Indians dig into Thai curry

Whenever Sai played aggressively, she was on top of the Thai girl and she went on to break Tongsalee in the 10th game to pocket the set. From then on, there was no looking back for Sai as she raced to a 4-1 lead in the second set. The confidence and experience she has gained from the Satellites in India helped her to wrap up the match 6-4, 6-2.

Then it was my turn to face Tamarine Tanasugarn. Though I had an idea of how she plays, her backhand down-the-line shots were totally unexpected. In addition, my service let me down a little bit, and that was all Tamarine needed to go to a 5-2 lead in the first set.

The ability to be able to hit both crosscourt and down-the-line at will won her the match and she beat me 6-3 6-3.

So, when it actually came down to the doubles, Manisha was the first choice as she had been in good nick during the practice sessions. We played Tamarine and Benjamas Sangaram and played some exceptional tennis.

We were trailing 3-5 down by a break in the first set but still came back to win it in a tedious tie-breaker 7-6 (9-7). By then, we knew we had to keep the pressure on Benjamas for the next few games in order to wrap up the match.

Manisha played some aggressive volleys while I feel I set the scene for her to do so and were through. We wrapped up the match 7-6 (9-7) 6-2 eventually, and were thrilled to beat Thailand 2-1.

Next, we are up against the top team in our pool, Japan. Unlike Thailand, Japan has three good players: Ai Sugiyama, in the top 100, Shinobu and Nana Miyagi — all top 200. So we know what we are up against and are high in morale after this win.

Meanwhile, in the other pool, Yayuk Basuki, who has been out of the circuit for a year-and-a-half — she had a baby — made a good comeback. The 30-year-old Indonesian thrashed Rewa Hudson from New Zealand 6-0 6-1 just warning players on the WTA Tour that she is close to her old form now.

Results (Asia Oceania Group One, Group Two): Group One (seedings in prefix): Pool A: India bt 4-Thailand 2-1 (J Sai Jayalakshmy bt Napaporn Tongsalee (Tha) 6-4 6-2; Nirupama Vaidyanathan lost to Tamarine Tanasugarn 6-3 6-3; Manisha Malhotra/Nirupama Vaidyanathan (Ind) bt Benjamas Sangaran/Tamarine Tanasugarn (Tha) 7-6 (10-8) 6-2). Kazakhstan bt Hong Kong 2-1(Alissa Velts bt Olivia Graveraux 6-4 3-6 6-4; Valeriya Khazova lost to Ka Po-Tong 6-1 7-5; Alissa Velts/Valeriya Khazova (Kaz) bt Tong Ka-Po/Olivia Graveraux 4-6 6-3 6-4).

Pool B: 2-China bt South Korea 2-1(Li Na bt Choi Jin-Young 6-3 6-3; Yi Jingqian bt Cho Yoon-Jeong 6-3 6-1; Li Na/Li Ting lost to Chae Kyung-Yee/Cho Yoon-Jeong 6-2 6-2). Indonesia bt New Zealand 3-0 (Yayuk Basuki bt Rewa Hudson 6-0 6-1; Wynne Prakusya bt Leanne Baker 6-2 7-6 (9-7); Yayuk Basuki/Wynne Prakusya bt Rewa Hudson/Shelley Stephens 6-4 6-2). 3-Taiwan bt Singapore 3-0 (Tai Lan-lan bt Tina Jacob 6-1 6-2; Janet Lee bt Yik-Hui Leow 6-1 6-0; Janet Lee/Wang Shi-Ting bt Yik-Hui Leow/Simin Liu 6-0 6-0).