Ankita Raina paired with partner Kamilla Rakhimova of Russia win the Phillip Island Trophy WTA tennis tournament in Melbourne. They defeated their opponent 2-6, 6-4, 10-7.

The Indo-Russian duo locked horns with Anna Blinkova and Anastasia Potapova of Russia – ranked 47 and 111 respectively. Both were higher ranked than Raina (115) and her partner (192).

Earlier, Raina and Rakhimova beat the pair of Francesca Jones and Nadia Podoroska after coming back from a set down and saving two match points to win 4-6, 6-4, 11-9 in the semifinal of the WTA event.

Ankita Raina had become the fifth Indian woman in Open era to secure a place in a Grand Slam main draw. She has teamed up with Romania’s Mihaela Buzarnescu for the women’s doubles event at the Australian Open Tennis 2021.

Raina had an impressive outing in Australia with a Grand Slam debut, followed by a win for the first time in a singles WTA event, and winning the final of a doubles event.

This is Ankita Raina’s first WTA title of her career. She had won one WTA 125k title and 18 ITF doubles titles before.