NEW DELHI: Rishika Sunkara provided the thrust for the Indian challenge as the host cruised to a 3-0 win over Kazakhstan in a pool `D' league match of the World Junior Cup Asia-Oceania under-14 girls tennis championship at the DLTA Complex here on Wednesday.

Coming in as the second singles player, after she had been restricted to the doubles on the opening day, the wiry Rishika played with imagination in providing a flying start for India, cruising home in 43 minutes against Yekaterina Vodopyanova.

In doubles, the confident Rishika and Nova Patel overwhelmed the Kazakh girls for the loss of one game in a 45-minute exercise, a welcome relief for the players concerned because of the oppressive weather.

Aishwarya Agrawal was not the same forceful player as she played the No.1 slot, but played the key games with determination to clinch the tie for India with a 7-5, 6-4 triumph.

In both the sets, Aishwarya led at the half way stage, 4-2 in the first set and 4-1 in the second, but lacked the intensity of execution to quell the challenge from an erratic opponent ruthlessly.

Yet, it was a good performance overall by the second-seeded Indian team which has assured itself of a quarterfinal berth, even before taking on Korea in its last league engagement.

A victory against Korea could possibly make it that much easier for India to grab one of the four qualifiers' spot for the World Group from the regional event, as it will meet one of the No. 2 teams in the quarterfinals.

Quite surprisingly, Korea lost to New Zealand, opening up the equation for the second qualifier's slot from the group for the knock-out. Kazakhstan with two defeats is out of the race.

The results: Pool `A': Indonesia bt Malaysia 3-0; Uzbekistan bt Hong Kong 3-0.

Pool `B': Thailand bt Sri Lanka 3-0; Japan bt Chinese Taipei 3-0.

Pool `C': Australia bt Singapore 2-1; China bt Philippines 2-1.

Pool `D': New Zealand bt Korea 2-1.

India bt Kazakhstan 3-0 (Rishika Sunkara bt Yekaterina Vodopyanova 6-1, 6-1; Aishwarya Agrawal bt Kamila Kerimbayeva 7-5, 6-4; Nova Patel and Rishika Sunkara bt Dariya Berezhnaya and Yekaterina Vodopyanova 6-1, 6-0).

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