Ankita Raina beats former World No 1 Samantha Stosur to notch up biggest win of tennis career at Kunming Open

India’s top women’s singles player Ankita Raina shocked former US Open champion Samantha Stosur for the biggest win of her career, progressing to the second round of the Kunming Open in Anning on Wednesday.

Raina, an Asian Games bronze medallist, shocked the fancied Australian 7-5 2-6 6-5 in a gruelling two hours and fifty minutes battle in the WTA 125k event.

This is the second time the two faced off, with Stosur winning their last encounter in straight sets.

The 26-year-old Indian struggled to hold her serve and managed only three aces throughout the match compared to Stosur, who smashed seven aces. However, the World No 77 made more errors — 18 double faults — compared to Raina’s six.

Raina will face Kai-Lin Zhang of China in the second round.

Raina, ranked 178, had finished runner up at the $60,000 ITF event in Istanbul earlier this month. Last year, she became only the third Indian woman tennis player after Sania Mirza and Nirupama Vaidyanathan to breach the top-200 rankings in singles.

Stosur had won the 2011 US Open defeating Serena Williams in the final. She is a former World No 1 in doubles and has won six other grand slam titles, including 2005 US Open, 2006 French Open, and 2019 Australian Open women’s doubles events, and the 2005 Australian Open, 2008 Wimbledon Championships and 2014 Wimbledon Championships mixed doubles events.