India’s Tennis star Sania Mirza and Ankita Raina at Tokyo 2020 (Twitter)
Sania Mirza and Ankita Raina misplaced their girls’s doubles opener towards Ukrainian pair of Nadiia and Liudmyla Kichenok and had been knocked out of the Tokyo Olympics.
- PTI
- Last Updated:July 25, 2021, 09:51 IST
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Sania Mirza and debutant Ankita Raina had been knocked out of the Tokyo Olympics regardless of dominating a big half of their girls’s doubles opener towards Ukrainian twin sisters Nadiia and Liudmyla Kichenok, right here on Sunday. Sania and Raina had been operating away with the competition after bageling their opponents however in a dramatic turnround, the Kichenok sisters got here again from the useless to tug off a 0-6 7-6(0) 10-8 win at court docket 11 of Ariake Tennis Centre. Sania was serving for the match at 5-3 in the second set however maybe nerves obtained the higher of her and she ended up dropping her serve. From there on, it was not the identical match, in which the Ukrainians appeared out of type, fighting their serves and returns. The Indians turned the prey and Ukrainians pounced on them.
Sania and Raina had been down 1-8 in the Super Tie break however reeled off seven straight factors to make it 8-8 however misplaced the subsequent two factors to make an exit from the Games. The Indians broke the Ukrainians in the second recreation of the match to open up a lead. What adopted was a sequence of holds for the Indians however drops for his or her rivals. In simply 21 minutes, Mirza and Raina had claimed the primary set. The Kichenok sisters lastly obtained on board when Raina’s backhand return sailed over the baseline in the second recreation of the second set.
Raina went up 40-15 in the third recreation however buried a forehand return on the web and Mirza additionally fumbled on the web to get to deuce level. The younger Indian held nerves to serve out the sport with consecutive factors. Nadiia’s two double faults put the Ukrainians in bother however they got here out unscathed with some strong net-play, making it 2-2.
Sania hit a crushing forehand winner to earn a break likelihood in the sixth recreation however Raina’s backhand return was dispatched for a drop volley winner. Another likelihood got here India’s approach however Raina netted her backhand from the baseline. Sania’s backhand service return winner earned the Indians one other likelihood and they didn’t squander it this time to go up 4-2. Raina had a straightforward maintain in the subsequent and now they had been one recreation away from the second spherical. Serving for match, Sania went 15-30 however pulled off a nicely calculated lob to keep at bay the hazard. However, she made two consecutive errors handy the Ukrainians their first break, the second being an extended backhand.
From there on, the match modified dramatically and the Ukrainians began calling the photographs.
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