A fearless Vaishnavi Adkar rose to the occasion with an inspiring win over higher-ranked Sohyun Park, leading India to a 2-1 win over South Korea after Ankita Raina's defeat to Dayeon Back ended the hosts' hopes of making the Billie Jean King Cup World Group Play-offs, here on Saturday. Placed fourth in the standings at the start of the day, India needed a 3-0 sweep against Korea to stay in contention for a top-two finish. Captain Vishal Uppal fielded his most experienced campaigner Ankita in the opening singles, but Dayeon quelled the home challenge, handing India a setback.

The 33-year-old Ankita, ranked 581, fought hard after a slow start against the 343rd-ranked Korean but eventually went down 1-6 5-7 in one hour and 55 minutes. She had not featured in singles prior to this tie, having played only doubles in the tournament. India's number one Vaishnavi then kept the contest alive, producing a gritty 7-6(2) 7-6(5) win over Park, who is ranked 107 places above her at 276. Vaishnavi had an impressive run at the W100 event recently in Bengaluru, where she beat two top-130 players and followed that up with a title win in the W35 tournament in Kalaburagi.