India’s top-ranked woman player Ankita Raina moved to the final round of the Australian Open Qualifiers with a gutsy three-set win over world number 118 Katarina Zavatska but it was curtains for Ramkumar Ramanathan in the men’s singles.
In the women’s singles qualifiers being held in Dubai, the 180th ranked Ankita overcame a second-set lapse to win 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 in the second round against the Ukrainian.
She will next take on 20-year-old Serbian Olga Danilovic, ranked 183. It will be the first meeting between the two players.
It is Ankita’s sixth attempt to crack the singles main draw of a Grand Slam and she is now just one win away from creating history.
In the men’s singles being held in Doha, Ramkumar lost his second round 3-6, 2-6 to Chinese Taipei’s Tung-Lin Wu in 69 minutes.