Federal Bank ITF Women’s Open: Ankita Raina wins doubles crown, loses in singles semi-finals

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India's top bet Ankita Raina won the doubles title, but crashed out of the singles competition in the semi-finals in Federal Bank ITF Women's Open, Gurugram W35 played at The Tennis Project in Gurugram on Saturday (March 2).

Ankita joined hands with Zhibek Kulambayeva to lift the women's doubles title. The Indo-Kazakh pair, who were the top seeds, brushed aside the challenge of Jacqueline Cabaj Awad of Sweden and and Justina Mikulskyte in straight sets 6-4, 6-2.

The winners bagged US $ 1437 and 35 WTA points for their effort while the runners-up were richer by US $ 719 and 23 WTA points. Earlier, the Indian, seeded second, bowed out of the singles competition.

In fact, the top two seeds of the singles category lost in the semi-final round after top seed Dalila Jakupovic of Slovenia was undone by third seed Mikulskyte of Lithuania while Ankita succumbed to the unseeded Korean Yeonwoo Ku.

Earlier, in the singles semifinals, Ankita found herself on the wrong foot in the opening game itself where she lost her serve. The 31-year-old warmed up only by the third game as she erased a 0-2 deficit and led 3-2 with a break in the fourth game.

However, she lost her serve once again in the 7th game which facilitated for a tie-breaker. Relying heavily on her double handed backhand, Ankita found herself a bit short losing 4-7.

Things replicated in the second set for the first five games, where Ankita once again after trailing 0-2, was leading 3-2 with a break in the third and the fifth game.

However, the 20-year-old Yeonwoo moved better on court and with deft placing of the ball troubled her fancied opponent often which made Ankita commit a lot of unforced errors.

Yeonwoo who would be vying for her third ITF Title on the morrow, won four games in a row with two breaks in the 6th and 8th games to wrap up the set and the match. The Korean, however, was listless in the final.

In the singles final on Sunday (March 3), third seed Mikulskyte eased past Yeonwoo by straight sets 6-0, 6-1 to lft the ITF title in Gurugram. Here is a look at the results from the weekend:

ITF Women's Open Results - March 2 & 3

• Singles Finals: 3-Justina Mikulskyte (LTU) beat Yeonwoo Ku (KOR) 6-0, 6-1
• Singles Semifinals 1: Yeonwoo Ku (KOR) beat 2-Ankita Raina 7-6 (4), 6-3
• Singles Semifinals 2: 3-Justina Mikulskyte (LTU) beat 1-Dalila Jakupovic (SLO) 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (0)
• Doubles Finals: 1-Zhibek Kulambayeva (KAZ)/Ankita Raina beat Jacqueline Cabaj Awad (SWE)/Justina Mikulskyte (LTU) 6-4, 6-2

Source: Media Release