On Sunday, March 8, India’s Vaishnavi Adkar won the women’s singles title at the ITF W35 Kalaburagi after defeating compatriot Ankita Raina 7-6(3), 6-4 in an All-India finals. Adkar won over Raina by sets of 7-6(3), 6-4. The match was conducted on the International Women’s Day and Adkar’s victory added to the special cause. The victory got Adkar with 35 WTA ranking points and a prize money of USD 4,860. Meanwhile, Raina was rewarded with USD 2,637 and 23 ranking points.
Speaking of her experience and reflecting on her victory, Adkar credited her compatriot Raina for her performance. The two have competed together in the women’s doubles events and this time it was a one-on-one match between the two.
“It was a very good week for me, conditions were very tough and I just feel proud that I was able to push till the last match in these conditions. Since I was a kid, I have seen Ankita play at a high level. So, competing with her, playing doubles with her is a very big thing. I knew that she didn’t leave the match till the last point. So, I just had to keep fighting at every point and I was able to do that,” she said.
The third seed Indian made a strong start in the opening game after claiming clean victory from both sides of the wings and earning two break points. Raina went on to make an error on her break serve and Adkar took the advantage by 2-0. But Raina found her rhythm going further into the match which worked well to hold the serve and get an error from Adkar to tie the score at 2-2.
Adkar regained her momentum and struck back again with a 3-2 lead to which Raina attacked to register another tie score at 3-3. Both the players at this time were in an intense spot and held firm to their ground making no errors. Adkar tried some drop shots to end Raina’s momentum and she ended up taking the lead by 5-4 but Raina forced it into the tiebreaker.
In the tiebreaker, Raina made repeated errors that gave Adkar the lead by 3-0 but she tried to bring in the score to close the battle by adding three points with 3-6. However, with Adkar leading that set added another and won the set by 7-6(3).
The second set saw Raina breaking in the opening game but Adkar got the break in. Errors from Adkar got Raina back the lead but it did not last longer as Adkar got the serve and took control. In the sixth game, Adkar’s backhand proved effective and she took the lead by 4-2. Raina tried her best in the closing minutes but Adkar held the serve for 5-4 and went on to earn three break points to convert the win by 6-4.
