Billie Jean King Cup (previously Fed Cup) - India

[meyyis]

In the doubles, the Chinese pair of Wang Y. / Yang Z. beat the pair of Ankita Raina & Prarthana Thombre in straight sets - 6-2, 7-6.

[sameerph]

Bad that we could not capitalise on Ankita's win here. Now, we face Kazakhstan tomorrow who have 2 top 60 players. So, more difficult match which we need to win if we have to stay in the contention for promotion. If we lose, we have to win 1 of the next 2 matches to ensure we are not demoted to group II.

This is a brief report on today's play -

Pumped up Ankita exudes confidence of more upset wins

[PKBasu]

Wonderful upset win for Ankita. She seems to reserve her best for Fed Cup (a la LP and DC). Great to see!

[jayakris]

That was a wonderful upset by Ankita. Wish the doubles match had gone a bit better. Jay

[vishalg]

Bad that we could not capitalise on Ankita's win here. Now, we face Kazakhstan tomorrow who have 2 top 60 players. So, more difficult match which we need to win if we have to stay in the contention for promotion. If we lose, we have to win 1 of the next 2 matches to ensure we are not demoted to group II.

This is a brief report on today's play -

Pumped up Ankita exudes confidence of more upset wins

There will be one promotion and 2 relegations. Teams finishing 3rd and 4th will be playing to avoid relegation.

[sameerph]

Oh, yes. I misinterpreted that. If we lose tomorrow against Kazakh it does not matter what happens against Hongkong. We have to win the relagation play off. A win against Honkong will only give give us an easier match in relagation playoff.

[meyyis]

Karman managed to break Zarina once each in both the sets, but lost her own serve more times to end up losing.

[S1] Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,284) l. Zarina Diyas (KAZ,55) : 3-6, 2-6

Meanwhile Ankita continues her stellar fight and has taken the first set 6-3 against Yulia in the second match. Go Ankita.
After breaking Yulia in the first game of the second set, it was a melt down from Ankita and she lost her service game thrice to hand over the second set 6-1.

[S2] Ankita Raina (IND,253) vs. Yulia Putintseva (KAZ,81) : 6-3, 1-6

[sameerph]

Ankita lost the second set 1-6.

[sameerph]

Yes, Ankita wins 63 16 64.

Fantastic top 100 win for Ankita.

[meyyis]

Superb victory for Ankita in the end. It was a dog fight of a match for 2 hrs and 27 mins, with Ankita losing serve and trailed by a break early in the third set. She broke back Yulia in the sixth game to restore parity and went to break her again in the decisive tenth game to clinch the match.

[S2] Ankita Raina (IND,253) d. Yulia Putintseva (KAZ,81) : 6-3, 1-6, 6-4

On to the doubles now. Ankita and Prarthana are scheduled to meet the Kazakh pair of Gozal Ainitdinova / Zhibek Kulambayeva. Gozal Ainitdinova is a 19 year old ranked 632 and Zhibek Kulambayeva is an 18 year old ranked 805 in doubles.

Ankita would be tired after her long singles match. Hope she and Prarthana have enough power and experience to make a match against the Khazak youngsters.

[sameerph]

Putintseva and Diyas are playing the doubles match, not the youngsters. So, it will be a tough one to overcome for Ankita and Prarthana.

[meyyis]

Still, on papaer, Diyas and Putintseva are ranked 377 and 773 in doubles rankings and Prarthana and Ankita are ranked higher at 130 and 204.

However the Kazakhs bagelled the Indians in the first set quickly in 21 mins, winning all their 3 service games at love and taking the Indians to multiple deuces in all their 3 service games.

Ankita and Prarthana could not hold on to a BP in the first service game of the second set. They finally hold in the second game of the second set. Its tied 1-1 in the second set.

Ankita and Prarthana had similar trouble in holding their serves in the second set as well and lost 3 service games. Even though they managed to break the Kazakhs twice, their errant display wasn't enough to keep them in the match and they duly lost the second set and match at 6-4.

[S3] Ankita Raina (IND) / Prarthana Thombre (IND) l. Yulia Putintseva (KAZ) / Zarina Diyas (KAZ) : 0-6, 4-6

[sameerph]

Yes, again Ankita's heroics came to naught due to doubles weakness. We are missing Sania here in doubles. Wish we have a few more doubles specialists in women too like men. Prarthana is one for the moment but still not so good and no one else is there.

Now, we play Hongkong and a win/ loss will determine whom we need to play in relegation play offs. If we win we are likely to meet Chinese Taipei. In case of a loss we are likely to meet the loser of tomorrow's match between Thailand and Korea.

[S_K_S]

So we just need Ankita to think she is playing Fed Cup when she is on tour. Great couple of wins which should give her confidence.

[arjun2761]

Awesome performance by Ankita! Hope she can take this performance out on the tour and achieve new heights in her career...