Dubai: Sania Mirza and Ankita Raina sealed the deal for India, beating Latisha Chan and En Shuo Liang in the decisive doubles clash to win the tie against Taiwan in the Fed Cup here on Friday.
Mirza and Raina took the opening set 6-4 before going down in the second set by the same margin. After a thrilling match, with them winning the final set 6-4, that lasted for 2 hours and 25 minutes as India clinched their third win. India lost to China before winning against Uzbekistan and Korea.
The top-two teams in the six-nation Asia/Ocenia Group I will make it to the playoffs in April.
Earlier in the tie, Rutuja Bhosale came back from the brink in the deciding set to win yet another marathon contest but Ankita Raina suffered her second straight singles defeat.
Up against lower-ranked Ya-Yi Yang, Rutuja made a confident start but had to arrest a mid-match slump to eke out a 6-3 3-6 7-6(6) win over a player who is placed at 852 as compared to her 433rd position.
In the second singles, Ankita Raina clashed with En Shuo Liang but lost 6-3 2-6 3-6 after saving two match points in the decider.
After splitting the first two sets, Rutuja looked slipping away fast as she trailed 0-4 but made a stunning comeback to stretch the match to the tie-breaker.
She eventually held her nerves to pull it off after saving three match points in the contest that lasted two hours and 44 minutes.
(With inputs from PTI)