New Delhi– India’s top women’s tennis player Ankita Raina continues to lead her compatriots in both the WTA singles and doubles rankings released on Monday.
Raina is 174th in singles and 96th in doubles, up two places, as per the latest rankings released on Monday ahead of the Billie Jean King Cup World Group Play-offs in Latvia on April 16-17.
The All India Tennis Association (AITA) tweeted: “Ankita Raina continues to be the top-ranked Indian player in both singles and doubles — with a string of good performances on the ITF World Tennis Tour. Karman Kaur Thandi improves her ranking to 621, up 16 spots.”
At 352 in singles ranking, Riya Bhatia is the next-best placed Indian women’s player, followed by Rutuja Bhosale (419), Zeel Desai (568) and Sowjanya Bavisetti (611). Karman Kaur Thandi is placed 621 but she has seen the biggest jump of 16 places in singles rankings among all the Indians.
Sania Mirza, placed 154th in the doubles rankings, is second behind Raina. But the winner of six Grand Slam titles will be competing at the Tokyo Olympics in July this year due to her having a ‘protected ranking’ of world No. 9. Sania had applied to the WTA for her ranking to be secured when she took a pregnancy break after the China Open in October 2017.
Almost all the top Indian women’s players, barring Sowjanya Bavisetti, are in the Latvian capital of Riga for the Billie Jean King Cup.
On Monday, AITA tweeted, “Team India in full strength and wearing the blue with immense pride in their hearts!” (IANS)
