4, 7-6(6) in the semifinal lasting 131 minutes. The gruelling second set alone lasted 77 minutes.
Raina became India’s second women’s singles medallist at the Games after Sania Mirza, who had won a silver in Doha (2006) and Guangzhou (2010).
“I came here to win gold. Hopefully, I can do that in the mixed doubles (with Bopanna).
“It was a tough match and I could have won. She is obviously an experienced player but I thought I could beat her,” said Raina.
