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Ankita Raina sparkled with two victories as Indian Fed Cup team created history to qualify for the play-offs for the first time in their history by beating Indonesia 2-1 in Dubai on Saturday.
Ankita first drew level at one-all by winning her singles match against Aldila Sutjiadi before combining with Sania Mirza to win the doubles clash and seal the tie in India’s favour.
Rutuja Bhosale though lost the first tie, a singles clash, against 16-year-old Priska Madelyn Nugroho in three sets.
Nugroho, who is ranked 15th on the ITF junior circuit, beat Rutuja 6-3, 0-6, 6-3 in one hour and 43 minutes in the opening singles to give Indonesia a 1-0 lead.
Raina then led the comeback win as she registered an impressive 6-3, 6-3 win over Aldila Sutjiadi in the second singles match.
With Sania. she then beat the pair of Sutziyadi and Nugroho 7-6(4), 6-0 to seal India’s place in the Play-offs where they will take on either Latvia or the Netherlands in April.
The pair though was trailing 1-4 at the start before recovering to take the first set into the tie-break. With momentum on their side, Sania-Ankita crushed the Indonesian pair in the second set 6-0.
India thus finished second in the six-team Group with four wins in a row after they had lost their opening tie against China, who remained unbeaten in the tournament.
Since earning their place back in Asia/Oceania Group I in 2016, India have remained in the regional group.
The fast-rising Raina alongside Rutuja helped India’s cause with the veteran Sania serving as the guiding force.
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