Tennis: Bautista Agut beats Safiullin in Barcelona
he Spaniard, who is chasing his 12th ATP Tour crown this week, will meet seventh seed Karen Khachanov in the second round.
India’s bid for a place in the play- offs failed as it lost 1-2 to New Zealand the last tie of the Billie Jean King Cup Asia/Oceania Group I women tennis at the Moon Island Clay Park in Changsha, China on Saturday.
With the loss, India finished third in Asia/Oceania Group I with three wins and two defeats.
The top two teams in the group – China and Korea – earned promotion to the 2024 Billie Jean King Cup Play-offs while India remained in Group I along with New Zealand, who finished fourth.
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The bottom two teams in Group I – Chinese Taipei and Pacific Oceania – have been relegated to Asia/Oceania Group II.
Once again Rutuja Bhosale gave India the early lead winning her singles match but Ankita Raina suffered a straight-set defeat in her contest.
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Raina and Prarthana Thombare also lost their tie-deciding doubles rubber.
Bhosale, 379th in the world rankings, registered a 6-2, 7-6 win over world No. 632 Monique Barry in one hour and 41 minutes.
She kept her composure towards the closing stages of the second set to avoid Barry from forcing a decider.
However, world No. 255 Ankita Raina failed to get the better of her higher-ranked opponent, world No. 169 Lulu Sun, in the second singles match.
A 2- 6, 0 – 6 loss for the Indian in 62 minutes helped New Zealand restore parity at 1-1.
In the doubles, Raina and Prarthana Thombare took on Erin Routliffe and Paige Hourigan .
The Indians struggled to keep up with their opponents in the first set and despite a strong fight in the second set, suffered a 1-6, 5-7 loss in one hour and 27 minutes.
This was India’s second loss in Group I after a 0-3 defeat to China earlier. India had beaten Pacific Oceania 3-0 in their opener, defeated Chinese Taipei 2-1 and got the better of South Korea with a 2-1 margin.
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