1 week Ago
Pune: A group of school children struggled to get a chant going with Shrivalli Bhamadipaty’s name in it. It took them a while to get “Shrivalli” into the same rhythm as the cheers commonly used on the cricket field. But on the centre court of the Balewadi Sports Complex in Pune, 23-year-old Shrivalli was on song.
A day after India lost their opening tie of the Billie Jean King Cup Asia/Oceania Group 1 to New Zealand, the hosts took on a strong Thai team boasting of two singles players in the top 200. Shrivalli was given the task of playing world No.170 Lanlana Tararudee – the Indian is world No.
345. And the player from Hyderabad came up with a stunning 6-2, 6-4 win in 75 minutes to give India the lead in the tie. Thailand No.
1 Manachaya Sawangkaew (At 110, second highest ranked player here) levelled proceedings after Sahaja Yamalapalli retired from the second singles match due to cramp. But Ankita Raina and Prarthana Thombare pulled off a 7-6(3), 3-6, 10-3 win over Peangtarn Plipuech and Patcharin Cheapchandej in the deciding doubles to secure the tie for India. This was an important win for Indian who are hoping to reach the playoffs for only the second time.
And it was Shrivalli, 23, who set the tone for the hosts with fearless, attacking tennis. “She gave us the start we wanted and needed after last night,” said India captain Vishal Uppal about Shrivalli’s win, referring to India’s 1-2 loss to New Zealand on Tuesday. Shrivalli hits the ball big on both flanks and has a solid serve to go with it, but on Wednesday she was aided by a calm mind.
“I was not nervous at all,” she told HT. “I didn’t look at the rankings and I just wanted to play my game. I don’t really know how it happened, but I was completely in the zone when I walked on to court.
” She broke the serve of her higher ranked opponent four times over the course of the match while her own serve was broken just once. When Tararudee did get the break, the Thai player led 4-2 in the second and looked to be on course to take the match into the decider. But Shrivalli hammered home four games in a row to secure her second singles win in a row at the Billie Jean King Cup here – the first win was against New Zealand’s Aishi Das on Tuesday.
“The win (against Das) got the monkey off her back,” Uppal added. “Now she has to show that she belongs.” The win was important to get the morale up for the Indians after the loss to New Zealand on Day 1.
India take on Hong Kong next, relying on Shrivalli to continue in the same vein..
