India No 1 Ankita Raina produced a stunning performance under pressure to stun world number 120 Lin Zhu and help India tie the Asia/Oceania Group I Fed Cup tie against China 1-1 after Karman Kaur Thandi went down in the opening match

Ranked 253 in the world, Raina beat the Chinese player 6-3, 6-2 while Thandi lost the first match 2-6, 2-6 to world number 125 Yafan Wang at the Delhi Lawn Tennis Association on Wednesday.

This was Raina’s first win over Lin in her fourth attempt, after losing to the higher-ranked player twice on Tour and once in the Fed Cup. She will be back to play the decisive doubles with Prarthana Thombare, taking on the combo of Wang and Zhaoxuan Yang.

Raina never took her foot off the pedal as she kept throwing the balls back to Lin, who struggled to cope with consistent returns from the Indian.

After playing four deuce points in the fourth game, Lin hit a slightly wide forehand to hand Raina her first breakpoint, but the Chinese managed to save that.

The Indian found a stunning backhand service return winner to earn her second break chance but hit a forehand long. Lin again made error with her forehand and this time Raina did not miss out as she attacked the second serve of Lin to make an angled un-returnable backhand to break her opponent.

Raina was swift with her movement and had controlled her ground strokes to twice save break chances in the following service game to take a commanding 5-2 lead. Lin did put some pressure on the Indian but Raina kept the lead with her and closed out the set in the ninth game.

Raina maintained her momentum and broke Lin in the first game of the second set when the Chinese faltered with her backhand at 30-40.

The Indian lost her serve for the first time in the match immediately after getting the break but did not allow the Chinese to get back in by breaking her again in the fifth. Raina showed she was in complete control as she executed a disguised drop shot at 15-15 to create an opportunity and executed it well.

She hit a forehand on first breakpoint but, on the second, the Chinese hit a forehand wide as Raina led 4-1. It was a matter of time from there before India drew level.

Thandi struggles

Earlier, in the first match, the gulf between the players was evident with Wang striking the ball with authority while Thnadi’s game was littered with errors.

The Chinese team arrived only Tuesday morning but Wang still managed to adjust to the bounce of the centre court and the conditions. Wang was coming to the Fed Cup after a semifinal finish at the WTA Taipei Open, where she lost to world number 45 Timea Babos after beating Eugenie Bouchard. It was the second meeting between Karman and Wang, who now leads the head-to-head 2-0, having won the first match during the Tianjin ITF event last year.

Wang stamped her superiority from the beginning as she broke Karman in the very first game of the match.

Thandi tried too hard and even changed the tactics by approaching the net but Wang was up to the task as the Chinese found easy passing winners and forced the Indian to retreat. The 19-year-old had two opportunities to break her opponent in the second game of opening set and sixth of second but could not take her chances.

The Indians serve was good only in patches as she served five double faults. In the few rallies also it was the Chinese who handled the points well. Thandi’s series of unforced errors never let her come back and one such long backhand ended the match to give China the early lead.

(With inputs from PTI)