The Indian girls fought well against Australia, but could not stop the top seed from recording a 3-0 victory in a group-A league match of the Asia Oceania Junior Fed Cup under-16 tennis tournament here on Tuesday.
Sanjana Sirimalla was beaten by Talia Gibson 7-6(5), 6-3 in the first rubber. Bhakti Shah stretched the second singles against Annerly Poullos to three sets. The Aussies did not drop a single game in the inconsequential doubles.
“The girls played their hearts out in the singles. We had our chances.
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“Hopefully, tomorrow we will be better at winning those few crucial points that decide the match,” said captain Namita Bal.
India plays New Zealand in the last league match.
“I picked the the more aggressive players against Australia because we had to take charge of each point against them. Sudipta was a better choice against the Japanese who love speed. We just got outplayed in the doubles as the Aussies were better players and played flawless,” observed Namita.
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Among the four boys’ and girls’ teams in the u-14 and u-16 events this season, only the u-14 boys had managed to reach the quarterfinals.
The results (league): Australia bt India 3-0 (Talia Gibson bt Sanjana Sirimalla 7-6(5), 6-3; Annerly Poullos bt Bhakti Shah 6-3, 3-6, 6-0; Anastasia Berezov & Talia Gibson bt Bhakti Shah & Sanjana Sirimalla 6-0, 6-0) .