India Lose To New Zealand In Billie Jean King Cup Opener; Bhamidipaty Srivalli Defeats Aishi Das

India launched their campaign in group 1 matches of the Billie Jean King Cup Asia-Oceania when they came up in New Zealand. While the hosts started highly when the dynamic Shrivalli Bamidipaty recorded a resounding victory in its match, it was New Zealand that had more in the reservoir on the day and Rugi to win the 2-1 draw here at the Mhalunge Balewadi tennis complex in Pune. The first for India was Shrivalli Bamidipaty, who faced Aishi Das.

The young Indian, who regularly increases the classification so far, has organized a performance with power in national colors. In just under an hour, Shrivalli concluded a complete victory with 6 AS and a healthy conversation rate to boast. Shrivalli won the 6-1, 6-1 competition, to give India an advance of 1-0 tied against New Zealand, said a statement.

Match 2 of the India VS New Zealand tie saw Sahaja Yamalapalli take the experienced Lulu sun in the second single match. The young Indian was against her while his opponent used the court and his power wisely. The match lasted an hour and 13 minutes, Lulu Sun making Sahaja work hard for his points. Finally, the New Zealander won 6-3, 6-3 to level the competition at 1-1.

In the double game, India had the experienced duo of Ankita Raina and Prarthana Thombare confront the Kiwi duo of Lulu Sun and Monique Barry. The Indian pairing gave everything under the spotlight, but Lulu Sun and Monique Barry had the best of exchanges. Indian twinning has never really looked in control of procedures but fought valiantly. Nevertheless, New Zealand left the field with a straight victory of 6-3, 6-4 in an hour and 23 minutes.

The tournament was inaugurated earlier by the former Fed Cup Radhika Tulpule-Kanitkar player, Sohini Kumari, Saujanya Bavishetty, Pranjala Yadlapalli, Sai Jayalakshmi, Aarti Ponappa Natekar and the international players of Maharashtra, Bela Phadke, Radhika Mandhe and Maharashtra Tenniswis Iyer.

On this occasion, the international tennis players of the Maharashtra Rutuja Bhosale, Radhika Godbole, Bela Phadke, Vahnavi Adkar and Sheetal Kannamwar Iyer were also congratulated. The prizes were awarded by the president of the MSLTA, Bharat Oza, the director of the tournament and honorary secretary of Mslta Sunder Iyer, the treasurer Sudhir Bhivapurkar, the joint secretaries Rajiv Desai and Sheetal Bhosale, and the chief executive manoj Vaidya.

Before that, the director of the Swiss Iyer tournament said the welcome address. The opening ceremony which marked the official inauguration of the tournament saw players walking in the court carrying their respective national flags. It was a picturesque moment of celebration at Center short while the teams met before the tournament.

India will face Thailand in its second match of the Billie Jean King Cup on Wednesday, April 9.

(With the exception of the title, this story has not been published by NDTV staff and is published from a unionized flow.)