Mixed day for Indian women

Mixed day for Indian women

April 27: In the first singles against Japan, Sai Jayalakshmy had the Japanese coach sweating a bit when she led Shinobu Asagoe 3-1. Sai missed a half-volley on game point to go 4-1 up, but then the 122-ranked Shinobu broke back and did not waste time or points after that, beating Sai 6-3, 6-1.

I was looking forward to playing Ai Sugiyama and she proved she was worthy of being a top 20 player with her neat strokes and speed. She beat me 6-2, 6-3. The scores may suggest a one-sided match, but it was not all that easy. We had some long rallies and I was playing quite aggressively, but she was extremely quick, and therefore forced me to go for too many shots.

Nevertheless, it was a great testing ground for both Sai and me, and made us realise that we are not that far behind, but are only in need of some fine-tuning.

Later in the day, we played Kazhakstan. Sai beat Alissa Velts 6-2, 6-3, while I beat Khazova 6-2, 6-2 and Radhika Tulpule and Manisha Malhotra combined to beat Khazova and Velts 7-6, 6-4.

On Friday, we have a day off and will play our last tie against Hong Kong on Saturday. Since we lost to Japan, our only chance to top the pool would be if we win and Japan loses to Thailand on Saturday.

In some of the other matches, Chinese Taipei beat New Zealand in the decider and followed it up with a win over Korea. Indonesia also beat Korea.

RESULTS

NOTE: There were no doubles matches when one side took a decisive 2-0 lead in the first set of matches, as the teams were to play twice due to a rain delay on Wednesday. (X denotes seeds)

POOL A: Japan (X1) 2 India 0: Shinobu Asagoe (Jpn) bt Sai Jayalakshmy (Ind) 6-3, 6-1; Ai Sugiyama (Jpn) bt Nirupama Vaidyanathan (Ind) 6-2, 6-3; Thailand (X4) 2 Kazakhstan 0: Napaporn Tongsalee (Tha) bt Alissa Velts (Kaz) 6-0, 6-1; Tamarine Tanasugarn (Tha) bt Valeriya Khazova (Kaz) 6-0, 6-0

POOL B: China (X2) 2 Singapore 0: Li Na (Chn) bt Tina Jacob (Sin) 6-0, 6-1 Yi Jingqian (Chn) bt Yik-Hui Leow (Sin) 6-0, 6-0; Taiwan (X3) 2 New Zealand 1: Nikki Tippins (Nzl) bt Tai Lan-lan (Tpe) 6-3, 3-6, 6-4; Janet Lee (Tpe) bt Leanne Baker (Nzl) 6-2, 6-4; Janet Lee/ Wang Shi-ting (Tpe) bt Leanne Baker/ Shelley Stephens (Nzl) 7-6 (7/2), 6-3; Indonesia 2 South Korea 0: Yayuk Basuki (Ina) bt Choi Jin-Young (Kor) 6-2, 6-2; Wynne Prakusya (Ina) bt Cho Yoon-Jeong (Kor) 3-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-4.