Host won the match 2-1 in Fed Cup Group II final in Hyderabad
Members of the Indian team celebrate winning the Fed Cup Group II Asia/Oceania final at the Lal Bahadur Tennis Complex in Hyderabad on Saturday. India beat The Philippines 2-1 to qualify for Group I (Photo Credit: Deepak Deshpande)
Hyderabad: India overcame stubborn opponents in the Philippines to advance to Group I of Fed Cup Asia/Oceania at the Lal Bahadur Stadium in Hyderabad on Saturday.
The Indian pair of Sania Mirza and Prarthana G. Thombare thumped Katharina Lehnert and Anna Clarice Patrimonio 6-3, 6-3 in the deciding rubber as the hosts won the Fed Cup Group II Asia/Oceania final 2-1 here.
Sania, who was recently crowned World No.1 in doubles, turned the all-important final on its head with her fine stroke-play and, along with Prarthana made short work of the Philippines.The Indian team, who were seeded third in the event, took just an hour and nine minutes to pack off the No.1 seeds in the deciding match. The doubles was an evenly-contested affair for the first six points in the first set. After that, it was headed only one way the Indian way as they went on to win the match in straight sets 6-3, 6-3.
Earlier, Prarthana, who didn’t drop a single set in the tournament, thrashed Anna Clarice Patrimonio 6-3, 6-1 and gave India a 1-0 advantage. She hit the ground running, and battered her opponent into submission in the first set. In the second, she rode her momentum and wrapped up a brilliant win. In the second match, Ankita Raina, who had taken just 52 minutes to beat Turkmenistan’s Anastasiya Prenko in the promotional play-offs on Friday, blew her one-set advantage to go down fighting to Lehnert 6-2, 5-7, 5-7. Katharina, who was slow to get off the mark, failed to hold on to her initial service games as she was 0-5 down. Katharina held her next service game and broke Ankita’s as the scoreline read 2-5. But in the end, the Indian breezed through the first set to take it 6-2.
After going down in the first set, Katharina offered more resistance, hung in there and rallied from 1-4 down and made it 4-4. Ankita then held her serve to go 5-4 up. Katharina was steadfast in her serve to make it 5-5. She then converted a break and held her own to shrug off the Indian challenge and sealed the second set at 7-5. The German-born Filipino won 19 of her 30 first service points — 14 better than her first set. With all to play for in the third, Ankita grabbed a 2-0 lead in the initial stages of the match.
But Katharina, ranked No.595 in the world, put up a splendid effort to stay level with the Gujarati girl and made it 2-2. After that, it was an evenly-contested affair with Lehnert finally winning the set 7-5 and with it, sealed the win.
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