BJK Cup: India put on backfoot by Thailand before rain halts play

NEW DELHI: Vaishnavi Adkar faced trial by fire on her Billie Jean King Cup debut before rain interrupted play in Sahaja Yamalapalli's match at the DLTA Complex in New Delhi on Tuesday. When rain came pouring down, to stop play for good, Thailand led India 1-0 in the Asia/Oceania Group 1 tie.

Yamalapalli was broken at the worst possible time before heavens opened up and when play will resume early on Wednesday, Patcharin Cheapchandej will look to close the match out from 4-3 in the third set.

The first tie of the five-day round robin BJK Cup, which began over three hours later than scheduled due to rain, had Adkar lose 1-6, 3-6 to Anchisa Chanta.

In the controversy laden contest, where both sets of non-playing captains remonstrated with the chair umpire over dodgy calls by line judges, the 384th ranked Yamalapalli had brought things back to one set all on the back of some strong groundstrokes and stiffling Cheapchandej for room.

On two different instances, the 25-year-old and non-playing captain Vishal Uppal complained about the calls made: first in the opening set as a ball was adjudged to have landed out and then another time when a serve call was overruled by the chair umpire.

Uppal complained to the chair umpire and then called the supervisor. However, his pleas were not paid heed to and the decision stood.

Sahaja, who has never tasted success in the BJK Cup, with a 0-7 record to show for her efforts, will now hope to turn things around, after a lacklustre final game before rain hit.

In the day's first match, India's top-ranked player Adkar was swept aside by Chanta in just 73 minutes. The 21-year-old appeared stiff and nervous from the get go, being broken in the first game after dishing out a double fault.

That remained the theme in the first set as she served three double faults and had her first serve easily thrashed around by the left-handed 442nd ranked Thai player.

It took Adkar 27 minutes to get her first game on the board and less than 10 minutes later, the first set was in the books.

Adkar started the second set brightly, breaking the 23-year-old's serve, but the jubilation didn't last long. The Thai player would then go on to reel off four games in a row, including 16 of next 19 points.

The young Indian tried to muster a comeback, bringing things to one break down at 4-3, but her last ditch effort to create an opening was quickly shut down in what turned out to be the last and final game.

After the singles rubber resume early at 11am on Wednesday, Ankita Raina and Rutuja Bhosale will hold responsibility of keeping the tie close in the doubles department. India's second tie of the day will be against New Zealand.

DAY 1 SCORES FROM BJK CUP ASIA/OCEANIA GROUP 1 TIES
India 0-1 Thailand (suspended by rain)
Indonesia 2-0 New Zealand* (suspended by rain)
Korea 3-0 Mongolia

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