Sania Mirza, Ankita Raina was knocked out of doubles tennis in the first round despite strong start

Indian women’s tennis pair Sania Mirza and Ankita Raina gave India a hopeful start to their Tokyo 2020 campaign but what followed was an unthinkable start. Despite winning the first set 6-0, India suffered a defeat. The pair was up against Ukraine’s Kichenok Lyudmila and Kichenok Nadia in women’s doubles. Sania-Ankita scored 6-0, 6-7, and 8-10 against the Ukrainian pair. This Ukrainian player is a twin sister.

Sania and Ankita were leading in the first set with it 6-0, but in the second set, the Ukrainian twin sisters took control and posed challenges in front of the Indian duo. Sania-Ankita held the lead in the second set as well but the Ukrainian sisters turned gears as the game leveled at 5-5. A protracted struggle ensued in which Ukraine won the tie-breaker 7-6 and the match went into the third set. From here Ukraine did not look back and went on to win the match 10-8.

This led to a rather extraordinary match tie-break, which is played instead of the third set in doubles matches at the Olympics. The Ukrainians raced to an 8-0 lead before Sania and Ankita fought back to make it 8-8. Eventually, they lost the tie-breaker 10-8. Now, after Sania and Ankita's defeat, Sumit Nagal, who is all set to face world No. 2 Daniil Medvedev of the ROC in the second round, is the only Indian tennis player left competing in Tokyo.