Billie Jean King Cup: India go down fighting to Slovenia, miss out on Qualifiers spot

Bengaluru: For brief periods, the crowd at the S.M. Krishna Tennis Stadium here started to believe in the impossible. But in the end, the reality of Slovenia’s superior class became apparent.

Slovenia, led by Tamara Zidansek and Kaja Juvan, guided the visitor to a 2-1 win over India in the Billie Jean King Cup play-offs on Saturday. With two straight victories in two days, Slovenia topped the group and advanced to the Qualifiers round.

India and the Netherlands, who face each other in an inconsequential tie on Sunday, were relegated to Group I.

The action began with a spirited performance from India number two Shrivalli Bhamidipaty, who managed to stretch 2021 French Open semifinalist Zidansek to three sets. Zidansek was dominant in the first set, helped by Shrivalli’s struggles with early nerves.

Shrivalli found her service rhythm to hit top gear in the second set. The fans and her teammates on the sidelines were out of their seats with excitement, as Shrivalli stepped in and cleaned up all weak returns from Zidansek.

Shrivalli, the World No. 381, buried Zidansek under a barrage of forehand winners to force a decider. The third set started with loud chants supporting India, but Zidansek was determined to spoil the party.

It was now Zidansek’s turn to hit the right spots on her serve. Zidansek’s confidence grew as she held serve easily. After two hours and 19 minutes, Zidansek gave her unit a 1-0 lead.

World No. 309 Sahaja Yamalapalli, in contrast to Shrivalli, went for her shots from the first point. There was fire in her groundstrokes, which took Juvan (World No. 98) by surprise.

Once again, home hopes soared when Sahaja consistently kept the ball deep in Juvan’s baseline. Sahaja closed in and dispatched the moon balls with confident volleys, staying in the contest at 4-4.

A few errors, however, crept in to Sahaja’s game and the fizz was lost. The athletic Juvan frustrated Sahaja by retrieving the ball from all corners of the court, and used clever drop shots to catch Sahaja off guard.

Sahaja went into a shell in the second set, and Juvan sailed through in straight sets.

The Indian dream of gaining a historic maiden spot in the Qualifiers will have to wait another year.

Ankita Raina and Prarthana Thombare gave India a consolation win in the doubles, taking out Dalila Jakupovic and Nika Radisic. Agencies

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