Former World No.11 Anastasija Sevastova blew hot and cold, but was firmly in control of the match as she beat Ankita Raina 6-0, 7-6(4) to seal the tie 3-0 for Latvia in the Billie Jean King Cup World Group playoff in Jurmala on Saturday.
When the youngsters were given a chance to get a feel of a dead rubber at this level, Rutuja Bhosale and Zeel Desai grabbed the opportunity for a face saving doubles victory over Patricija Spaka and Daniela Vismane.
There was no doubt that Latvia was the superior team. But it was disappointing for India that it could not stretch the fight a little more, especially considering the manner in which Ankita had teased French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko in three sets on the opening day.
However, Sevastova had a different grade of tennis, quite solid as Ankita pointed out about the first set, which was over in a jiffy.
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More organised
In the second set, Ankita was a little more organised with her game, but it was more of Sevastova switching off and switching on that affected the flow of the contest. At 2-5, 15-40, Sevastova was too sharp to let Ankita smell any chance of taking the set, even when she had those two set points.
The 31-year-old Sevastova could serve and stroke with such accuracy whenever she wanted that it was a mystery that she actually made mistakes that gave Ankita hope and stretched the set into the tie-break.
Without taking any credit away from Ankita, it was too clear that Sevastova was street smart, crafty and assured about the way she went about her game.
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