1. Ankita Raina was born on 11 January 1993 and is an Indian tennis player.
37 Facts About Ankita Raina
1. 2.
Ankita Raina has won gold medals in the women's singles and mixed-doubles events at the 2016 South Asian Games, and 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 have won a WTA Tour-level title.
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Ankita Raina has notable wins over 2011 US Open champion Samantha Stosur, Wimbledon finalist Sabine Lisicki, former world No 5 Sara Errani, and multiple doubles Grand Slam champion Barbora Strycova.
5.
Ankita Raina was born and brought up in Ahmedabad before moving to Pune, Maharashtra at the age of 14 as Pune had 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.
10.
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.
11.
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.
12.
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.
13.
Ankita Raina had a disappointing result at the Australian Open, albeit she was unwell due to the Australian bushfires.
14.
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.
20.
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.
22.
Ankita Raina won the first WTA Tour singles main-draw match of her career at the Phillip Island Trophy.
23.
In doubles, Ankita Raina partnered with Kamilla Rakhimova to advance to her first WTA Tour 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.
29.
Ankita Raina lost seven out of her eight doubles matches during this stretch.
30.
Ankita Raina carried her poor form from the end of 2021 into 2022, with her losing in the first qualifying round of the Australian Open, and then, at an ITF tournament in Kazakhstan.
31.
Ankita Raina reached her second ITF final of the season in at the Jakarta $25k tournament, but lost again.
32.
Ankita Raina competed in the first qualifying round at Wimbledon but lost again.
33.
Ankita Raina entered the WTA Prague Open the following week as lucky loser, and scored her first WTA Tour main-draw win of the season over former world No 16, Barbora Strycova.
34.
At the 2023 US Open, Ankita Raina reached the final round of qualifying, but lost in straight sets to Mirjam Bjorklund.
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Ankita Raina is a steady baseliner who primarily relies on her speed and counterpunching abilities to outlast her opponents.
36.
Ankita Raina's preferred surfaces are grass and hard court, as they are more suited to her game style.
37.
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.