Indian eves pass Kiwi hurdle, now eyes Chinese Taipei in Fed Cup

Christchurch, Apr 18 (UNI) After two easy ties, Indian eves today battled hard to earn their third consecutive victory against host New Zealand 2-1 in the third rubber of the Fed Cup zonal qualifiers here.

In the first match of the day, US-based Shikha Uberoi failed to continue with her winning streak against Sacha Jones and lost the match in straight sets 7-6(5), 6-3, while Sunitha Rao started from where she left yesterday and easily outclassed Leanne Baker in straight sets 6-4, 6-2. However, for the first time in three days, she dropped games against her opponents.

Later, in the doubles tie, the duo of Sunitha and Shikha had to face tough resistance from the Kiwi pair of Leanne and Dianne Holands in an evenly contested match, but eventually pocketted the match in three sets 2-6, 7-6(1), 6-1.

Meanwhile, in the deciding tie of Pool 'B', the Indian girls will have to fight it out with their tough Asian counterpart Chinese Taipei tomorrow to top their pool.

However, if the Indian girls manage to achieve that feat, then they will be up against the winner of pool A, which comprises Thailand, Korea, Uzbekistan, Hong Kong, China and Singapore, in the finals to be played on April 21, to book a berth in the World Group II Play-offs in July 2007.

UNI