Mirza, Raina to lead Billie Jean King Cup World Group Play-offs

Former doubles world number one Sania Mirza and the country’s best singles player Ankita Raina will play the Billie Jean King Cup World Group Play-offs away tie against Latvia next month. The leading duo will be joined by Rutuja Bhosale, Karman Kaur Thandi, debutant Zeel Desai and Riya Bhatia, who was a playing member last year, and will be the reserve player of the team.

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The team will be captained by Vishal Uppal, according to All India Tennis Association (AITA).The two-day away tie will be played at the National Tennis Centre Lielupe, Jurmala, Latvia from April 16. The Indian team is expected to leave by April 9 for the play-offs.

“The AITA selection committee picked the team after a virtual meeting on Tuesday. The team was selected on the basis of form, ranking, experience and their game styles. As for having Bhatia in the reserve, she is a good player but keeping in account her recent performance in the ITFs in Delhi and Pune, the selection committee felt her current form was not very good,” said Uppal.

Latvia is expected to be led by world number 53 Jelena Ostapenko along with Anastasija Sevastova.