India's Ankita Raina recorded her maiden victory on the WTA circuit when she overcame Japanese qualifier Junri Namigata in the opening round of the USD 125,000 International Women's Open in Nanchang, China.
Ankita, India's top singles player, beat her opponent 6-4 2-6 6-2 in hot and humid conditions to set up a second a round clash against Ling Zhang of Hong Kong.
"When I was coming here I had a dream that I won my first WTA level match and that has just happened. I am really happy," Ankita said from China.
"In the set break I went to change and I thought I have a set but I need to play the second set like it's love all because I knew she's gonna fight back and not let go. So I started being aggressive. But she is a fighter. In the second set she played more consistently, smartly and patiently on the crucial points. Though I had some game points in most of the games in the second set, I lost it 2-6.
"We had a 10 minute break because of the heat rule. I kept believing in myself and started aggressive. I started getting big serves and that helped me to get the first game of the set, yes it helped me, I was 3-0. But it was not over, I had to break her serve again to be in the next round and she had really good wide serves, she even hit a few aces in the match. But I got the very first game point and it was game, set," she explained the duel.
