Ankita Loses in Straight Sets; Indian Challenge in Singles Ends

Mumbai, Nov 1 (PTI) The lukewarm Indian challenge in singles at the L and T Mumbai Open tennis came to an abrupt end in the pre-quarterfinal stage when national number one, Ankita Raina, played poorly and got eliminated on Thursday.

In a face-off between two players hovering just below the 200 mark on the WTA circuit, Ankita came second best against her European opponent from Montenegro, Danka Kovinic, and lost 2-6, 5-7 in one hour and 47 minutes at the Cricket Club of India's hard courts.

Ankita, ranked 197 to Kovinic's 194, had stayed on court till almost midnight on Wednesday in her first round match in which she fought back doggedly to subdue long-time rival and compatriot Rutuja Bhosale in three sets after 2 hours and 17 minutes struggle and move into the round of 16.

Direct entrant Ankita overcame wild card Rutuja, ranked 366, 4-6, 6-2 7-6 (5) in 2 hours and 17 minutes in a late night match after she trailed 0-3 in the final set by dropping her serve twice before restoring parity at 4-4.

The insufficient recovery time perhaps contributed to the poor show of the Indian woman who had surprised everyone by reaching the quarter finals last year in this event.

Ankita later told reporters that this indeed was the case and she needs to work more on her fitness.

"I did not recover sufficiently well after yesterday's match. I was a bit slow on the ball which my coach also mentioned during a break. That was also why I did not serve well. I had served well last night," said the India number one.

Ankita said she had played two tournaments in China after recovering from a bout of dengue in September.

"My coach felt I needed match play and I felt better after that," she explained.

Ankita found it difficult to hold her serves in the entire first set and in the beginning of the second set before reeling off four games in a row by holding her serve twice and breaking her opponent's two times to fight back from 1-4 to 5 -4, the first time she led in the match.

But that proved a false dawn as Danka restored parity by breaking her serve in the tenth game. She then went on to win the next two games after saving three break points in the 11th game to hold her serve for a 6-5 lead and then breaking the Indian's serve decisively in the next when Ankita could just about lay her racquet to a strong backhand shot from the European player.

Ankita dropped all her four service games and managed to break her rival twice in the opening set.

She dropped two more service games and then fell behind 1-4 with Danka, who had upset fourth seed Olga Danilovic of Serbia, holding her own serve.

A great rally ensued from Ankita at this stage as she held her service games twice and broke her rivals twice to surge to a 5-4 lead before losing her way again and losing the next three games in a row.

Ankita's elimination has left only Rutuja still in the fray, in the doubles in which she is partnering Hiroko Kuwata of Japan and reached the second round after having beaten Tereza Mrdeza of Croatia and Ankita in three sets.

India's Mahak Jain and Mihika Yadav went down to the Russian pair of Natela Dzalamidze and Veronika Kudermetova 6-1, 6-1 in late matches on Wednesday. Singles: 1-Saisai Zheng (CHN) bt Bibiane Schoofs (NED) 6-4, 6-2; 5-Luksika Kumkhum (THA) bt Barbosa Stefkova (CZE) 6-3, 6-4; Danka Kovinic (MNE) bt Ankita Raina (IND) 6-2 7-5; Jia Jung LU (CHN) bt 8-Nao Hibino (JPN) 6-4 6-3.

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