Indians win in China, take tally to 20; Ankita loses in Belgium

Ankita Raina (File Photo)

The second seeded Indian duo of N Sriram Balaji and Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan won the $15,000 China F6 Futures doubles title earlier this morning. The Indian duo defeated the top-seeded Korean-Japanese pair of Yong-Kyu Lim and Toshihide Matsui 7-5 7-6(4) to clinch the title. As a reward for their win, they receive 27 ranking points each.

They had easy rounds early in comparison to their opponents and received a walkover in the semifinals. Earlier in the tournament, both Sriram and Ranjeet crashed out in the first round of the singles competition, where the former was seeded third. Sriram is 4-2 this year in doubles finals at the Futures level, while Ranjeet is 4-1 this year.

This means that Indians have amassed 20 titles, 9 singles and 11 doubles, at the Futures level so far this year.

At the $25,000 event at Koksijde, Belgium, Ankita Raina bowed out after losing to Cindy Burger in three sets in the quarterfinals. The scoreline read 6-3 1-6 6-7(6). It was a tough match and Ankita fought until the end to make it into the semifinals at the clay court event. Cindy had earlier sent the second seed crushing, while Ankita beat the seventh seed the the pre-quarters. She earned 14 points for her endeavours. She will participate in another clay court $25,000 event in Belgium next week before heading back to India for a few tournaments at home.