Billie Jean King Cup (previously Fed Cup) - India

[jayakris]

Jesus, Prarthana!!!

Two returns from her in that game were out of this world. Like, how did she do that? Physically impossible, one would think... I want a replay of this set, just to watch some of these things Prarthana is doing. We break them again at no-AD point, and it is 4-1 and serving.

Prarthana net-kill (with her "oomph" ) at 40-15 and we hold... 46 51

[arjun2761]

That isn’t Su Wei Hsieh. It’s the #27 doubles specialist who played the first singles match partnering ES Liang.

[jayakris]

Makes sense. She didn't look like Suwei Hsieh to me!!!! This player looked much younger and a bit taller. So this must be Hao-Ching Chan

[jayakris]

A really good BH volley kill by Prarthana at AD out set pt, and we take the set!! Just like that it is 46 61

On to an STB. Let's go, and let us take care of business right here!

3-3 going on serve in STB... No minis till 5-4, and we get one on a lob return and a long shot by Enshuo... and anther mini!! 7-4 and serving. Gave one back on the first mistake from Prarthana after a whole while.. A BH long.. 7-5 and serving. Oh and we give another back from some good play by Taiwanese. Back even at 7-6... 7-7... Nice BHCC from TPE... 7-8 and in trouble. Need to hold serve here. 8-8 on a net punch from PT. Return long... 9-8 MP on TPE serve. Great serve from EL to AR's feet. 9-9. Boy, this is too close. Retrun long.. 9-10 we face an MP on our serve. Strong serve from Prarthana, return long.. 10-10... Another service winner. Now 11-10 we have an MP. 11-11.. TPE plays well there... 11-12 and we face yet another MP. Now SR service winner. 12-12

An ace from AR called out. The ump finds the mark in, so replay point. This time a shot from PT goes long. 12-13 MP. We save it off TPE serve. 13-13. And two nice shots from PT, and we get another mini... Now 14-13 MP on our serve

GOT IT !!!! 15-13 STB

[jayakris]

And just like that, we beat Taiwan 2-1 and are sitting pretty now. No big worries of any relegation now.

[jayakris]

It was all Prarthana. She got things going, took control of the match, started speaking loudly and getting Ankita to focus, and raised AR's level of play too. That is the kind of play that we need to see when you play under national colors.

The world #27 and all can boast about their rankings, but the best player on court today in doubles was Prarthana Thombare and there is no doubt.

Take a bow, Prarthana ... And thank you Ankita for hanging in there and getting your game back just in the nick of time.

[sameerph]

Excellent to get a win after losing that critical match of Ankita. Prarthana stood and made her doubles prowess count.

Yes, relagation ruled out now. Now, we can make a stretch and beat NZ and Korea to get into top 2 ?

[jayakris]

^^^ Hell, why not? If our doubles team can play this well, we have a chance against Korea too.

Korea rested YeonWoo and #187 SuJeong who played the first two days, for the Pac.Oceania tie today. I was surprised that #421 YeonWoo was the #2 in the first two days, and not #267 SoHyun, but she played #1 today with #737 DaBin at #2 .. It will surely be #187 SuJeong paying #1 tomorrow but either YeonWoo or SoHyun in the first match. I and highly doubtful if Ankita can beat SuJeong with her current form (plus she has played 5 matches already and must be tired too). I will rest Ankita and keep her for doubles tomorrow and have Rutuja go after SuJeong. She has beaten SuJeong in the past, and beat YeonWoo in the last year's BJK cup.

By the way, Rutuja has played on those same clay courts (Moon Island Clay Park) in Changsha for a W60 in 2019. She had a win over a top-450 Chinese player before losing a 26 67 to the top seed Stoyanovich who beat everybody else in 61 62 type matches to win the title. Rutu was also double finalist there (and Prarthana was in doubles SF too). So, Rutuja should be pretty comfortable playing there, and it is worth trying her for #1 tomorrow. Let Shrivalli play #2 ...

[sameerph]

Yes, but if we want to play Rutuja at #1 singles, we cannot play Sahaja as other singles player as Sahaja is ranked higher than Rutuja and Sahaja will become #1 in that case. So, maybe play Shrivalli at #2 and Rutuja at #1. Not a bad ploy, we will know what form Shrivalli is in and she has shown ability to beat top players on her day.

[jayakris]

Yeah, I assumed we will send Shrivalli in for #2. That is the kind of call our coach needs to make. Sahaja has just not played enough clay matches (Rutuja has played a lot) and she is not worth taking a risk on. It was okay against China as it was an expected loss, but she didn't look too great in her ability to move around on clay. Footwork getting messed up 4 or 5 times in a match is too much. She looked like a fish out of water, really. I would send in Shrivalli for #2 and Rutuja for #1...

But if Shrivalli is also looking very iffy on clay courts in their practices, then send Rutuja for #2 and Sahaja for #1, to get at least one win out of the two.

Either way, Ankita should not play singles tomorrow. She can play against NZL later, if needed.

[jayakris]

Excellent to get a win after losing that critical match of Ankita. Prarthana stood and made her doubles prowess count.

I feel really guilty that I had never tried to go find a doubles match with Prarthana in it on ITF's live stream page. I just had no idea that she was this damn good. No wonder she has had no trouble finding good partners and keeping her career going. Her doubles game was a pleasure to see today.

[sameerph]

Is the Korea match tomorrow for sure and NZ the day after ?

[jayakris]

^^^ The ITF page seems to show that - https://www.billiejeankingcup.com/en/dr ... iaOceaniaI

[sameerph]

Ok, so I think tomorrow's India vs. Korea match may virtually be the match will decide the team which will finish second provided we beat NZ ( which is easier than Korea match) and China beats Korea on last day.

[jayakris]

So if NZL beats us and loses to TPE, and we lose to KOR and NZL, and TPE beats NZL and POC, then three countries will be at 2-3... Won't we get relegated in that situation? I think we are not assured of non-relegation just yet.

Say we will lose both the next ties 0-3, then we will be 5-10 in matches... If TPE beats NZL 2-1 (with a 3-0 win on POC too), they can finish 7-8, and NZL can finish 7-8 too... I think we will get relegated in that case. We need to get at least 2 wins in the next two ties even if we lose them ties, to stay out of trouble.

I think NZL will lose to TPE, so TPE is in good shape to not et relegated. So we need to make sure we beat NZL. If we lose all three matches to Korea tomorrow, then we absolutely will need to beat NZL because even a 1-2 loss to them may not be enough.