Ankita reaches quarters of ITF women's meet in Uzbekistan

Ankita Raina upset fifth seed Teodora Mircic of Serbia 1-6 6-1 6-3 to reach the quarterfinals of the USD 25,000 ITF women's tennis tournament in Karshi, Uzbekistan.
This will be the first-ever appearance in the quarters for the 20-year-old, who had to qualify for the main draw.
She will now face third seed and local favourite Nigina Abdurakhimova.
Facing a player ranked 200 places above her in ranking, Ankita struggled to find her rhythm in the first set and had to wait till the sixth game to hold her serve and win her maiden game of the match.
The youngster regrouped herself during the break after the first set and promised to give her best in the next two sets for her grandfather, who passed away a couple of weeks ago.

Ankita, who trains under Hemant Bendrey at the PYC Gymkhana, then started controlling the pace of the rallies with her deft ground strokes and raced through the second set.
The third set was a closer affair with Ankita losing her serve twice in the first five games. However, the confidence she has gained by reaching four consecutive finals in the USD 10,000 events helped her stay calm and break her opponent twice in the seventh and ninth game to clinch the match.
"Before coming here, I was really low due to my grandfather's demise. But I had told myself that I should win a few good matches here for him as he was one of my biggest supporters. Those memories came back to me after the first set and I became more aggressive with my strokes and that worked," she said.