Tennis
Bille Jean King Cup: Indian team register a close win over Thailand
The Indian women's team kept their promotion hopes alive with a win in the second tie of Asia/Oceania Group I.
Ankita Raina (Left) and Prarthana Thombare in action at Billie Jean King Cup 2025. (Photo Credits: AITA)
The Indian women's tennis team registered their first win of the tournament against Thailand in the second tie of the 2025 Billie Jean King Cup Asia/Oceania Group 1 at the Mslta School Of Tennis in Pune on Wednesday.
India started the tie with a win in the first singles, but then Sahaja withdrew from the second singles match, citing an injury. However, the doubles pair of Ankita-Prarthana won, and India (2-1) defeated Thailand women's team.
This was India's third consecutive victory against Thailand at the Billie Jean King Cup. However, India had to fight hard on each of those occasions, winning it by the same 2-1 scoreline in the 2019 and 2023 editions as well.
Shrivalli's back-to-back win
The 23-year-old Shrivalli Bhamidipaty of India continued her winning momentum to give India a fiery start to the tie as she got the better of much higher ranked, world no.170 Lanlana Tararudee of Thailand.
Shrivalli put on a power-packed performance and never looked under pressure despite playing such an experienced player and finished the match in straight sets (6-2, 6-4) in an hour and 8 minutes.
Game 2 of the tie saw Sahaja Yamalapalli take on world no.110, Mananchaya Sawangkaew, in the second singles match. The young Indian was up against it as her opponent used the court and her power wisely.
Sahaja put up a brave fight against a top 150 player to force a decider, but after a tiring match of two hours and 26 minutes, she could not continue and conceded the match, citing an injury, 3-6, 7-6, 0-1.
In the doubles game, India had the experienced duo of Ankita Raina and Prarthana Thombare squaring up against the Thai duo of Plipuech and Cheapchandej.
The Indian pairing gave it their all under the floodlights and put up a brave show to claim a big win in three tight sets (7-6, 3-6, 10-3) in an hour and 58 minutes, keeping India's hopes of a promotion alive.
India will now take on Hong Kong in their third match of the Billie Jean King Cup on Thursday, April 10.
