India lost its last league match to Korea 1-2 but managed to finish fourth ahead of Thailand in the Asia-Oceania Billie Jean King Cup women’s tennis tournament in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, on Saturday.
India and Thailand were tied with two wins each, but India took the fourth place behind Japan, Korea and China, on the basis of having beaten Thailand in the first league match.
Host Uzbekistan, which proved to be the punching bag for all teams, got relegated to group-2 along with Thailand.
The victory for Korea against India was crucial as it helped the team stay in the race for second qualification spot behind Japan. Korea had beaten China, which needed to beat Japan in the last league match to earn the second qualification spot.
Japan had won the first singles, and the second match had just started late in the evening.
Having been assured of its place in group-1, following its wins over Thailand and Uzbekistan, India could breath easy against Korea.
It fielded national champion Vaidehi Chaudhari in the opening singles, and rested Ankita Raina for singles by putting Rutuja Bhosale for the second singles. Vaidehi lost to Kim Dabin in three sets, and Rutuja prevailed over Ku Yeon Woo in three sets.
In the decisive doubles, Rutuja in partnership with Ankita Raina was beaten 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 by Kim Dabin and Choi Jee Hee. Interestingly, Rutuja had won two doubles titles in the professional circuit in 2014 with Kim Dabin.
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