Ankita Raina is set to become only the third Indian woman tennis player to secure a place in the main draw of a Grand Slam as she made the cut for the women’s doubles event at the Australian Open on Sunday.
The year’s first Grand Slam starts in Melbourne on Monday.
After missing out on the women’s singles main draw, she still had a chance to qualify as a lucky loser till the completion of the first round, but now the 28-year-old has realised a long-time dream when she signed up with Romania’s Mihaela Buzarnecu to earn a direct entry in doubles.
Years of hard work finally pays….Lion-hearted @ankita_champ becomes only the 3rd Indian woman to make cut for a Grand Slam main draw. She will compete in women’s doubles of @AustralianOpen.
Only @MirzaSania and @NiruSanjeev have done it before for India.
All the best champ !— Amanpreet Singh (@amanthejourno) February 7, 2021
Only Sania Mirza and Nirupama Vaidyanathan have competed in the Grand Slam main draws for India…