Prarthana Thombare won both her singles and doubles matches to guide India past New Zealand 2-1 in the last pool ‘D’ league match of the Fed Cup Asia-Oceania group ‘II’ tennis competition on the indoor hard courts of the National Tennis Centre in Astana, Kazakhstan, on Thursday.
The 19-year-old Prarthana gave India a rousing start by beating the 683rd ranked Dianne Hollands for the loss of five games in the first match. Ankita Raina found the 50th ranked Marina Erakovic a tough nut to crack.
However, in the decisive doubles, Marina and Abigail Guthrie were handled with competence by Sania and Prarthana.
It was half the battle won for India in its aspirations to qualify for group ‘I’
In the semifinal, India will play Hong Kong which had topped pool ‘A’ ahead of Malaysia and Vietnam.
The other semifinal will be between Philippines and Turkmenistan. One team will qualify to group ‘I’ for the next season.
The results: India bt New Zealand 2-1 (Prarthana Thombare bt Dianne Hollands 6-1, 6-4; Ankita Raina lost to Marina Erakovic 1-6, 2-6; Sania Mirza & Prarthana bt Marina Erakovic & Abigail Guthrie 7-5, 6-1).
