Ankita Raina began her campaign at the Wimbledon qualifiers with an easy straight sets win over local girl Maia Lumsden in London on Tuesday. The 205th ranked Indian notched a dominant 6-2 6-1 win over the the wild card entrant.
She will face Russia’s Vitalia Diatchenko, ranked world No 134, in the second round as she hopes to qualify for her first-ever Grand Slam main draw. The highest ranked Indian women’s singles player needs to win two more matches to make it to the main draw.
The 25-year-old had earlier lost in the first round of qualifying at the French Open.
In the first qualifying round of men’s doubles, the Indian pair of Vishnu Vardhan and N Sriram Balaji advanced to the second round with a 6-3 6-4 win over Sergio Galdos and Gerald Melzer.
Also advancing to the second round was Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan with his American partner Austin Krajicek. The fourth seeds faced stiff competition from Britons Marcus Willis and Aidan McHugh before prevailing 7-6(3), 6-3 in the opening round. They are one win away from making the main draw.
