Ankita Raina lone Indian to progress to round 2 of US Open 2023 qualifiers

Sumit Nagal and Karman Kaur Thandi have made first round exits.

The opening day of the US Open 2023 brought mixed fortunes for the Indians, as only one player out of three managed to progress to the next round of the tournament. Ankita Raina defeated Bianca Bulgaru in straight sets thereby progressing to the second qualifying round. Sumit Nagal and Karman Kaur Thandi, on the other hand, lost their respective matches in the first qualifying round.

Ankita has had a good run recently on the hard courts, as she defeated some top players in the last few weeks. She continued her fine run with a win over Romanian Miriam Bianca Bulgaru, who is ranked 30 places behind the Indian at 214. The Indian No. 1 started with a break in the first set, but couldn’t hold on to it for long, as she lost her serve in the very next game.

But as the match progressed Ankita found her rhythm and took the next two breaks before she served for the match at 5-3. A resilient effort from Bulgaru at the end of the match put some questions in front of the Indian, but the latter responded with her experience and closed the match with a scoreline of 6-3 7-5.

Ankita will be facing 14th seed Aliona Bolsova Zadoinov from Spain tomorrow in the second round of qualifying of US Open 2023.

On the other hand, it was curtains for Sumit Nagal and Karman Kaur Thandi as both lost their respective matches to higher-ranked and seeded opponents. Karman started well against French woman Oceane Dodin (18th seed), as she took the first set 6-3, but lost the next two despite leading in both.

Karman was leading (5-3) in the second and was also serving for the match, but with experience Dodin saved two games and ultimately the set.

In the men’s singles, Sumit almost made a comeback from a set and a break down, but couldn’t survive his last service game as he bowed out with a scoreline of (3-6, 5-7).

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