Billie Jean King Cup | India’s hopes hang in balance after rain-affected day one of BJK Cup

Rains and a tenacious fightback from Sahaja Yamalapalli kept India’s hopes in balance, trailing 1-0 against Thailand in its opening tie of the Billie Jean King Asia/Oceania Group I when play was called off late on Tuesday night.

The start was delayed by more than three hours due to heavy rains and a persistent drizzle before a returning downpour forced the players off court with Sahaja trailing 3-4 against Patcharin Cheapchandej in the decider.

The India No. 2 and World No. 384 kept the host in with a chance to level the tie after Vaishnavi Adkar faltered under the weight of expectations, unforced errors and an opponent who came out all guns blazing, going down in straight sets to Anchisa Chanta in the opening match.

The match went with the serve for the first few games before Patcharin found the break to lead 4-2 in the first set. But a series of double faults and wayward forehands saw the Thai take the first set 6-4. A couple of close calls for both players kept the match in balance but Sahaja used her pace and powerful returns to wrap up the second set 6-1 and take the game into the decider before play was disrupted.

Earlier, India’s recently crowned top-ranked singles player Vaishnavi, 73 places above Anchisa at 383, lost 1-6, 3-6 at the DLTA Stadium under lights.

Mistakes galore

The 21-year-old Adkar was guilty of several unforced errors and was more reactive than proactive, the result decided more by her opponent’s winners or errors.

Barring a fighting third game where she saved two break points but also wasted five of her own before succumbing to sustained pressure, before pushing a backhand wide to trail 1-0 in 23 minutes. She began the second set on a brighter note, breaking Anchisa in the opening game but lost her service immediately after and handed over the advantage to again trail 1-4.

In other ties, Priska Madelyn Nugroho and Janice Tjen won their respective singles matches to give Indonesia an unbeatable 2-0 lead against New Zealand while Korea sealed the tie 3-0 winning all its matches against Mongolia without dropping a game.

The results: Thailand leads India 1-0 [Anchisa Chanta bt Vaishnavi Adkar 6-1, 6-3; Patcharin Cheapchandej vs. Sahaja Yamalapalli 6-4, 1-6, 4-3 suspended].

Indonesia leads New Zealand 2-0 [Priska Madelyn Nugroho bt Aishi Das 6-4, 6-1; Janice Tjen bt Monique Barry 6-3, 6-1; Priska & Aldila Sutjiadi vs. Monique & Erin Routliffe 1-1 suspended].

Korea bt Mongolia 3-0 [Dayeon Back bt Khongorzul Aldarkhishig 6-0, 6-0; Sohyun Park bt Jargal Altansarnai 6-0, 6-0; Jeong BoYoung & Lee Eunhye bt Khongorzul Aldarkhishig & Anu-Vjin Gantor 6-0, 6-0].