New Delhi: When Sahaja Yamalapalli rushed to the net and struck a backhand volley beyond Patcharin Cheapchandej’s reach to claim the second set, the Indian bench led by captain Vishal Uppal, found its voice again. There was still plenty to play for, with India trailing 1-0 in the opening tie against Thailand in the Billie Jean King Cup (Asia-Oceania Group 1) here on Tuesday.
With Sahaja drawing level and pushing the second singles into the decider, there was a renewed sense of fight and hope. However, the match had to be suspended due to heavy rain, with Patcharin leading 6-4, 1-6, 4-3.
The tie will resume on Wednesday morning. India will hope Sahaja can turn things around to give Ankita Raina and Rutuja Bhosale the chance to secure the doubles and the tie.
But going by how Thailand came out on the first day, it would be quite a task to accomplish. If India had thought that Thailand would be easy opponents, it was hardly the case. Vaishnavi Adkar lost the opening singles to Anchisa Chanta 6-1, 6-3. In the second singles, Sahaja showed glimpses of a fightback but Patcharin got the crucial breaks and wrapped up the first set, bringing the home team under pressure.
It was only in the second set that Sahaja started striking the ball with more power and consistency. The conditions on the hard court were difficult after the morning showers, which also delayed the start by more than three hours.
Vaishnavi, making her maiden appearance in the BJK Cup, was tentative and betrayed nerves. Though she improved as the match progressed it wasn’t enough to counter Anchisa’s fluent groundstrokes. The 23-year-old Thai, though ranked 456 to Vaishnavi’s 383, has five years’ experience competing at this level with a 7/1 win-loss record for Thailand in 10 ties.
It showed in her confident strokes and her ability to step up when the pressure was on her. Hitting deep and finding the corners with regularity, she gave no room for Vaishnavi to find her range. The Indian lost her serve first up and then it was a struggle to keep pace with the left-handed Anchisa, who adapted well to the slower court conditions and played well on both flanks to race through the first set. Vaishnavi got a break at the start of second set but could not capitalise as Anchisa took control, hitting crisp shots and injecting pace in the rallies.
The Sahaja-Patcharin game was a more intense affair and both had their opportunities. As it moved to the deciding set, Sahaja seemed to have the edge with Patcharin making errors and showing signs of slowing down. But she rallied in the third set. The match saw several contentious calls and both the captains exchanged heated words with the chair umpire. After one such call that went against India, Vishal Uppal was furious and the match referee came on to the court to intervene and calm things down. Sahaja kept her cool to break Patcharin the sixth game, though she was broken back in the next. It only kept the tie on a knife’s edge.
After their match against Thailand, India will take on New Zealand in the afternoon.
In other matches, Korea beat Mongolia 3-0 and Indonesia won 2-0 against New Zealand.
