Indian women's tennis team looks to bag historic Billie Jean King Cup qualifiers berth

Bengaluru, Nov 13 (PTI) The Indian women's tennis team will be eager to script its own defining moment when it chases its first ever Billie Jean King Cup qualifiers berth, hoping to tame formidable playoff opponents in the Netherlands and Slovenia on home turf beginning Friday.

The whole nation is still riding high on the Indian women's cricket team's maiden World Cup triumph recently, and it will be a further fillip if tennis stars can progress to the 2026 qualifiers.

India are in Group G along with Netherlands and Slovenia, and their campaign will be led by Sahaja Yamalapalli, Shrivalli Bhamidipaty, Ankita Raina, Riya Bhatia, and Prarthana Thombare.

The Netherlands and Slovenia will open the proceedings on Friday. India's first clash will be against Slovenia on Saturday followed by the match-up against the seventh-seeded Dutch team on Sunday.

This is the first time India is hosting the prestigious competition and the three teams will face each other in round-robin matches.

The group winner will progress to the 2026 Qualifiers, while the remaining two teams will return to the Regional Group I events.

India previously reached the Billie Jean King Cup play-offs, formerly known as the Federation Cup, only once in 2021, when they lost 1-3 to Latvia in an away tie.

India's hopes of rewriting history rely on the impressive Sahaja.

The India No. 1 and world No. 309, had beaten 2017 US Open champion Sloane Stephens in a WTA 125 event in Mexico, and she will be hoping for similar success against Netherland's world No. 87 Suzan Lamens.

Sahaja also had a good run at last month's WTA 250 Chennai Open, reaching the singles quarterfinals and the title round in doubles section.

Apart from Lamesn, the Dutch have other capable players in Arantaxa Rus and doubles-specialist Demi Schuurs.

Slovenia has in its ranks Tamara Zidansek, a former French Open semifinalist, but the Indians will fancy their chances against her on the hard courts of the SM Krishna Tennis Stadium here.

In that context, Shrivalli, a world No. 381, will hope that her booming serve and precise ground shots can keep the rivals under the pump.

Her efforts were crucial to India's spirited performance against higher-ranked opponents Hong Kong and Korea in the Asia-Oceania Group I event in Pune earlier this year, which eventually earned them a play-off spot.

The home side has also been camping in the city from November 4, and non-playing captain Vishal Uppal hoped that the 10-day preparatory camp sharpened his wards.

"The biggest values we focus on are passion, discipline and teamwork. That's exactly what we showed in Pune, where we upset higher-ranked opponents to qualify for the Play-offs.

"The girls have been competing well on tour and keeping sharp. Our goal now is to focus on our process and be mentally prepared to make life tough for our higher-ranked opponents," said Uppal, an Asian Games bronze-medallist.

If they can achieve it warding off the mental fatigue after a long season, then Indian women's tennis, still looking for a lead figure after the retirement of Sania Mirza, can cut open a new path. PTI UNG PM UNG PM PM