Second seed Ankita Raina had a fortuitous entry into the quarterfinals as her opponent Sofia Costoulas of Belgium retired midway through the second set in the $25,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament at the Tennis Project, Baliawas, on Thursday.
On a day of persistent rain and long delays, with matches starting in the morning and finishing under floodlights, Ankita was in trouble as she had lost the first set 2-6. She recovered to be 3-2 in the second set when the 17-year-old world No. 3, Costoulas quit, with a calf muscle injury.
Like last week’s champion Karman Kaur Thandi, who wilted under the scorching sun against Sahaja Yamalapalli, Costoulas was also unable to be at her physical best, especially in the high humidity.
