Ankita Raina and Kamilla Rakhimova of Russia captured her second career doubles title on the WTA Tour as the duo beat Anna Blinkova and Anastasia Potapova of Russia 2-6, 6-4, [10-7] in the final of the Phillip Island Trophy WTA 250 tennis tournament here on Friday.
It was a perfect ending for the first-time partners as they had been flown into Australia after losing in the final qualifying round for the Australian Open singles event in Dubai.
Though they did not get the ‘lucky loser’ spots in the main draw, the two stuck together to make it an unforgettable experience.
“It was funny how we ended up together. I am so proud of us. Your fighting spirit is great,” said Ankita about her 19-year-old partner in the presentation speech.
The 28-year-old Indian had won the $125,000 WTA crown with Karman Kaur Thandi at Dubai in 2018 for her maiden title at this level.
Ranked a career-best 115 in doubles, Ankita has claimed 20 doubles titles on the professional tour so far.
Other result: $15,000 ITF men, Sharm El Sheikh: Quarterfinals: Martins Podzus (Lat) & Robert Strombachs (Ger) bt Sidharth Rawat & Manish Sureshkumar 6-2, 2-6, [10-5].
