Zeel Desai's perfect debut helps India rout Mongolia in BJK Cup

Zeel Desai shared her mix of nerves and excitement before her successful singles debut in the Billie Jean King Cup. She secured a 6-0, 6-0 win, helping India achieve a dominant 3-0 victory over Mongolia in their round-robin tie.

Indian tennis player Zeel Desai admitted she felt both nervous and excited ahead of her singles debut in the Billie Jean King Cup during India's Asia/Oceania Group I round-robin tie against Mongolia on Friday at the Delhi Lawn Tennis Authority Complex, and said she was relieved to have come through her match successfully.

India Dominates Mongolia in 3-0 Rout

India had a commanding outing in their Billie Jean King Cup 2026 round robin match against Mongolia on Friday, where both Zeel Desai and Sahaja Yamalapalli won by identical 6-0, 6-0 scorelines. Meanwhile, Vaishnavi Adkar partnered Rutuja Bhosale in the doubles, which the pair won 6-1, 6-0 to complete the rout.

Zeel Desai on Debut Nerves and Strategy

Speaking to reporters after her win over Mongolia's Anu-Vjin Gantor, Zeel said that she felt a mix of nerves and excitement before stepping onto the court. She said the team stuck to their planned strategies, which helped her secure a 6-0, 6-0 win.

Zeel added that she was delighted with the result and thoroughly enjoyed the strong crowd support at the Delhi venue. "I was so nervous and also excited at the same time going into the court before the match. But yeah, we had some strategies, we followed that and yeah, I got through the match 6-0, 6-0, which I'm happy. And yes, as you said, there was a lot of cheering today, so I'm loving it," she said.

Bouncing Back from Indonesia Defeat

Although India delivered a dominant performance against Mongolia, they had endured a disappointing outing the previous day, suffering a 0-3 defeat to Indonesia. While Zeel was not part of the Indian lineup, she said Indonesia were a strong team and that India gave their best despite the loss.

She added that the team was confident going into the Mongolia tie and set small targets, and was pleased to achieve them. "Actually, Indonesia is a really good team but we gave our best and yes, I mean today's match we were pretty confident that we are going to pull it out. So we had small goals to achieve and we are happy that we did it," Zeel told reporters.

India will now face off against the Republic of Korea on Saturday. (ANI)

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