Fed Cup: Ankita produces fiery game under pressure to level tie

A fired-up Ankita Raina produced a stunning performance under pressure to shock world number 120 Lin Zhu and help India lock the Asia/Oceania Group I Fed Cup tie against China 1-1 after Karman Kaur Thandi had suffered a tame defeat in the opening match in New Delhi on Wednesday.

Playing with a lot of passion and energy, the 253rd- ranked Ankita came out with relentless hitting to catch Lin by surprise and beat her higher-ranked rival 6-3 6-2 on the Centre Court at the Delhi Lawn Tennis Association (DLTA).

This was after 19-year-old Karman lost the first match 2 -6 2-6 to world number 125 Yafan Wang.

Ankita will come back to play the decisive doubles with Prarthana Thombare, taking on the combo of Wang and Zhaoxuan Yang.

This is Ankita’s first win over Lin in fourth attempt as she lost twice to her on the Tour and once in the Fed Cup.

Ankita never took her foot off the pedal as she kept throwing the balls back to Lin, who struggled to cope with consistent returns from the Indian.

Lin pounced on the serve of the Indian initially and consistently hit on her backhand, but Ankita was ready to return the compliment.

After playing four deuce points in the fourth game, Lin hit a slightly wide forehand to hand Ankita her first breakpoint, but the Chinese managed to save that.

Ankita found a stunning backhand service return winner to earn her second break chance but hit a forehand long.

Lin again made error with her forehand and this time Ankita did not miss out as she attacked the second serve of Lin to make an angled un-returnable backhand to break her opponent.

Ankita was swift with her movement and had controlled her ground strokes to twice save break chances in the following service game to take a commanding 5-2 lead.

Lin did put some pressure on the Indian but Ankita kept the lead with her and closed out the set in her favour in the ninth game.

Ankita kept up the tempo and broke Lin in the first game of the second set when the Chinese faltered with her backhand at 30-40.

The Indian lost her serve for the first time in the match immediately after getting the break but did not allow the Chinese to disturb the momentum by breaking her again in the fifth.

Ankita showed she was in complete control as she executed a disguised drop shot at 15-15 to create and opportunity and executed it nicely.

She hit a forehand on first breakpoint but, on the second, the Chinese hit a forehand wide as Ankita led 4-1. It was a matter of time from there.

Earlier, in the first match, the gulf between the players was evident with Wang striking the ball with authority while Karman’s game was littered with errors.

The Chinese team arrived only yesterday morning but Wang still managed to adjust to the bounce of the centre court and the conditions.

Wang is coming to the Fed cup after a semifinal finish at the WTA Taipei Open, where she lost to world number 45 Timea Babos after beating Eugeni Bouchard.

It was the second meeting between Karman and Wang, who now leads the head-to-head 2-0, having won the first match during the Tianjin ITF event last year.

Wang stamped her superiority from the beginning as she broke Karman in the very first game of the match.

Karman tried too hard and even changed the tactics by approaching the net but Wang was up to the task as the Chinese found easy passing winners and forced the Indian to retreat.

The 19-year-old Karman, coached by Aditya Sachdeva, lacked variety and tactics to tackle his wily opponent, who has played Grand Slam qualifiers.

Karman had two opportunities to break her opponent — second game of opening set and sixth of second — but could not take her chances.

Karman’s serve was good only in patches as she served five double faults. In the few rallies also it was the Chinese who handled the points well.

Karman’s unending unforced errors never let her come back and one such long backhand ended her struggle on the court.

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