French Open: Ankita Raina, Ramkumar Ramanathan bow out in singles qualifying second round

Ankita Raina and Ramkumar Ramanthan’s quest to reach the main draw of the year’s second Grand Slam came to an end as they bowed out of the French Open with a second-round defeat in Paris on Wednesday.

Raina, up against higher-ranked Belgian Greet Minnen (world No 125), could win only two games in the match that lasted one hour and 21 minutes. The 182nd ranked Indian could convert only one of the three break points and eventually lost 2-6, 0-6. Raina struggled especially on her serve, facing 12 break points and conceding six of those. The Belgian won a whopping 60% of her receiving points.

It was Raina’s seventh attempt to crack the singles main draw of a major. She had reached the final round of the Australian Open qualifying event early this year, falling at the final stage. At the event, she had made her main draw debut at a Major, in the doubles category.

For Ramkumar, the challenge posed by former top-35 player Denis Istomin proved to be a tough one. The Uzbekistan veteran, currently outside the top 200, breezed past Ramkumar in 65 minutes, winning 6-1, 6-2. The Indian player could not force any break point opportunities whie Istomin percentage of…

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