Ankita Raina, partnering Russia’s Kamilla Rakhimova, captured her maiden WTA 250 doubles title, beating Anna Blinkova and Anastasia Potapova of Russia 2-6, 6-4, [10-7] in the final of the Phillip Island Trophy tennis tournament here on Friday.
The win is the biggest of Ankita’s career, making her India’s first WTA champion since Sania Mirza. When the new rankings are released on Monday, she is set to break into the top-100.
It was a perfect ending for first-time partners Ankita and Rakhimova as they had flown into Australia after losing in the final qualifying round for the Australian Open singles event in Dubai. Though they did not get the ‘lucky loser’ spots in the main draw of the Grand Slam, the two stuck together to make it an unforgettable experience in Australia.
“It was funny how we ended up together. I am so proud of us. Your fighting spirit is great,” said Ankita about her 19-year-old partner.
The 28-year-old had earlier won the $125,000 WTA crown with Karman Kaur Thandi at Dubai in 2018.
Other result: $15,000 ITF men, Sharm El Sheikh: Quarterfinals: Martins Podzus (Lat) & Robert Strombachs (Ger) bt Sidharth Rawat & Manish Sureshkumar 6-2, 2-6, [10-5].
