India’s No 1 singles player restores parity after stunning defending champions Serbia’s Janko Tipsarevic in straight sets 7-5 7-5 7-6(3).
India held defending champions Serbia in check while Rafael Nadal-inspired Spain, France and Argentina all held sway on the opening day of Davis Cup World Group first round ties on Friday.
Serbia, without their top player, Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic, have plenty of work to do in Novi Sad to avoid a shock early exit.
Viktor Troicki, who sealed his country’s victory against France in December’s 2010 final in Belgrade, put the Serbs into the lead, edging Rohan Bopanna in a cliffhanger 6-3 6-3 5-7 3-6 6-3.
But India go into Saturday’s doubles level at 1-1 after Somdev Devvarman stunned Janko Tipsarevic 7-5 7-5 7-6 (3) in the second singles.
A totally transformed Somdev was on the court. His defensive play was all too well known but not his vastly improved serve and an aggressive streak. He ran down everything and his aggression was palpable as he went for lines and corners from different angles to leave Tipsarevic shellshocked.
He got out of difficult situations taking his opponent out of court with his angled serve, more potently when he banged them away to the deuce court and putting the winners away from Tipsarevic’s reach.
He served 10 aces to Serb’s three and hustled him by charging the net at crucial stages. Cumulatively, all these new weapons of Somdev left the Serb guessing.
There were spells when both the players brought the roof down retrieving everything. Finding it difficult to engage Somdev in rallies, Tipsarevic tried to cut them short, but could not do it for long as the Indian made him run around.
The two fought furiously and holding their serve became difficult. There were four breaks of serve in the first set and six in a row in the third till Somdev held his in the 10th.
Somdev was too steady for Tipsarevic in the tie-break despite the Serb gaining an early mini break to jump to 3-1.
It was Devvarman’s first win in his third encounter with Tipsarevic, who looked a pale shadow of the player that reached the Delray Beach final in Florida last weekend.
“I feel for Janko because he probably didn’t have enough time to adjust from Delray Beach, where it was a lot warmer and that much easier to serve,” Devvarman said.
“I served well, kept fighting and always believed I could win the match,” he added.
Serbia will be represented by their strongest pairing of Ilija Bozoljac and Nenad Zimonjic in Saturday’s doubles where they come up against Bopanna and Devvarman after India’s Grand Slam-winners Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi were forced to withdraw due to injuries.
But, Devvarman was confident his team still had a chance to defeat the Serbs.
“We definitely believe now we can win this tie and we will go out there to give it our best shot,” he said.
At Charleroi, Nadal and Fernando Verdasco both won in straight sets to put Spain 2-0 up against Belgium.
Nadal beat Ruben Bemelmans 6-2 6-4 6-2 with Verdasco earlier downing Belgium’s top player Xavier Malisse 6-4 6-3 6-1.
Spain are seeking a third Davis Cup win in four years after 2008 and 2009 and have been boosted by world number one Nadal’s decision to play.
Last year’s runners-up France were firmly in control of their tie, racing to a 2-0 lead over
Austria.
Jeremy Chardy proved he was far from a makeweight in an injury depleted team as he blasted to a 7-5 6-4 7-5 win over Jurgen Melzer inside a converted aircraft hangar at Vienna airport.
Gilles Simon then tightened France’s grip on the tie with a 6-0 6-2 6-3 defeat of Stefan Koubek.
Argentina’s David Nalbandian was crying tears of pain as he battled with a hernia in his 6-3 6-2 5-7 6-4 defeat of Romania’s Adrian Ungur in Buenos Aires.
Argentina ended the first day 2-0 up after Juan Monaco’s four set victory over Victor Hanescu.
Over in Santiago, the United States’ stalwart Andy Roddick defeated Chile’s Nicolas Massu 6-2 4-6 6-3 6-4.
The US team, now skippered by four time grand slam winner Jim Courier, then suffered a major jolt when Chile’s Paul Capdeville pulled off arguably the biggest win of his career, coming back from two sets down to beat John Isner 6-7 (5) 6-7 (2) 7-6 (3) 7-6 (5) 6-4.
Sweden roared into a 2-0 lead against Russia at home. —Agencies
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