Rutuja, Ankita win as India beat Uzbekistan in Fed Cup

Dubai, March 5: Rutuja Bhosale recorded a come-from-behind win before country's number one player Ankita Raina won the second singles as India secured the Fed Cup tie against Uzbekistan by taking an unassailable 2-0 lead in Dubai on Wednesday (March 4).

Rutuja erased a one-set deficit to defeat Akgul Amanmuradova 2-6 6-2 7-5 in the opening singles to put India ahead.

Bouncing back from the narrow defeat against China's Qiang Wang, Ankita regrouped to humble Sabina Sharipova 7-5 6-1 to seal the tie in India's favour in one hour and 34 minutes.

It was the sixth meeting between the two players with Ankita winning only the second time.

After trading breaks twice, the first set was on serve and Sharipova was serving to stay in the set in the 12th game. She began by a double fault and Ankita pounced on the opportunity to put pressure on her rival.

She finally converted her third set point to take the lead. The second set was one-sided with Ankita zooming to a 4-1 lead with a double break.

India had lost 0-3 to China on the opening day of the competition on Tuesday (March 3).

India will next take on Korea on Thursday (March 5). The top-two teams in the six-team competition will qualify for the Fed Cup Pay-offs, to be held in April.