Ankita bags USD 10,000 ITF title

Ankita Raina continued her dream run in the USD 10,000 ITF Women's singles event by lifting her second consecutive title with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over compatriot Kanika Vaidya at the DLTA complex, here today.
The domination of the world 373 Ankita was so absolute that she did not drop a single set through-out the competition en route to bagging her fourth ITF title overall and third in last six outings.
The 21-year-old has reached the finals of all these six tournaments in the last four months.
The top seed, who trains under Hemant Bendrey at the PYC Gymkhana in Pune, started as a favourite in the final but the 18-year-old Kanika had very little to lose and came out all guns blazing on the back of her strong first serve.

The first six games went on serve before Kanika drew first blood by breaking her opponent's serve in the seventh game.
However, Ankita hit back immediately by returning the favour and then tightened the noose on the 10th game to pocket the first set.

The second set also followed the same script with Ankita dropping her serve on the fifth game but immediately striking back on the next to draw level.
The experienced Ankita showed great composure to nullify Kanika's biggest weapon - her serve - and once that was achieved the teenager just succumbed to pressure and handed the title to the top seed in the 10th game of the second set.

"I was pretty confident going into the final and stuck to my game plan. I have been provided a lot of exposure at the international level in the last three years thanks to Lakshya and Bharat Forge and I am very happy that I am making them proud with my results now," Ankita said, who had won her last title at this same venue a few weeks ago.