India's Ankita Raina upsets Wimbledon 2023 doubles champion Barbora Strycova in WTA Prague Open

Raina fought back from a set down to beat the former world number one in doubles.

India’s top ranked women’s tennis player Ankita Raina sailed through to the pre-quarterfinals of WTA 250 Prague Open after defeating reigning Wimbledon 2023 doubles champion Barbora Strycova in three games (3-6, 6-3, 6-4). This is Ankita’s first WTA 250 singles win since her victory against Maddison Inglis in Seoul Open last year.

The Indian entered the Prague Open through the qualifiers. She won the opening round of the qualifiers by beating Czech Republic’s Amelie Smejcalova in straight sets (6-3, 6-2) but lost in the following round by receiving two bagels against fifth seed Dayana Yastremska (0-6, 0-6). However, with Russian and Belarusian players not allowed to participate, Ankita advanced to the main draw as a lucky loser.

In the opening round against Barbora Strycova, Ankita lost the opening set but came back strongly holding grit to win the next two sets. This was Barbora’s first tournament after winning the Wimbledon Championships 2023 and she could have been rusty without much match practise.

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The Indian is next set to face fourth seed and WR-71 Linda Noskova for a place in a quarter-finals. In the past year, Kaur Thandi is the only other Indian to win a match in WTA 250 event and post that, Ankita Raina has already recorded two wins in the same category.

The past few weeks have been pretty good for Ankita. She reached the semi-finals of WTA 250 Poland Open in the women’s doubles and in the singles got through to the main draw through the qualifiers. The recent success has also seen her rise in the WTA singles and doubles rankings. She is currently ranked 177th in the live rankings and few a more wins will see get placed better in the US Open qualifiers.

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