Billie Jean King Cup: Vaishnavi, Sahaja help India sweep NZ 3-0 in their second Asia/Oceania Group I match

Young debutant Vaishnavi Adkar and Sahaja Yamalapalli notched up convincing wins as India bounced back in style blanking New Zealand 30 in their second AsiaOceania Group I tie of the Billie Jean King Cup here on Wednesday Vaishnavi and Sahaja had endured contrasting defeats as India went down 12 to Thailand in their rainhit openerHowever the hosts scripted a swift turnaround with both players showing composure under pressure in their respective singles matches against New Zealand who are without their star player Lulu Sun Entrusted with the responsibility again Vaishnavi showed marked improvement executing her shots with far greater control to outplay Aishi Das 62 64 in one hour and 30 minutesSahaja then outclassed Valentina Ivanov 61 63 in the second singles to keep their campaign alive In the doubles Rutuja Bhosale and Ankita Raina recorded a 64 62 win over the combination of world No 11 Erin Routliffe and world no 338 Monique Barry to complete the drubbingVaishnavi vs DasVaishnavi capitalised on Das inconsistency to take control of the opening set Despite trailing 1540 early on serve the Indian earned the first break as Das squandered a 4015 lead with a string of errors She then held through a tight deuce battle to move 20 ahead Vaishnavi showed resilience under pressure in the third game saving two break points and maintained her advantage as both players held their serve to 31The Indian struck again in the fifth game converting her second break point to extend the lead Although Das broke back Vaishnavi responded immediately with another break and comfortably served out the set 62 finishing with an ace In the second set Vaishnavi stayed composed despite Das improved start After levelling at 11 she broke in the third game and consolidated for a 31 lead dictating play with a mix of aggressive baseline shots and controlled servingDas mounted a late challenge breaking back to level at 44 after Vaishnavi gave away a 400 lead However she quickly regained control breaking again in the ninth game as Das faltered with consecutive errors Serving for the match Vaishnavi held her nerve in a tense finish closing it out after forcing another mistake from Das to seal the winIt was my first match as a player in the Billie Jean King Cup so I was definitely very nervous I did not handle my nerves well But that was a lesson learned for me Vaishnavi told reporters Coming on court today I had to focus on what I do best And all I had to do was go to court and give my bestSahaja vs ValentinaIn yet another heavy baseline slugfest Sahaja played some superb forehand drives and looked in good touch as she took the court again for the second time on Wednesday She broke her opponent in the first game itself after converting two break points The Indian was then broken by Valentina but she broke back again in the third game to go 21 upSahaja controlled the rally and with great anticipation eventually took the opening set 61 Sahaja took the momentum to the next set She stayed in the rally and waited for her opponent to make mistakes The Indian broke Valentina in the second game and then held her own to go 31 If the fifth game a cross court winner helped Sahaja move to 41 Valentina too held her serve as it was 42In the seventh game Valentina looked solid from the baseline and broke Sahaja after forcing her into error grabbing two break points She sealed it when Sahaja hit the net In the next game the Indian converted her fourth breakpoint to lead 53 Serving for the match Sahaja prevailed in another baseline duel A superb drop earned her match point and she sealed it when Valentina went longIm happy with the win It was a tough match against Thailand to swallow We expected a different result we did what we could we fought our heart out Sahaja said I wasnt happy with the startegies I executed in first match so I told myself to do that better to close out the matches We need to fight for every point support each other and see where it takes usEarlier in the day Bhosale and Raina beat Thasaporn Naklo and Peangtarn Plipuech 63 64 in one hour and 11 minutes in the doubles after Sahajas narrow defeat in the second singles as India went down against Thailand A lot was riding on world No 384 Sahaja as she resumed the match after it was halted due to rain on Tuesday eveningHowever the 25yearold could not keep India in the hunt losing 46 61 46 to Patcharin ranked 449 in a match that lasted two hours and 25 minutesResuming at 34 in the decider Sahaja sent a forehand wide as Patcharin held serve to move 53 ahead The Indian then held her serve after a Patcharin backhand slice found the net narrowing the gap to 45With the match on knifes edge Sahaja produced some exceptional groundstrokes dominating baseline exchanges She even earned a break point when the Thai hit long However she faltered at the crucial juncture sending a forehand and a backhand long to hand the advantage back A miscued return on the next point ended her resistance On Tuesday debutant Vaishnavi Adkar had cracked under pressure committing a flurry of unforced errors in a 16 36 loss to Aunchisa ChantaThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever