India, Ankita Raina outclassed by Latvia in Billie Jean King Cup

Jelena Ostapenko needed to resort to defence, an possibility she doesn’t wish to fallback on. She ran the width of the court docket a couple of occasions, taking part in most photographs on the stretch and attempting to be affected person. And when she ran out of it, once more on the run to her proper, she struck an unreturnable angled forehand winner. Both Ostapenko and India’s Ankita Raina stood for a second to course of the purpose and the way it ended.
“How she found that angle surprised even her,” the commentator mentioned, describing Ostapenko’s response.
The 2017 French Open champion later performed a strong backhand down the road winner to finish the match.
A day later, on Saturday, Raina had 2018 US Open semi-finalist Anastasija Sevastova reeling from lengthy rallies. Eventually the World No.47 unleashed a ruthless down-the-line forehand winner and later rained down an ace out huge to shut out the match.

Latvia see off India!
Anastasija Sevastova fends off a valiant effort from Ankita Raina 6-0 7-6(4) to offer 🇱🇻 an unassailable 3-0 lead#BJKCup pic.twitter.com/eyi2zgkkPK
— Billie Jean King Cup (@BJKCup) April 17, 2021
With it, Latvia had gained, expectedly, the Billie Jean King Cup World Group Playoff tie at dwelling 3-1 towards underdogs India. What rankled Ostapenko and Sevastova (former World No.5 and 11 respectively) was how they needed to battle to get the wins towards Raina.
The Indian outfit was spearheaded by World No.174 Raina, who solely not too long ago gained her first ever WTA title, in doubles.Along along with her to play singles had been Rutuja Bhosale (ranked 419), debutant Zeel Desai (568), and Karman Kaur Thandi (621). Former doubles World No.1 Sania Mirza was additionally within the crew.
Eventually, Mirza opted out of taking part in the lifeless rubber doubles match that Bhosale and Desai gained 6-4, 7-5, 10-2.Hopes of pulling off upset wins had been largely on Raina, the 2018 Asian Games bronze medallist. She had weak begins in her two matches; she misplaced the opening set 6-2 to Ostapenko, with out holding serve, and 6-0 to Sevastova within the third rubber. She hassled and harried her opponents throughout completely different phases of the matches however she didn’t have the category nor did she possess the one huge shot to decisively flip the match in her favour.
Raina’s taking part in type makes her a disrupter. Ostapenko dubbed her an “ugly player” who’s “difficult to play.”The 28-year-old from Ahmedabad doesn’t have highly effective groundstrokes, nor does she have a serve that may bail her out of bother. Her best weapon is the center for a battle and robust legs. She likes to elongate rallies, tire the opponent and draw an error. It’s a helpful technique to have towards the hard-hitting Ostapenko, who can self-destruct ought to issues not go to plan. Even Sevastova, a artful right-hander who mixes her photographs with relish, likes shorter rallies. When Raina refused to offer in, they struggled to seek out their rhythm.
Raina took the second set within the opening rubber towards Ostapenko, finally forcing the Latvian, who was battling a again drawback, to play her finest tennis within the final three video games of the match. Ostapenko gained it 6-2, 5-7, 7-5.
In the third rubber, Raina led for a lot of the second set earlier than Sevastova discovered her vary in her backhand and serve to win the tiebreaker, profitable 6-0, 7-6(4).

INDIA 0 LATVIA 3 – ANKITA LOSES TO SEVASTOVA
After an important battle again within the 2nd set to guide 5-2, Indian No. 1 Ankita Raina misplaced an in depth encounter with a scoreline of 06 67(4) handy over the tie 03 to Latvia.
Photos: Latvia Tennis Union / Kaspars Volonts pic.twitter.com/zCPIyl7MmF
— Indian Tennis Daily (@IndTennisDaily) April 17, 2021
Developing on-court weapons, nonetheless, can tip the percentages in Raina’s favour the subsequent time she’s in such a place.“She has to keep improving and adding things to her game,” says Vishal Uppal, the crew captain.
“Playing more aggressive is one, if her net game improves then it’ll give her the confidence to come up and finish points quickly, that’ll be good. It’s important for her to stay focused and when she has someone under pressure, to keep that pressure and not let it get away. She’s a diligent worker, but if she adds a few tactical moves to her game, maybe she can break into the top 100.”
Thandi was nominated to play the second rubber. She’s spent the previous few years battling harm, however gave an honest displaying within the opening set, armed with a giant serve and robust forehand. But the depth dropped within the second, permitting the difficult Sevastova to race to a 6-4, 6-0 win.
With the tie out of attain, Bhosale and Desai had been referred to as on to switch Mirza and Raina to play the doubles, a lifeless rubber this time, towards Daniela Vismane and debutant Patricija Spaka. It proved to be a mere comfort.