Wellington, Apr 13
India’s bid for a place in the play- offs failed as it lost 1-2 to New Zealand the last tie of the Billie Jean King Cup Asia/Oceania Group I women tennis at the Moon Island Clay Park in Changsha, China on Saturday.
With the loss, India finished third in Asia/Oceania Group I with three wins and two defeats.
The top two teams in the group – China and Korea – earned promotion to the 2024 Billie Jean King Cup Play-offs while India remained in Group I along with New Zealand, who finished fourth.
The bottom two teams in Group I – Chinese Taipei and Pacific Oceania – have been relegated to Asia/Oceania Group II.
Once again Rutuja Bhosale gave India the early lead winning her singles match but Ankita Raina suffered a straight-set defeat in her contest.
Raina and Prarthana Thombare also lost their tie-deciding doubles rubber. Bhosale, 379th in the world rankings, registered a 6-2, 7-6 win over world No. 632 Monique Barry in one hour and 41 minutes.
She kept her composure towards the closing stages of the second set to avoid Barry from forcing a decider.
However, world No. 255 Ankita Raina failed to get the better of her higher-ranked opponent, world No. 169 Lulu Sun, in the second singles match.
A 2- 6, 0 – 6 loss for the Indian in 62 minutes helped New Zealand restore parity at 1-1. In the doubles, Raina and Prarthana Thombare took on Erin Routliffe and Paige Hourigan .
The Indians struggled to keep up with their opponents in the first set and despite a strong fight in the second set, suffered a 1-6, 5-7 loss in one hour and 27 minutes.
This was India’s second loss in Group I after a 0-3 defeat to China earlier. India had beaten Pacific Oceania 3-0 in their opener, defeated Chinese Taipei 2-1 and got the better of South Korea with a 2-1 margin.
