India win over New Zealand in Billie Jean King Cup
India win over New Zealand in Billie Jean King Cup
|The Indian women's tennis team won over New Zealand 2-1 in their fourth Billie Jean King Cup 2022 Asia/Oceania Group I match on Friday in Antalya, Turkey. They won their individual singles rubbers, but Riya Bhatia and Sowjanya Bavisetti ended up losing their doubles match on the clay courts.
Ankita Raina and Rutuja Bhosale, India's No. 1 women's singles players, won their individual singles rubbers, but Riya Bhatia and Sowjanya Bavisetti ended up losing their doubles match on the clay courts at the MTA Tennis Academy.
India's final match is against South Korea on Saturday, but with back-to-back victories against Indonesia and New Zealand, India has already earned a third or fourth-place finish in the pool of six nations. The Indian women's tennis team had lost its first two matches to Japan and China.
The top two squads go to the play-offs, while the fifth and sixth-placed teams are demoted to Group II the following year. Teams placing third or fourth will be relegated to Group I for the following season.
Japan and China lead the way with four wins in four ties. South Korea and India are the next two teams, each with two wins and two losses. In fifth and sixth place, respectively, are winless Indonesia and New Zealand.
Rutuja Bhosale of India rated 477 in the world, played the opening singles match against world No. 1342 Valentina Ivanov of New Zealand and won handily. The Indian tennis player had hard opposition in the second set but eventually triumphed 6-1, 7(7)-6(3) in one hour and 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, Ankita Raina, ranked 319, had to work hard from the very first set before cruising in the second for a 7-5, 6-3 win over Kiwi No. 1 Paige Hourigan. The game lasted 1 hour and 34 minutes.
The Indian women's doubles duo of Sowjanya Bavisetti and Riya Bhatia, on the other hand, fell once more, losing the dead rubber 6-2, 6-0 in one hour and three minutes to Paige Hourigan and Erin Routliffe.
The Billie Jean King Cup, originally known as the Fed Cup, is a women's tennis world team tournament.
Sania Mirza's unbeaten run in Group I last season helped India qualify for their first World Group play-offs. India, on the other hand, lost 3-1 against Latvia in the play-off encounter and was relegated to this year's Group I stage.
