Paes and Sipaeya beat the Uzbeks 6-4 6-4 3-6 4-6 6-3 in a three hour fourteen minute roller coaster which made for a seat riveting watch.
NAMANGAN: In what may prove to be a costly tactical blunder, Uzbekistan coach Peter Lebed decided to pull out the stops and go full hammer against India in the crucial doubles match of their Davis Cup tie.
He fielded his top two singles players Denis Istomin and Farukh Dustov in the match on Saturday as he looked to gain the decisive lone win he needs to assert victory. The move backfired for a seven-time Grand Slam doubles champion managed to coax his novice partner to play out of his skin and gain India their first win in this tie.
Leander Paes and Sunil Kumar Sipaeya beat the Uzbeks 6-4 6-4 3-6 4-6 6-3 in a three hour fourteen minute roller coaster which made for a seat riveting watch. Now Uzbekistan has both its reverse singles players tired even as Karan Rastogi goes in fresh on Sunday.
Given the way Karan is stroking the ball, a miracle may well be now possible. If Karan wins then Leander will step in to take on Dustov in the decisive fifth rubber. This tie may still rock our way.
A little boy from Kapurthala had begun an amazing journey on the road to tennis stardom way back in 1999. At sixteen, Sunil was the youngest national hardcourt champion and had a nation agog at his raw talent. It took eight years for the boy to grow into the man who earned India Saturday’s win.
If Sunil shrugged off the bout of nerves that had all but crippled Vivek Shokeen on Friday, the credit surely goes to being partnered by Leander. The man who is usually aggro personified was instead like a sensitive mother hen nursing the fledgling Sunil at his Davis Cup debut.
At times Sunil missed sitter volleys, muffed up regulation returns and would allow the Uzbeks a lifeline after Leander had pinned them into a vice. But not even once did the senior player give him a glare. Instead he was all winks, nudges and smiles as he coaxed Sunil out of his shell to flower for the country.
Istomin was broken at 4-4 to get the first set and as he and Sunil exchanged early breaks in the second set, Dustov’s huge serve cracked to allow India a 4-2 lead and subsequently a commanding two set to love lead.
The Uzbeks played some incredible tennis to claw back. Sunil made mistakes and Leander too was not his scything best. Sunil was broken in both the sets and the match hung in the balance of two sets apiece.
Leander hauled Sunil off the court before the start of the decider and the two went for what was ostensibly a toilet break but it seems they plugged into some chargers in the locker room as they came back riding a new high of energy.
They claimed Istomin’s serve and raced to a 3-0 lead. Leander was broken to make it 2-3 before Istomin was tamed for the second time in the match when it really counted courtesy Sunil stepping up and making the kind of returns a top world doubles player is expected to. Leander served out the match.
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