Rutuja Bhosale and Ankita Raina helped India take a 2-0 lead over Uzbekistan in the second league match of the Fed Cup Asia-Oceania group-1 women’s tennis tournament here on Wednesday.
Rutuja fought her way past Akgul Amanmuradova 2-6, 6-2, 7-5 in the first rubber, and Ankita recovered from a tough situation to overwhelm Sabina Sharipova 7-5, 6-1 in the second rubber, after having trailed 3-5 in the first set.
This was the much anticipated win for India after the 0-3 loss to top seed China in the first tie on Tuesday. Ankita had played a vibrant three-set thriller against World No. 29 Wang Qiang in the tie against China.
Having won the tie, India opted to field Sowjanya Bavisetti and Riya Bhatia for the doubles, and preserved former World No. 1 doubles star Sania Mirza for the tougher matches ahead.
China continued to assert its strength as it beat Indonesia 3-0, while Chinese Taipei beat Korea 2-1, thanks to the decisive doubles victory through Hao-Ching Chan and Yung-Jan Chan.
The top two teams from the competition will qualify for the next stage.
The results (league):
India leads Uzbekistan 2-0 (Rutuja Bhosale bt Akgul Amanmuradova 2-6, 6-2, 7-5; Ankita Raina bt Sabina Sharipova 7-5, 6-1).
