Onus on Devvarman to wrap up tie as India lose doubles encounter
after an injured Bhupathi pulls out mid-way through third set
India’s Davis Cup coach Nandan Bal always maintained how tough the doubles encounter would be for India. After all, the duo of Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Boppana was up against experienced doubles campaigners Wesley Moodie and Jeff Coetzee, ranked in the world’s top 30.
What Bal and the Indian contingent didn’t expect though was a defeat in this rubber. Up 2-0 in the play-off tie, India’s fate of qualifying in the world group after a hiatus of 11 years still remained hanging following Bhupathi and Boppana’s 3-6 6-3 0-4 defeat at the hands of the South Africans. Bhupathi retired midway through the third set after his double fault gave Moodie and Coetzee the 4-0 lead at the Ellis Park Indoor Arena in Johannesburg. “We didn’t expect to lose today (Saturday). After the first set, we thought we were coming back into the tie but that wasn’t the case,” said Bal.
The Bhupathi-Boppana team was decided on the very last minute after Leander Paes pulled out due to a shoulder injury. Bhupathi reached Johannesburg only a couple of days before the encounter.
“We didn’t lose because of lack of combination. It was because Wesley and Jeff played some good tennis,” Bal said.
The doubles rubber was heading for an exciting finish as both the sides were locked in an intense battle. Both the teams gauged each other initially before applying any strategy and the first seven games of the match went with serve.
Bal said the main difference was the performance of Moodie, who had his say over the proceedings. “He controlled the tempo for the first set and a half. He covered Coetzee very well but having said that, I feel our boys did their best. We lost to a better pair,” he said.
The South Africans targeted Boppana and kept him under constant pressure. “That was expected. He (Boppana) is the lowest ranked player of them all,” Bal said.
India still lead 2-1 and need to win just one of the two reverse singles matches to settle the issue. Somdev Devvarman will take on Rik de Voest in the day’s first match while Boppana will take on Izak van der Merwe in the final match. Bal is hopeful of Somdev wrapping up the proceedings. “Though this win will give them a sense of a comeback but we are still very confident. They need to win both their matches and it won’t be easy for them. It looks pretty good for us,” Bal said. South Africa have defeated India in both of their previous meetings. They last met in 1994, also at this stage of the competition, and won 3-2 after clinching the deciding rubber.
—With agency inputs
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