New Delhi: Vaishnavi Udkar faced a fire on her Billie Jean King Cup debut before rain interrupted the Sahaja Yamlapalli match at the DLTA Complex in New Delhi on Tuesday. As the rain started to stop the game for good, Thailand edged India 1-0 in the Asia/Oceania Group 1 tie.Yamalapalli was broken at the worst possible time before the skies opened up and when play resumes on Wednesday, Pachrin Sashe Chandij will look to close out the match at 4-3 in the third set.The first tie of the five-day round-robin BJK Cup, which started three hours behind schedule due to rain, saw Adkar lose 1-6, 3-6 to Anchisa Chinta.In a contentious match, where both sets of non-playing captains protested poor calls by the line judges with the chair umpire, 384th-ranked Yamla Palli brought things back to a set with some strong groundstrokes and cheap Chandage pressing for room.On two separate occasions, the 25-year-old and non-playing captain Vishal Uppal complained about calls made: first when the ball was ruled out as a ball in the opening set and then another time when the chair umpire overruled a serve call.Apple complained to the chair umpire and then called the supervisor. However, their pleas were not heeded and the decision was upheld.Sahaja, who have never tasted success in the BJK Cup, with a record of 0-7 to show for their efforts, will now hope to turn things around after a lackluster final game before being hit by rain.
In the first match of the day, India’s top-ranked player Adkar was dismissed by Chanta in just 73 minutes. The 21-year-old looked stiff and nervous from the get-go, breaking after double-faulting in the first game.That remained the theme in the first set as he served three double faults and the 442nd-ranked left-hander easily broke his first serve.It took Adkar 27 minutes to get his first game on the board and less than 10 minutes later, the first set was in the books.Adkar opened the second set brilliantly, breaking the 23-year-old’s serve, but the joy was short-lived. The Thai would then go on to win four straight games, including 16 of the next 19 points.The young Indian attempted a comeback, bringing things to a break at 4-3, but his last-ditch effort to create an opening was quickly shut down in what proved to be the last and final game.After the singles rubber resumes at 11 am on Wednesday, Ankita Raina and Ratuja Bhosle will take it upon themselves to keep the tie close in the doubles department. India’s second tie of the day will be against New Zealand.First day scores from BJK Cup Asia/Oceania Group 1 tiesIndia 0-1 Thailand (Suspended due to rain)Indonesia 2-0 New Zealand* (Suspended due to rain)Korea 3-0 Mongolia
