New Delhi: Ankita Raina showed nerves of steel in an inspirational win over a seasoned Yulia Putintseva but her effort proved insufficient again as India lost the Fed Cup tie 1-2 to Kazakhstan after losing the decisive doubles here Thursday.
Ankita not only had to grind it out but also shrugged off poor umpiring to emerge a 6-3, 1-6, 6-4 winner in two hours and 25 minutes against a player, who was ranked as high as 27 last year and had beaten top-10 players.
Before Ankita’s win, Karman Kaur Thandi gave ample display of her talent but lacked consistency and lost the opening singles of the Asia/Oceania Group I tie to World No.55 Zarina Diyas.
However, the doubles proved to be a weak link again as Anita and Prarthana Thombare were demolished 0-6, 4-6 by Diyas and Putintseva. Prarthana has been focusing on doubles for some time now but she failed to anchor India in the decisive match for the second day in a row.
With Thursday’s defeat India are out of the World Group Play-offs race. From Pool A, it will be either China or Kazakhstan who will clash with winner of Pool B for a place in the Play-off, scheduled for April. India, who next take on Hong Kong, will strive to maintain their place in the Asia/Oceania Group I.
Ankita, who had beaten World No.120 Lin Zhu Wednesday, responded to the call from her team with a sensational performance against the World No.81 Kazakh.
Putintseva, who beat players of the caliber of Svetlana Kuznetsova and Dominika Cibulkova en route the final of St Petersburg WTA event last year, found the going tough against Ankita, who stood out with her relentless returns.
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