New Delhi, Jan 17 (IANS): India's top singles player Ankita Raina put herself in title contention in the doubles event of the ITF W50 event along with British partner Naiktha Bains on Friday, overcoming an all-Indian team of Riya Bhatia and Vaidehi Chaudhary at DLTA Complex here. Ankita, who made a first-round exit in the singles, and Naiktha prevailed 6-2, 6-4 over their rivals in the semifinals.

Ankita, who made a first-round exit in the singles, and Naiktha prevailed 6-2, 6-4 over their rivals in the semifinals. vAnkita and Naikhta last played a final together in November 2024 in Caloundra, Australia, where they ended as runners-up at the ITF W50 event.

If Ankita wins on Saturday, it will be her first doubles title of the 2025 season and her first since her triumph at the Kashiwa event in Japan in April, last year when she partnered Chinese Taipei's Chia Yi Tsao.

Ankita has been India's number-one female tennis player in singles and doubles since 2018. But in 2024, she was dethroned by Sahaja Yamalapalli in the singles category. This year, the Ahmedabad-born resident of Pune, Maharashtra, is hoping to do enough to get back her position as the top-ranked Indian player.

In the singles event, Latvian top-seeded Darja Semenistaja and seventh-seeded Tatiana Prozorova set up the top-half semifinal with easy victories. Darja outplayed Anasytasia Tikhonova 6-1, 6-3 in the quarterfinal, while Tatiana ended the impressive run of qualifier Maria Kozyreva 6-1, 6-1 in the second match in the last-eight stage.

From the bottom half, Hungary's second seed Panna Udvardy used all her experience to overcome the very talented Laura Samson 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 in a close quarterfinal. She will now fight out for a place in the final with British fourth seed Yuriko Lilly Miyazaki, who ousted sixth seed Slovenian Dalila Jakupovic 6-1, 6-3 in her quarterfinal.