Ankita Raina says that a couple of weeks in Uzbekistan taught her
much more than she could have learned on the dusty courts back home in
Pune.
Raina put her lessons to good use as she captured the ITF Women's $10,000 title in Delhi on Saturday. She beat Eetee Maheta 6-3, 6-2 to cap off a wonderful week.
But what gives Raina more satisfaction is the fact that she worked hard for her victories. "I really had to be patient on the court. I had to ditch style at times and adopt a very street-smart approach. However, I am very happy that I could combine both these things to my advantage," she says.
Her encounter against London 2012 Olympian, Rushmi Chakravarthi in the pre quarter-final round was proof of Raina's new found resilience. The 20-year-old lost the first set 6-3. In the second set, the veteran Chakravarthi, raced into a 3-0 lead.
However, when most players would have thrown in the towel, Raina says that she just took a moment to reflect on her time in Uzbekistan and that seemed to have done the trick.
"I just reminded myself that I had come back from positions that were far worse, a couple of weeks ago. I just focused on the point at hand and things just clicked. I believed in my abilities and it worked like a charm," she said. India's highest-ranked player won the second set in the tie-breaker and then dismantled her opponent in the third to claim the deciding set 6-3.
Raina's sudden love-affair with the central Asian country stems from the fact that she reached the finals of a $25,000 event in Karshi Uzbekistan in the beginning of June. She beat a slew of higher-ranked players on her way to the final and also in the process learned a few valuable lessons. "It was the first $25,000 tournament of the year and I just aimed at clinching a quarter-final berth. However, as I started winning, I told myself that I could be in with a chance. On-court patience is something that I have been working on and it came together in Karshi," she said.
Raina put her lessons to good use as she captured the ITF Women's $10,000 title in Delhi on Saturday. She beat Eetee Maheta 6-3, 6-2 to cap off a wonderful week.
But what gives Raina more satisfaction is the fact that she worked hard for her victories. "I really had to be patient on the court. I had to ditch style at times and adopt a very street-smart approach. However, I am very happy that I could combine both these things to my advantage," she says.
Her encounter against London 2012 Olympian, Rushmi Chakravarthi in the pre quarter-final round was proof of Raina's new found resilience. The 20-year-old lost the first set 6-3. In the second set, the veteran Chakravarthi, raced into a 3-0 lead.
However, when most players would have thrown in the towel, Raina says that she just took a moment to reflect on her time in Uzbekistan and that seemed to have done the trick.
"I just reminded myself that I had come back from positions that were far worse, a couple of weeks ago. I just focused on the point at hand and things just clicked. I believed in my abilities and it worked like a charm," she said. India's highest-ranked player won the second set in the tie-breaker and then dismantled her opponent in the third to claim the deciding set 6-3.
Raina's sudden love-affair with the central Asian country stems from the fact that she reached the finals of a $25,000 event in Karshi Uzbekistan in the beginning of June. She beat a slew of higher-ranked players on her way to the final and also in the process learned a few valuable lessons. "It was the first $25,000 tournament of the year and I just aimed at clinching a quarter-final berth. However, as I started winning, I told myself that I could be in with a chance. On-court patience is something that I have been working on and it came together in Karshi," she said.
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