India’s Ankita Raina has taken a massive step towards the main draw of the Australian Open women’s singles after a thrilling win against Spain’s Jessica Maneiro on Tuesday (Jan 9). Raina, 30, is hoping to become the first Indian since Sania Mirza to book a place in the women’s singles draw. In a contest that went down the wire, the 30-year-old needed a third set tiebreak to win 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (10-4). She will now face Sara Bejlek of Czech Republic who is seeded 22 in the women’s singles qualifiers.

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Raina edges closer to the main draw

Renowned for a powerful first serve, the Indian ace did not waste time in stamping her authority on the match as she won the first set 6-4. Raina was superb with her baseline play and offered returned winners while she struggled with the rallies. In total she had four returned winners and won 70 percent of her first serves to make a positive start to the contest. On the flip side, Maneiro had 45 unforced errors which saw her end second best for the first hour of the match.

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The second set though saw the Spanish teenage star mount a comeback as she broke Raina at the decisive stage to win 7-5. The Indian lost break points as well and failed to impress in the absorbing weather of Melbourne. However, heading into the final she had the advantage of serving first.

Poor start to third set

Despite the serve advantage, Maneiro had the early breakthrough after she broke Raina in the first game of the decider. The Spaniard quickly rushed into a 3-1 lead in the final set while the first three games saw the break of serves. Having lost her serve three times, Maneiro was a game away from knocking out Raina when she led 5-3. However, with a strong show with a good forehand return and first serve Raina managed to crawl her way back into the match and forced a tiebreak.

The tiebreaker also had a similar story with the 30-year-old trailing 0-3 but managed to put in impressive shifts to win 10-3 in the decider.

The draws for the Australian Open will be made on Thursday (Jan 11) with Raina now needing two wins to book her place.

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