A day after biggest singles win, Ankita Raina left stranded by her doubles partner

A day after registering the most memorable triumph of her career, two strokes of misfortune hit Ankita Raina on Thursday.

Not only did Ankita squander three match points to go down to China's Zhang Kailin 6-1 6-7(2) 6-7(7) in the singles second round of the WTA Kunming Open in Anning, China, but her doubles partner also left without informing her a day before their quarterfinals.

India's No. 1 women's singles tennis player, who stunned former Grand Slam champion Samantha Stosur in her singles opening round on Wednesday, had partnered with USA's Ashley Kratzer for the doubles competition.

The Indian-American duo won its first round on Monday, and was scheduled to play its last-eight tie on Friday. However, the 20-year-old Kratzer departed from Anning a day after losing her singles match on Wednesday. Funnily enough, she didn't even have the courtesy to convey her decision to Ankita.

"She lost her singles match on Wednesday, and she didn't inform anything to anyone the entire day. Later at night, she told the tournament supervisor that she was leaving. The supervisor informed me this (Thursday) morning, while she didn't even tell me about her decision," Ankita told DNA from Anning.

The 26-year-old Ankita had never met Kratzer before this tournament, and the two decided to team up only at the last-minute, after the former's original partner withdrew before the doubles draw due to an injury.

The first-time combo started its journey with an upset win over the fourth seed Chinese pair of Xinyu Jiang and Qianhui Tang on Monday.

Little did Ankita know what was in store for her from the American a couple of days later.

"I feel it's unprofessional on her part. The least she could have done was inform me that she was leaving. How much time does it take to send a message across?" Ankita said.

'Big confidence booster'

It was an unsavoury end to what has been an otherwise fruitful event for Ankita.

Coming off a run to the final at the ITF 60K Istanbul Lale Cup, the world No. 178 in singles tasted the sweetest victory of her career when she beat 2011 US Open champion and current world No. 77 Stosur in the opening round of the Kunming Open.

It was her first victory against a top-100 player after 10 attempts, and it was a warrior-like one, twice rallying from a break down in the first set and sealing the deal 7-5 2-6 7-5 after losing the second.

"Just before coming into the tournament, my coach (Hemant Bendre) told me, 'you'll have a big performance soon'. And it proved to be the case. It just makes me believe in myself even more, and it's a big confidence booster for me irrespective of the second round result," Ankita said.

The tale was somewhat similar on Thursday against the world No. 209 Kailin, Ankita winning the first set while going down in the second.

This time, though, Indian was up 5-1 in the decider before the Chinese engineered a remarkable fightback to make it 6-6. Kailin raced away to a 6-2 lead in the tiebreaker but Ankita again brought out her fighting skills to save four match points until she ran out of steam.

"Both of us were playing good in patches, and I felt I was a bit unlucky. But I fought right till the end and didn't give up. I gave it my all, and I'm happy about that," Ankita said.

Ankita said she didn't feel physically or emotionally drained after her historic yet hard-fought victory against the strong Aussie the day before.

"In fact, I was feeling fresh," she said. "I did my recovery session, and physically, I was fine. Mentally, it was a new day and a new match for me. Yes, the victory against Samantha was very big for me but it just gave me more confidence of continuing my good run," Ankita said, adding that she will head to Japan as she builds up towards the French Open.