Ankita bags double crown in ITF tourney

New Delhi: Ankita Raina bagged her maiden ITF singles crown on Sunday after thrashing local girl Prerna Bhambri 6-4 6-2 in the final of the USD 10,000 ITF Women`s tennis tournament at the DLTA courts in Delhi.

The victory also meant that the 19-year-old completed a grand double, having won the women`s doubles title along with partner Aishwarya Agarwal on Saturday. The seventh seed Ankita, who has won four women`s doubles titles in the last two months, did not drop a single set in the tournament and gave away just four games in her straight set thrashing of top seed Anja Prislan of Slovenia. Even in the final, Ankita never looked under pressure against the Delhi girl and showed enough patience. Both girls served confidently in the first set. It was only in the 10th game that Ankita got an opening and the girl from Gujarat, who shifted to Pune to train under Hemant Bendrey five years ago, went for the kill. Prerna struck back in the second set by breaking Ankita`s serve in the first game but then the former national champion stepped up the power in her ground strokes and broke the third seed in the second, sixth and eighth game to pocket the match and the title. "It`s a great feeling to win the doubles crown and justify the faith put in me by my coach and the LAKSHYA (LAKSHYA-Bharat Forge supports Ankita) support team that has been standing by my side all along," said Ankita. She will again return to the Capital after a week to play the second leg of USD 10,000 ITF women`s tournament. PTI