Ankita Raina misses a chance to stretch the fight in Mumbai Open

Ankita Raina missed a chance to extend her fight as she failed to serve out the second set against Danka Kovinic of Montenegro in the pre-quarterfinals of the $125,000 L&T Mumbai Open WTA tennis tournament on Thursday.

Even though she did not match her performance of a quarterfinals entry of last year, it has been a fruitful season for the 25-year-old Ankita who competed in the Grand Slams in Roland Garros and Wimbledon, apart from winning the rare singles bronze in the Asian Games in Palembang.
After losing the first set tamely 2-6, Ankita had a chance to serve out the second set, but eventually lost it 5-7.

In doubles, Rutuja Bhosale in partnership with Hiroko Kuwata of Japan was beaten 6-3, 6-3 in the quarterfinals, which thus brought the curtains down on the Indian challenge in the tournament.

The results:
Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Zheng Saisai (Chn) bt Bibiane Schoofs (Ned) 6-4, 6-2; Luksika Kumkhum (Tha) bt Barbora Stefkova (Cze) 6-3, 6-4; Danka Kovinic (Mne) bt Ankita Raina 6-2, 7-5; Margarita Gasparyan (Rus) bt Ekaterine Gorgodze (Geo) 6-4, 6-2; Jia-Jing Lu (Chn) bt Nao Hibino (Jpn) 6-4, 6-3.

Doubles (quarterfinals): Dalila Jakupovic (Slo) & Irinia Khromacheva (Rus) bt Hiroko Kuwata (Jpn) & Rutuja Bhosale 6-3, 6-3; Natalia Dzalamidze & Veronika Kudermetova (Rus) bt Misaki Doi (Jpn) & Tereza Martincova (Cze) 6-1, 6-1; Bibiane Schoofs (Ned) & Barbora Stefkova (Cze) bt Shu-YIng Hsieh (Tpe) & Natalija Kostic (Srb) 1-6, 7-6(3), 10-5.