Ankita Raina storms into final round of 2023 US Open Qualifiers

The lone Indian left in the fray defeated 14th seed in straight sets.

India’s Ankita Raina stormed into the final round of the 2023 US Open qualifiers with straight sets win over Spain’s Aliona Bolsova Zadoinov. Raina, India’s number one, came back from behind in both sets to defeat the 14th-seeded qualifier 6-4, 6-3 and advance.

It was Ankita’s first win over Bolsova as she had lost both her previous meetings in straight sets. Ankita started slow when Bolsova broke her on love in the opening game, but the Indian responded well with breaking back the latter in the very next game. Both players played some dominant serve games before Ankita broke the Spaniard when she was serving to stay in the first set at 4-5.

The second set started in the same fashion with Ankita broken early yet again, but she came back brilliantly by breaking Bolsova for the third time in a row and an easy hold in her final game awarded her the big win.

This is the second time that Ankita Raina has made it to the final qualifying round of any grand slam, the first one was at the Australian Open two years back. She will face the Swedish talented player Mirjam Bjorklund, who is ranked 155 in the WTA Rankings, in the final qualifying round for a place in the main draw.

Ankita has a 0-1 record against her, with their last meeting held at Ilkley ITF in June on grass. She will be looking forward to making her grand slam main draw debut in the singles and this time she has the realistic chance of breaking her jinx. Ankita Raina will play her final qualifying match on August 25 (Friday) with the hope of winning and qualifying. The main draw of the 2023 US Open starts on August 28 (Monday).

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