New Delhi, Apr 11 (PTI) A fearless Vaishnavi Adkar rose to the occasion with an inspiring win over higher-ranked Sohyun Park, leading India to a 2-1 win over South Korea after Ankita Raina’s defeat to Dayeon Back ended the hosts’ hopes of making the Billie Jean King Cup World Group Play-offs, here on Saturday. Placed fourth in the standings at the start of the day, India needed a 3-0 sweep against Korea to stay in contention for a top-two finish. Captain Vishal Uppal fielded his most experienced campaigner Ankita in the opening singles, but Dayeon quelled the home challenge, handing India a setback.
The 33-year-old Ankita, ranked 581, fought hard after a slow start against the 343rd-ranked Korean but eventually went down 1-6 5-7 in one hour and 55 minutes. She had not featured in singles prior to this tie, having played only doubles in the tournament.
India’s number one Vaishnavi then kept the contest alive, producing a gritty 7-6(2) 7-6(5) win over Park, who is ranked 107 places above her at 276.
Vaishnavi had an impressive run at the W100 event recently in Bengaluru, where she beat two top-130 players and followed that up with a title win in the W35 tournament in Kalaburagi. She carried that confidence into this tie.
Ankita and Rutuja Bhosale concluded India’s campaign with a 6-2 6-2 win against Dayeon Back and Eunhye Lee in the tie-deciding doubles rubber.
With a fourth-place finish, India stayed in the Asia/Oceania Group I along with third-placed Thailand. Indonesia and Korea qualified for the World Group Play-offs after finishing one and two respectively. New Zealand and Mongolia were relegated to Group II.
India’s unexpected defeat to Thailand on the opening day of the tie dented their qualification chances The two-hour-17-minute battle between Vaishnavi and Park was marked by frequent breaks of serve and high-quality rallies. Both players went for their shots, resulting in a fair share of unforced errors, but the intensity kept the contest finely poised.
Vaishnavi’s sharp cross-court backhands stood out, while Park impressed with her court coverage and angled forehand winners. The Indian briefly took a medical timeout in the second set for a back issue but showed no dip in intensity thereafter.
The Indian earned her first match point in the 10th game of the second set after a forehand slice error from Park but failed to convert. Park held under pressure for 5-5, and then broke Vaishnavi in the 11th game to move within a game of forcing a decider.
However, Vaishnavi broke back immediately to push the set into a tie-break. Trailing 0-3 in the breaker, she mounted a strong comeback and sealed the match when Park netted a return.
Earlier, Ankita had multiple chances in the match but squandered them at key moments. She pounced on a feeble backhand slice return for a volley winner to earn two break points in the opening game but failed to convert either.
She faced a break point in the following game when her drop shot was punished by Dayeon, but saved it after a long rally, finishing with an overhead volley winner.
However, Ankita offered another break chance after netting a forehand following six deuce points, and this time the Korean capitalised, striking a forehand winner off yet another weak drop shot.
Ankita’s repeated use of the drop shot proved puzzling as Dayeon handled them comfortably, often finishing points with winners.
After nearly 30 minutes, the Korean had surged to a commanding 3-0 lead. It soon became 4-0 when Ankita netted a forehand on a deep return and another drop-shot error handed Dayeon the point.
Much to the delight of the sparse home crowd, Ankita got on the board by breaking Dayeon in the next game, but there was no shift in momentum. She dropped serve again in the seventh game to concede the opening set, yet another drop shot landing wide proving costly.
Ankita significantly cut down on her unforced errors in the second set and even held serve at love, staying neck-and-neck with Dayeon till the eighth game. Growing in confidence, she urged the crowd to cheer louder after executing a stunning drop shot in the seventh game.
She then had a chance to nose ahead in the eighth game when Dayeon made a string of unforced errors. Ankita squandered the first break point but earned another, which she converted after the Korean sent a return long.
Ankita could not capitalise on the break and dropped her serve immediately. The final slide came when at 30-15 she could not pick up a half-volley, followed that with consecutive returns on the, allowing Dayoen to serve out the match in the next game. PTI APS APS UNG
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