Ankita Ravinderkrishan Raina was born on 11 January 1993 and is an Indian professional tennis player.
33 Facts About Ankita Raina
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Ankita Raina has won gold medals in the women's singles and mixed-doubles events at the 2016 South Asian Games, and won a bronze medal in singles at the 2018 Asian Games.
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Ankita Raina is one of only two women representing India who has won a WTA-level title.
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Ankita Raina has notable wins over 2011 US Open champion Samantha Stosur, Wimbledon finalist Sabine Lisicki and former world No 5 Sara Errani.
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Ankita Raina was born and brought up in Ahmedabad before moving to Pune, Maharashtra at the age of 14 as Pune has a better infrastructure and opportunities to develop professional tennis players; the decision was made based on her performance at the Asians 14 and under masters tournament in Melbourne, where she placed second.
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Ankita Raina briefly studied at Brihan Maharashtra and is fluent in Hindi, Kashmiri, Gujarati, and English.
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At the national events, Ankita Raina has represented her home state Gujarat.
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Ankita Raina's idols growing up were Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams, and Sania Mirza.
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Ankita Raina won two matches at the Mumbai Open, advancing to the quarterfinal.
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At the French Open, Ankita Raina lost her first qualifying match to well-known American youngster Coco Gauff in two tight sets, despite playing well.
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Ankita Raina went on to reach the second qualifying rounds of both the Wimbledon Championships and the US Open, losing tight three-setters in both tournaments.
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In October 2019, Ankita Raina entered the top 150 doubles rankings for the first time, after reaching the finals of the Suzhou Ladies Open with partner Rosalie van der Hoek.
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Ankita Raina had a disappointing result at the Australian Open, albeit she was unwell due to the Australian bushfires.
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However, Ankita Raina found further doubles success by winning two back-to-back ITF titles in Nonthaburi alongside Bibiane Schoofs; followed by reaching her first WTA Tour semifinal at the Thailand Open alongside Rosalie.
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Ankita Raina won two singles titles early on in 2020, one in Nonthaburi, and the other in Jodhpur, India.
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Ankita Raina then helped India advance to the Fed Cup World Group 2 playoffs for the first time in history in April 2020 in Dubai, along with Sania Mirza, Rutuja Bhosale, Riya Bhatia and Sowjanya Bavisetti.
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Ankita Raina then competed at the 2020 French Open qualifying where she advanced to the second round for the first time but lost to Kurumi Nara.
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Ankita Raina competed in all the Grand Slam championships and the Olympics in 2021 but had first-round exits in all in doubles category.
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Ankita Raina competed mixed doubles only in Wimbledon but that too was a first-round exit.
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Ankita Raina began 2021 at the Australian Open, where she had her best performance at a major, losing in the third and final qualifying round to Olga Danilovic.
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Ankita Raina then became the fourth player representing India to feature in the main draw of a Grand Slam championship, playing doubles alongside Mihaela Buzarnescu, losing in the first round.
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Ankita Raina won the first WTA Tour singles main-draw match of her career at the Phillip Island Trophy.
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In doubles, Ankita Raina partnered with Kamilla Rakhimova to advance to her first WTA level final, where they defeated the Russian pairing of Anastasia Potapova and Anna Blinkova.
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Ankita Raina's improved ranking allowed her to compete more regularly on the WTA Tour, albeit with limited success.
25.
At the Abierto Zapopan, Ankita Raina scored a victory over former world No 5 and French Open finalist, Sara Errani, before losing to Leonie Kung.
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Ankita Raina enjoyed a strong grass-court season in doubles, reaching back to back semifinals at the Nottingham Open and Nottingham Trophy.
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Ankita Raina competed at the 2021 US Open, losing in the first round of singles qualifying to Jamie Loeb and the first round of doubles.
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Ankita Raina then won only one of her next seven matches in singles, to end the year outside the top 200.
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Ankita Raina lost seven out of her eight doubles matches during this stretch.
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Ankita Raina's form improved in the second half of the season, and she won 18 of her last 27 matches to end the year in the top 270.
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Ankita Raina is a steady baseliner who primarily relies on her speed and counterpunching abilities to outlast her opponents.
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Ankita Raina's preferred surfaces are grass and hard court, as they are more suited to her game style.
33.
In 2013, Ankita Raina met Narendra Modi, India's then-future prime minister, and officially was recognised under the Shaktidhoot scheme and hence became a part of India's goal of reaching Olympic podiums.