India demolish Jordan

Tara Iyer and Ankita Bhambri blanked their respective opponents as India came up with yet another clinical performance to thrash Jordan 3-0 in their second rubber of the Fed Cup Asia-Oceania Zone Qualifiers in Christchurch on Tuesday.

The Indian team dropped just one game in their three matches as they outplayed their pool 'B' rivals to register their second win following their victory over Kazakhstan.

Tara started the proceedings for India and stormed past Sahar Al Disi in the first match. The 18-year-old's 6-0, 6-0 win set the pace for the Indians, who were simply unstoppable after that with Ankita also scoring a 6-0, 6-0 win over Leen Irani in the next match.

Sunitha Rao and Shikha Uberoi then made it a second successive 3-0 win for the Indians as they overpowered Al Daisi and Irani 6-1, 6-0 in the doubles competition.

Team captain Enrico Piperno, though happy with the performance, said the real competition starts only now as India take on hosts New Zealand on Wednesday.

"Its a tough one. They are a very strong team and we are anticipating tough matches," Piperno told PTI. "Luckily it did not rain today so we could practice, unlike the day before the Jordan tie when we could not practice because of the weather," he added.

The captain said the real threat was from Chinese Taipei, against whom the Indians will play their final pool 'B' encounter. "After this we have the Chinese Taipei and they are even more dangerous," he said.

If they win the zonal qualifiers, India will be elevated to the World Group 2 play off in July.

The team needs to top its pool for a berth in the finals -- to be played on April 21 -- against topper of pool 'A', which comprises Thailand, Korea, Uzbekistan, Hong Kong, China and Singapore.

"I am hopeful of good results but we are taking one match at a time. The finals are still two matches away and we are focusing on the pool matches for now," Piperno said when asked about the team's chances.