Sania Mirza and Ankita Raina were knocked out of the Tokyo Olympics despite dominating a large part of their women’s doubles opener against...
Sania Mirza and Ankita Raina were knocked out of the Tokyo Olympics despite dominating a large part of their women’s doubles opener against Ukrainian twin sisters Nadiia and Liudmyla Kichenok on Sunday.
Mirza and Raina were running away with the contest after ‘bageling’ their opponents but in a dramatic turnaround, the Kichenok sisters came back from the dead to pull off a 0-6, 7-6(0), 10-8 win at Court 11 of Ariake Tennis Centre.
Mirza was serving for the match at 5-3 in the second set but she was broken and from there on, it was a different match. The Ukrainians, who had looked out of sort and struggled with their serves and returns, grabbed the upper hand.
Mirza and Raina were down 1-8 in the Super Tie break, reeled off seven straight points to make it 8-8 but lost the next two points to make an exit from the Games.
Earlier, the Indians broke the Ukrainians in the second game of the match to open up a lead. What followed was a sequence of holds for the Indians and drops for their rivals. In just 21 minutes, Mirza and Raina had claimed the first set.
The Kichenok sisters finally got on board when Raina’s backhand return sailed over the...
