Ankita Raina recorded the biggest win of her career by beating World No 56 Nao Hibino but Sania Mirza suffered a rare defeat in doubles as India lost their Group A Fed Cup contest 1-2 to Japan, here yesterday
Sania Mirza
Hua Hin (Thailand): Ankita Raina recorded the biggest win of her career by beating World No 56 Nao Hibino but Sania Mirza suffered a rare defeat in doubles as India lost their Group A Fed Cup contest 1-2 to Japan, here yesterday.
Sania Mirza
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Ankita, India’s number one singles player at 307, took the court after Prarthana Thombare had lost the opening singles.
Battling the odds, Ankita toppled the World No 56 with her 6-3, 6-1 win over the Japanese number one.
India trail Japan
Prarthana, ranked as low as 523, had lost tamely 2-6, 1-6 to Eri Hozumi, placed 206, as India trailed 0-1.
Ankita though drew parity for Indian with her shock win. India, at that point, had a real chance to upset the fancied Japan with having world number one player in Sania in the team.
However, Sania and Prarthana lost 5-7, 3-6 to the pairing of Shuko Aoyama and Hozumi.
Aoyama was ranked as high as 31 in the doubles in 2013. With Sania, who has not lost a match since US Open in 2015 and has weaved an incredible 36-match winning streak, in the side, India had a great chance to beat Japan.
India have already lost to hosts Thailand 0-3 on Wednesday and now they are out of the reckoning for the Play-offs for the World Group II.
India will take on Uzbekistan in their last Group engagement today.
Memorable win: Ankita
Talking about her memorable win against Hibino, Ankita said she was confident of putting up a good fight. “I had played well against Thailand yesterday. This is my first win over a top-100 player and I am one more step closer to my goal.
“The thing that helped me win this match is I could stay aggressive throughout the match. I have been trying to do that in the past few months,” Ankita told PTI.
“I have last very close matches recently with top players. I had opportunities but could not seize those. But Sania told me how to play against the girl before my match and I was able to do that. It was very helpful.”
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