NEW DELHI — India's
top tennis player Ankita Raina won her first doubles title in nine months,
triumphing in the final of the ITF W50 event with British partner Naiktha
Bains, edging past American fourth seeds Jessie Aney and Jessica Failla in the
summit clash on Saturday.
Ankita had made a first-round exit in the singles round but
made up for the disappointment by bagging the doubles title with Naikhta,
winning 6-4 3-6 10-8 in one hour and 42 minutes at the DLTA Complex.
Before today's title victory, Ankita last won a doubles
trophy at the Kashiwa event in Japan in April 2024 when she partnered Taipei's
Chia Yi Tsao.
Meanwhile, seventh seed Tatiana Prozorova and second seed
Panna Udvardy set up the singles final against each other earlier during the
day.
Tatiana knocked out Latvian top seed Darja Semenistaja 7-5
6-2 after Hungary's Panna Udvardy comfortably beat British fourth seed Yuriko
Lilly Miyazaki 6-3 6-2 in the first semifinal of the day.
In the doubles final, the unseeded Indo-British pair broke
their rivals at love in the very first game, with Naikhta closing the game with
a forehand winner.
In a dominating start to the match, Ankita and Naikhta
logged nine straight points while the Americans struggled to contain unforced
errors.
A half-volley pick-up error put the Americans down by
another break point and Naikhta cashed in on the chance with a fierce service
return winner to open up a comfortable 3-0 lead.
A backhand slice error followed by a double fault put
Naikhta down by three break chances in the next game, which they dropped to
allow the fourth seeds an opening.
However, the unseeded team immediately got the break back
with Naikhta closing the game with an overhead smash for a 4-1 lead.
It was now Ankita's turn to drop her serve as she hit a
forehand long at 30-all and then her backhand return sailed over the baseline
on the break chance.
The break sequence continued with both teams struggling to
hold until the Americans held their own in the ninth, reducing the gap to 4-5.
Ankita came out serving for the opening set and succeeded in
taking the lead in the final.
In the second set, Ankita blinked first to give the
Americans an early advantage and Naikhta too faced breakpoints in game four but
they managed to keep the scores level at 2-2.
Ankita's serve was broken again in the sixth game as Jessica
and Jessie garbbed a comfortable 4-2 lead. The Americans closed the set easily
but Ankita and Naikhta trumped them in the 10-point Super Tie break.
