Mahak Jain won her singles and then combined with Shivani Amineni for the decisive doubles victory as Indian girls shocked third seed Australia 2-1 to make it to the World Group of the junior tennis championship here today.
It was Shivani who took the field first but lost tamely 1-6 1-6 to Amber Marshal in the opening singles of the Asia/Oceania quarterfinals.
Mahak brought India back with her emphatic 6-2 6-1 win over Olivia Gadecki.
The two Indian girls then paired for the deciding doubles and won it 6-4 5-7 6-4 after battling for two hours and 35 minutes.
Fifth seed India will now play second seed Japan in the semifinals.
"Mahak was outstanding today. I decided to play Mahak in the doubles too even as I had the option of Prinkle Singh. Prinkle goes for big shots and has the trait of playing on chance points. It was risky, so I fielded Mahak with Shivani. I am glad it paid off," India coach Nar Singh said.
"It is great result for us. We have now qualified for the World Group. We are now focused on tackling Japan, who are tough team," he added.
