Billie Jean King Cup: India Go Down 1-2 To Thailand Despite Consolation Doubles Win

Rutuja Bhosale and Ankita Raina salvaged some pride with a consolation win in the doubles after Sahaja Yamalapalli’s narrow defeat in the second singles, as India went down 1-2 to Thailand in the rain-hit opening Asia/Oceania Group I tie of the Billie Jean King Cup on Wednesday.

A lot was riding on world No. 384 Sahaja as she resumed her match after it was halted due to rain on Tuesday evening.

However, the 25-year-old could not keep India in the contest, losing 4-6, 6-1, 4-6 to Patcharin, ranked 449, in a match that lasted two hours and 25 minutes.

The doubles pair of Bhosale and Raina then beat Thasaporn Naklo and Peangtarn Plipuech 6-3, 6-4 in one hour and 11 minutes.

“We knew going into the match that Thailand is a very good team. We really

had to play some good tennis. Unfortunately, we didn’t do what we needed to do and lost 2-0. But nevertheless, it’s a good thing that we won the doubles because it’s still a long tournament ahead, and every win matters,” captain Vishal Uppal told reporters.

How India Lost?

Earlier, resuming at 3-4 in the decider, Sahaja sent a forehand wide as Patcharin held serve to move 5-3 ahead.

The Indian then held her serve after a Patcharin backhand slice found the net, narrowing the gap to 4-5.

With the match on a knife-edge, Sahaja produced some exceptional groundstrokes, dominating the baseline exchanges. She even earned a break point when the Thai hit long.

However, she faltered at the crucial juncture, sending a forehand and then a backhand long to hand back the advantage. A miscued return on the next point ended her resistance.

On Tuesday, debutant Vaishnavi Adkar had cracked under pressure, committing a flurry of unforced errors in a 1-6, 3-6 loss to Aunchisa Chanta.

In the inconsequential doubles match, Bhosale and Raina produced a superlative show, breaking early to race to a 5-0 lead against Thasaporn Naklo and Peangtarn Plipuech.

The Thai pair fought back, holding serve twice and breaking once to reduce the deficit to 3-5.

Serving for the set, the Indians raced to 40-0 and closed it out comfortably, with Raina finishing with an overhead smash.

In the second set, both pairs held serve to be level at 3-3 before Bhosale and Raina secured the decisive break in the seventh game and went on to seal the set 6-4.

Next Opponent Against?

India will face New Zealand in their next tie later in the day.

On the performance of the singles players, Uppal said: “In all fairness, I think Chanta played a really good match. I think she might have made 2 or 3 unforced errors in the match. She had a great day. Vaishnavi didn’t have as good a day as she possibly could have. Having said that, we knew our backs were against the wall.

“And we really needed to get back in the second singles, which we didn’t. Again, last night we finished up pretty late, and there’s not really much conversation you can have because you need the players to recover and rest. And yeah, now we’ve got to train our energies on New Zealand and focus on that.”

(With inputs from Agencies)