India’s singles campaign at Roland Garros came to premature end on Thursday as Ankita Raina lost in the second round at the French Open qualifiers.
Raina endured a straight-sets defeat against Japan’s Kurumi Nara in Paris.
Raina, India’s top singles player, lost the second round contest 3-6 2-6 in one hour and 21 minutes.
“It (match) was not bad. I had chances in my service game but she returned very well today. If I had converted those games, then it would have been different. Also there were windy conditions today,” Raina said after her match.
In the first round, Raina had got her French Open qualifying campaign off to a solid start by beating Jovana Jovic 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in a match that lasted 2 hours and 47 minutes.
Raina’s defeat meant that no Indian will compete in the singles main draw of the clay court Grand Slam.
Sumit Nagal, Ramkumar Ramanathan and Prajnesh Gunneswaran had already bowed out of the men’s singles qualifiers.
Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan will compete in the men’s doubles with their respective partners in the final Major of the year that is happening in September-October instead of the usual slot in June.
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