Indore: Somdev Devvarman tamed Ti Chen after a gruelling contest while Rohan Bopanna combined with Saketh Myneni to win the doubles rubber to give India an unassailable 3-0 lead in the Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Group I tie against Taiwan here on Saturday.
Somdev needed just eight minutes to complete the unfinished business as he beat Chen 6-7 (4), 7-6 (3), 1-6, 6-2, 9-7 in the second singles, which could not be completed on Friday due to bad light.
Beginning the day at tied 7-7 in the fifth set, Somdev played attacking tennis, served well, hit the ball hard, found the lines and was able to pin Chen on the baseline to set up easy put away volleys.
This was exactly what Chen was doing to Somdev the day before.
The change in tactics was rewarding for the Indian as he broke Chen in the 16th game, albeit after squandering two more match points. He had missed four chances on Friday to close out the match.
Finally, Somdev clinched the issue on his seventh match point when Chen hit one wide. Overall, the contest lasted four hours and 40 minutes over two days.
It was the third meeting between Somdev and Chen. The Indian had beaten Chen in an away Davis Cup tie in 2009 and then at the Asian Games the next year.
Later, Bopanna and debutant Myneni brushed aside the challenge of Hsien-Yin Peng and Tsing Hua Yang 6-0, 6-7 (3), 6-3, 7-6 (2) in two hours and 21 minutes to render Sunday’s reverse singles inconsequential.
Originally, Hsin-Han Lee was nominated to play with Peng but Taiwan had to field their number one player Yang after Lee was laid low by a leg injury.
India will now travel to South Korea for the second round tie in April and if they win that, the team will compete in the play-offs to re-enter the elite 16-nation World Group.
It is possible that the captain will change his nomination for Sunday’s two dead rubbers.
Bopanna, who touched a career-high doubles rank of world number three last year, showed his class and experience as he clearly was the most dominant player of all four.
He held his serves with ease, fired 18 aces and served at an intimidating pace, which was too hot to handle for Yang and Peng.
At times, Peng and Yang could not even see where the ball landed as it past them before they could think of a suitable return shot.
Bopanna also returned well and was excellent at the net. Myneni at times hit stunning winners and complimented his senior colleague well.
A player cannot pull off a marathon five-setter on his own and it takes contribution from the entire team to eke out such a win, Somdev said.
“Yuki sent a message this morning saying ‘keep calm boys’. They all kept me incredibly calm. Everybody around believed in me. I knew I had to come out and fire in the first couple of games. It’s big advantage to have someone (captain Anand Amritraj) who has so much experience around. He kept me motivated and gave me a fantastic speech that gradually fired me up this morning,” Somdev said.
“I am relieved that I won. It was a tough match. I felt like I was playing well in the beginning. I was up a break. I lost serve carelessly and my rival took advantage of mistakes I made. Whenever you win a tough five-set match, it’s not just you. You have to give credit to the whole team. All I had to do was to look at the sidelines, everyone was cheering for me.
“It’s not easy standing five sets up and down. All I had to do was fight,” he added.
Meanwhile, Anand’s brother Vijay Amritraj, now an established TV commentator, said he feels that playing for the national flag is an ultimate honour for any player and Davis Cup should always remain a priority for any professional tennis player.
“Davis Cup should be above all the problems. If a player is injured and having personal problems, it is ok but when you are fit and ready and you get a chance to play for the country, one should play. There are only four weeks of Davis Cup in a year. You can do whatever you want in the rest of 48 weeks,” Amritraj, who played 42 Davis Cup ties in his 18-year career, said.
He was presented with a memento by the All India Tennis Association before the doubles rubber was played against Taiwan.
Leander Paes has skipped national duty this year because of the family reasons and also because he felt that he was being sandwiched between AITA and a faction of players.
Also, 11 top players of the country boycotted India’s tie against Korea last year as they were not happy with the way game was being run by the national federation.
Vijay said he “still gets goose bumps when he sees the Indian tri-colour and when the national anthem is played irrespective of the the country where it is played.”
“It’s great honour to receive this award. Davis Cup and Wimbledon are very special. Davis Cup is one event where individual players come together as a team. There was incredible unity in our team.”
Vijay said his brother Anand was best suited for Indian team’s captainship. (PTI)
