Billie Jean King Cup | Vaishnavi goes down tamely as India trails against Thailand

India’s recently crowned top-ranked singles player Vaishnavi Adkar faltered under the weight of expectations, unforced errors and an opponent who came out all guns blazing, going down in straight sets to Anchisa Chanta as Thailand took a 1-0 lead in the opening match of the Billie Jean King Cup Asia/Oceania Group I here on Tuesday.

Vaishnavi, ranked 73 places above Anchisa at 383, lost 1-6, 3-6 at the DLTA Stadium under lights after the match was delayed by more than three hours due to heavy rains and a persistent drizzle leading to wet courts that had patches even during play. The unusually cool conditions, a marked contrast to what the Indians practised under the last week, and the late start did not help the host.

The 21-year-old Adkar was guilty of several unforced errors and was more reactive than proactive, unable to counter her opponent’s serves and returns and barely challenged Anchisa. Beginning with a double fault in the very first game and getting broken early on, Vaishnavi trailed 0-4 in the first set before finally holding serve in the fifth but was clearly out of her depth.

Barring a fighting third game where she saved two break points but also wasted five of her own before succumbing to sustained pressure, Vaishnavi could only manage to win a total of 12 points through the first set, lasting 23 minutes, before pushing a backhand wide to trail 1-0.

She began the second set on a brighter note, breaking Anchisa in the opening game but lost her service immediately after and handed over the advantage to again trail 1-4 with faulty serves and erratic ball play. There were faint signs of a recovery when she held serve in the sixth game and then broke Anchisa to close in at 3-4 but Anchisa saved two break points and walked off a winner when Vaishnavi sent the ball crashing into the net.

In other matches, Priska Madelyn Nugroho gave Indonesia a 1-0 lead with her win against Aishi Das of New Zealand while Korea completed a rout against Mongolia without dropping a game.

The results: Thailand leads India 1-0 [Anchisa Chanta bt Vaishnavi Adkar 6-1, 6-3].

Indonesia leads New Zealand 1-0 [Priska Madelyn Nugroho bt Aishi Das 6-4, 6-1; Janice Tjen bt Monique Barry 6-3, 6-1].

Korea bt Mongolia 3-0 [Dayeon Back bt Khongorzul Aldarkhishig 6-0, 6-0; Sohyun Park bt Jargal Altansarnai 6-0, 6-0; Jeong BoYoung & Lee Eunhye bt Khongorzul Aldarkhishig & Anu-Vjin Gantor 6-0, 6-0].