New Delhi, April 8: The Billie Jean King Cup Asia/Oceania Group 1 Qualifier faced interruptions due to rain at the Delhi Lawn Tennis Association (DLTA) Stadium on April 7, with Thailand gaining an early advantage against host India.
Rain delays pushed the start of the matches back by nearly three hours, with the first singles match commencing around 6 PM.
Vaishnavi Adkar, ranked 383rd in the world and making her debut in this competition, struggled against Thailand’s 23-year-old Ankhisa (ranked 456). The Thai player quickly established a 4-0 lead and dominated the first set, winning it 6-1.
Adkar showed signs of recovery in the second set, securing an early break. However, Ankhisa responded strongly, winning four consecutive games to take a 4-1 lead. Although Adkar narrowed the gap to 4-3, Ankhisa regained control, breaking again and ultimately winning the match 6-1, 6-3, giving Thailand a 1-0 lead. With this victory, Ankhisa’s singles record in the competition improved to 8-1.
In the second singles match, Thai star Patcharin Cheepchandee was leading 6-4, 1-6, 4-3 against Sahaja Yamalapalli when rain interrupted play again, halting the match until Wednesday morning.
Yamalapalli lost an early break in the first set but managed to equalize. However, Cheepchandee (ranked 449) secured a crucial break to win the first set 6-4. The Indian player (ranked 384) made a strong comeback in the second set, winning it 6-1. Cheepchandee, who has a singles record of 7-3 in this competition, took an early lead in the deciding set at 3-1, but Yamalapalli fought back to level the score at 3-3 before rain halted play for the second time that day.
The match will resume at 11 AM on Wednesday, followed by a doubles match featuring Ankita Raina and Rutuja Bhosale against Thailand’s Thasaporn Naklo and Pengtarn Plipuech. India will then face New Zealand in their second match of the competition.
In other matches, South Korea completely dominated Mongolia, winning both singles and doubles without losing a game. Indonesia secured a 2-0 victory over New Zealand, thanks to world number 41 Janis Jan and world number 389 Priska Nugroho. The doubles match in this encounter was also interrupted by rain and will resume on Wednesday morning.
All six teams will compete against each other in a round-robin format until Saturday, with the top two teams advancing to the next stage. On Wednesday, Thailand will face South Korea, while Indonesia will clash with Mongolia.
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