Sports
Fed Cup: Ankita helps India draw level vs Kazakhstan (Lead)
New Delhi, Feb 8 (IANS) Ankita Raina battled past Yulia Putintseva in a hard fought singles encounter to help India draw level at 1-1 against Kazakhstan in their Pool A tie of the Federation Cup tennis tournament here on Thursday.
Ankita battled medical issues and a tough fightback from Yulia to take a well-deserved 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 victory.
Ankita grabbed the early advantage, breaking her opponent once in the first set to take the lead.
Ankita seemed to be troubled my medical issues during the second set, which allowed Yulia to stage a strong comeback.
She broke Ankita’s serve before holding serve to take a 4-1 lead.
The Kazakh broke Ankita’s serve again to win the set and level the scores.
Ankita was forced to take a medical timeout before returning to the court.
Yulia forced another service break early in the third set to take the lead.
She held serve in the next game to open up a 3-1 lead.
Yulia put pressure on Ankita’s serve again in the next game, forcing several break points.
But the Indian managed to hold serve and reduce the gap to 2-3.
The next game saw some excellent rallies before Yulia fired her return long to hand Ankita a service break.
Ankita then held serve to take the lead at 4-3.
Although Yulia held serve to draw level, Ankita won her next service game to regain the lead.
She then earned another service break to win the set and the match.
Earlier, Kamran Kaur Thandi went down in straight sets to Zarina Diyas in the first singles as India conceded a 0-1 advantage.
The 19-year-old Thandi was no match for her more experienced opponent, going down 3-6, 2-6.
Thandi committed too many unforced errors and her serve, though powerful, la cked the accuracy to trouble her opponent.
After winning the opening set without too much trouble, Diyas continued to dominate the second set. She broke Thandi’s serve in the fifth game of the second set to open up a 4- 1 lead.
The Indian broke back in the next game to reduce the gap.
But Thandi’s serve let her down as Diyas clinched another break in the next game and then held serve to ensure victory.
–IANS
ajb/vm
The left-handed batsman from Haryana is garnering praise from all quarters for the way he’s finishing games regularly in the most exciting IPL season.
Gavaskar reckons Tewatia’s whirlwind knock in Sharjah (in IPL 2020) where he smashed West Indies pacer Sheldon Cottrell for five sixes in an over, gave him the confidence that he belongs to the big stage.
Speaking on Cricket Live on Star Sports, Gavaskar said, “That assault on Sheldon Cottrell in Sharjah gave him the belief to do the impossible and the confidence that he belongs here. We saw the impossible (he did with the bat) the other day as well. There’s no twitching or touching the pads (which shows a batter’s nervousness) when he bats in the death overs. He just waits for the ball to be delivered and plays his shots. He’s got all the shots in the book, but most importantly his temperament to stay cool in a crisis is brilliant.”
Gavaskar has also nicknamed the 28-year-old cricketer the ‘ice-man’ and lauded Tewatia’s ability to remain unruffled during the tense moments.
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