Fed Cup: India lose 1-2 to China despite Ankita's stunning win

New Delhi, February 7: A fired-up Ankita Raina produced a stunning performance under pressure to shock world number 120, Lin Zhu, but that was not enough as India lost the Fed Cup tie against China 1-2 on the opening day of the Asia/Oceania Group I competition here.

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 R K Khanna Tennis stadium. This was after 19-year-old Karman Kaur Thandi lost the first match 2-6, 2-6 to world number 125 Yafan Wang.

Later, Ankita came back to play the decisive doubles with Prarthana Thombare, but the Indian pair was no match to the combo of Wang and Zhaoxuan Yang, world number 31 in doubles, as they went down 2-6, 6-7(1) to lose the tie. The Indians were not sharp enough, lacked coordination and missed several chances.

Despite Brave fight,Ankita Raina/ Prarthana G Thombare pair goes down against Zhaoxuan Yang/ Yafan Wang 2 -6,6(1)-7 of the deciding Tie. As a result,China edge past India 2-1 of ASIA/OCEANIA I POOL A matches #FedCup2018 pic.twitter.com/AQ4dBnqWCO

— tanmoypaul (@tanmoy_sports) February 7, 2018

India next play formidable Kazakhstan, who blanked Hong Kong 3-0, in a must-win tie on Thursday (February 8). The winners of the two Pools will clash against each other to qualify for the World Group Play-off. It was 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 the Indian's consistent returns. 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 an 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 for Ankita from there.