Sania Mirza and Manisha Malhotra combined to give India a thrilling 2-1 victory over third seeds Korea in the Fed Cup women's team tennis competition at the R K Khanna stadium in Delhi on Wednesday.
After the two teams shared honours at the end of the singles matches, Sania and Manisha defeated Yoon-Jeong Cho and Mi-Ra Jeon 7-6(7/2), 7-5 to score a surprise victory for the hosts.
Earlier, Ankita Bhambri played some fearless tennis to stun Kyung-Mi Chang 6-1, 4-6, 6-2 to put India ahead before Sania went down 4-6, 2-6 to Jeon in the second singles.
The win puts India in a healthy position. Second seeds Indonesia remain the India's next major hurdle in the pool engagements.
Sania made up for her singles loss with a powerful display and struck an electrifying bonding with Manisha to dominate the doubles match.
The Koreans broke Manisha in the fifth game to go 3-2 up in the first set but the home girls broke back in the tenth and pushed it into the tie-breaker. The Indians took a commanding 5-1 lead in the shootout to take the set comfortably.
Sania was once again in her element in the second set and a series of ripping forehands helped the pair break Jeon in the fifth game.
The visitors, however, showed nerves of steal and broke Manisha again to equalize at 4-4.
But Sania and Manisha were the ones dictating the points. They set up three break-points on Jeon's serve but the Koreans extricated themselves from the situation with some tenacious tennis.
The home favourites though were not to be denied for long. Another triple break point on Yoon's serve in the ninth was too much for the Koreans to handle and a weak backhand from Yoon gave the game, set and match for India.
With four players ranked in the 300s and 200s, Korean coach Jin-Soo Lee had the luxury of playing his fourth player in the first singles.
The 22-year old Kyung has four $10,000 titles under her belt while the 26-year old Jeon has 10 including three $25,000 wins besides being runner-up to Martina Hingis in the Wimbledon junior championships.
But Ankita upset Lee's plans with her gutsy performance. She needed an hour and 53 minutes to defeat Kyung but her domination was much more than the scoreline might indicate.
A string of unforced errors from Kyung gave Ankita the break in the very second game. The Indian played a couple of strong points to force another break in the sixth and took the set in 23 minutes.
The contest began hotting up in the second set with Kyung finding her range. Ankita broke her in the fifth but failed to hold on to the advantage and dropped the eighth game.
Kyung began to mix things up but the local lass missed three break points in the ninth and lost focus to concede the second set, which lasted 53 minutes.
But the Delhi girl took a 3-0 lead in the decider and did not look back from there on.
Lee said probably the fact that Kyung was playing in her first Fed Cup match proved to be her undoing.
In the second singles, from the moment she saved six break points to hold serve in the first game, Sania was up against a formidable opponent. The 410-ranked Hyderabad girl had the shots in her but was looking for a winner from every stroke.
Jeon looked less aggressive but more effective. Her retrieves were breathtaking to say the least and she kept working on her opponent's inconsistent play.
A double fault and wide forehand gave the 26-year old Jeon another breakpoint in the third and Sania put an easy drop shot into the net to surrender the serve.
After another break in the fifth, the 2003 Wimbledon junior doubles champion broke back in the eighth game to narrow the lead but that did not prevent the Korean from taking the set.
When she dropped serve the very first game in the second, it deflated her confidence. Another break in the fifth game effectively sealed her hopes.
