<p>Bengaluru: Long rallies are the name of the game when Ankita Raina takes to a tennis court. And the 32-year-old India no. 1 stayed true to her character by dishing out another slow burner in her first-round outing at the KPB Trust Women’s Open here on Wednesday. </p>.<p>Ankita relied on simple groundstrokes and keeping the ball in play to frustrate Russia’s Daria Kudashova and secure a 7-6 (7/2), 7-6 (7-4) win. </p>.<p>The 21-year-old Kudashova was quick off the blocks to race away to a 5-2 lead in the opening set. However, the Indian got into the groove in the nick of time to level scores and force a tie-breaker. Serves that refused to listen to Kudashova made things worse for the Russian as Ankita capitalised on her opponents’ impatience to win the first set. </p>.<p>While the momentum favoured Ankita, the humidity at the Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association troubled the players throughout the second with both of them struggling to hold serves. When the myriad of forehands and backhands came down to another tie-breaker, Ankita, leading 6-4, hit a down-the-line forehand before surging towards the net to pick up the ball on the run for a delicate drop that Kudashova failed to respond to. </p>.<p>Ankita’s win set her up against top seed Tatjana Maria, who overcame Petra Marcinko with a 6-4, 7-5 victory, in the second round on Thursday. </p>.Ankita Raina still hungry for more.<p>The 37-year-old German, playing the first match of the day on centre court, let her 19-year-old Croatian opponent nudge ahead on multiple occasions during their contest. But Maria made use of her superior experience to close out the 1-hour 38-minute battle on her second match point. </p>.<p>Earlier, wildcard entrant Sahaja Yamalapalli, the India no. 2, was involved in a topsy-turvy affair on the court during her 6-3, 3-6, 6-0 win against Great Britain’s Yuriko Lily Miyazaki. </p>.<p>Leading by one set and a break in the second, the 24-year-old from Hyderabad went through a mid-match slump to open the window for Miyazaki to get back into the match. </p>.<p>Some inner dialog during a bathroom break before the start of the third set, seemed to have worked for Sahaja as she came out to hand Miyazaki a bagel.</p>.<p>“I told myself to go for the shots and not hold back. I made a tweak in my serve technique a few days ago which came together and allowed me to serve big. The third set was probably the best I played and it shows,” said Sahaja. </p>.<p><strong>Brenda retires</strong></p>.<p>The 2023 champion Brenda Fruhirtova, who struggled with a back issue on Tuesday during her doubles match, braved the initial few points of her opening round singles tie against fourth seed Maria Timofeeva. However, the niggle seemed to have returned, forcing the 17-year-old Brenda to retire while trailing 3-4 in the first set.</p>
<p>Bengaluru: Long rallies are the name of the game when Ankita Raina takes to a tennis court. And the 32-year-old India no. 1 stayed true to her character by dishing out another slow burner in her first-round outing at the KPB Trust Women’s Open here on Wednesday. </p>.<p>Ankita relied on simple groundstrokes and keeping the ball in play to frustrate Russia’s Daria Kudashova and secure a 7-6 (7/2), 7-6 (7-4) win. </p>.<p>The 21-year-old Kudashova was quick off the blocks to race away to a 5-2 lead in the opening set. However, the Indian got into the groove in the nick of time to level scores and force a tie-breaker. Serves that refused to listen to Kudashova made things worse for the Russian as Ankita capitalised on her opponents’ impatience to win the first set. </p>.<p>While the momentum favoured Ankita, the humidity at the Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association troubled the players throughout the second with both of them struggling to hold serves. When the myriad of forehands and backhands came down to another tie-breaker, Ankita, leading 6-4, hit a down-the-line forehand before surging towards the net to pick up the ball on the run for a delicate drop that Kudashova failed to respond to. </p>.<p>Ankita’s win set her up against top seed Tatjana Maria, who overcame Petra Marcinko with a 6-4, 7-5 victory, in the second round on Thursday. </p>.Ankita Raina still hungry for more.<p>The 37-year-old German, playing the first match of the day on centre court, let her 19-year-old Croatian opponent nudge ahead on multiple occasions during their contest. But Maria made use of her superior experience to close out the 1-hour 38-minute battle on her second match point. </p>.<p>Earlier, wildcard entrant Sahaja Yamalapalli, the India no. 2, was involved in a topsy-turvy affair on the court during her 6-3, 3-6, 6-0 win against Great Britain’s Yuriko Lily Miyazaki. </p>.<p>Leading by one set and a break in the second, the 24-year-old from Hyderabad went through a mid-match slump to open the window for Miyazaki to get back into the match. </p>.<p>Some inner dialog during a bathroom break before the start of the third set, seemed to have worked for Sahaja as she came out to hand Miyazaki a bagel.</p>.<p>“I told myself to go for the shots and not hold back. I made a tweak in my serve technique a few days ago which came together and allowed me to serve big. The third set was probably the best I played and it shows,” said Sahaja. </p>.<p><strong>Brenda retires</strong></p>.<p>The 2023 champion Brenda Fruhirtova, who struggled with a back issue on Tuesday during her doubles match, braved the initial few points of her opening round singles tie against fourth seed Maria Timofeeva. However, the niggle seemed to have returned, forcing the 17-year-old Brenda to retire while trailing 3-4 in the first set.</p>