India’s Ankita Raina squandered a 6-0, 3-0 lead and an enormous alternative to bag a primary singles title since 2020 as 15-year-old Brenda Fruhvirtova turned it round spectacularly to win the ITF $40,000 Ladies’s Open event in Bengaluru on Sunday.
Blown away within the first set, the highest seed from Czech Republic got here into her personal in the midst of the second to reel off 12 of the final 13 video games, taking the ultimate 0-6, 6-4, 6-0 from the fourth seeded Raina’s grasp.
“I didn’t be ok with something within the first set and it was like I used to be preventing myself. However as soon as I received the second set, issues grew to become simpler,” Fruhvirtova mentioned.
Taking part in for the primary time in India, the fast-rising teen, world No 163, received her first ITF title of this season on the Karnataka State Garden Tennis Affiliation lawns after capturing eight of them in singles final yr.
For Raina, the India No 1 who is anticipated to rise from 241 to 223 with the runners-up end, it was nonetheless a optimistic week after her bodily struggles of 2022 that led to her rankings drop.
The 30-year-old was twice down with Covid-19 final yr, with the second symptomatic an infection hampering her bodily on courtroom and in addition forcing her to retire mid-match in Could. Solely in the direction of the top of the season did she get again to her optimum bodily form and in August, she reached the ultimate of the ITF $25K in Aldershot, England. Raina is but to win a singles title since her twin triumphs in 2020, the final having come on the ITF Jodhpur in February that yr.