Indians beat their Indonesian counterparts to take 2-0 lead in Davis Cup Group I first-round relegation play-off
Expectedly, India romped to a 2-0 lead against Indonesia in the Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Group I relegation play-off after Somdev Devvarman and Yuki Bhambri won their respective singles ties in straight sets yesterday.
Yuki Bhambri returns to Christopher Rungkat during the Asia/Oceania Zone Group I Davis Cup play-off at KSLTA stadium. PIC/AFP
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In two hopelessly one-sided contests, Devvarman routed rookie Wisnu Adi Nugroho 6-1, 6-2, 6-2, and then Bhambri got past Christopher Rungkat 6-3, 6-2, 6-2.
India’s overall dominance was never in doubt once the 28-year old Devvarman, on a comeback trail after a shoulder surgery, hammered a tentative Nugroho whose best moments came in the third set. But the 19-year old Indonesian, ranked 1774, never quite looked the part.
In the second singles, Bhambri extended his unbeaten run against the 23-year-old higher ranked Rungkat, who put up a brave fight, but on the day, the 250th ranked Indonesian’s best was not good enough to trouble the 20-year old Delhi-based player.
Devvarman looked quite relieved at getting the first singles out of the way while admitting that he was not serving as well as he used to and that he was still working hard on it.
Conversely, Nugroho, making just his third Davis Cup appearance, could barely hold serve and was broken twice in each of the three sets. Though the Indonesian had a couple of break points in the third set, he failed to convert them and let Devvarman off the hook.
Bhambri too had little difficulty against Rungkat whom he has played since their junior days. There were moments though in the match when the tide could have turned against the Indian.
But Rungkat failed to exploit the situation and blew three breakpoints in the crucial ninth game of the first set that Bhambri won after four deuces and on his third set point.
“There were situations in the match when I wanted to close out but committed unforced errors. That is tennis but tonight I played one of my better matches though the high bounce and high altitude made it a bit difficult,” said Bhambri.
Bhambri broke Rungkat in the sixth game to take the first set and in the second, broke the Indonesian twice while dropping serve in between.u00a0The third was a virtual washout as Bhambri took command with a break in the fifth, followed by another in the seventh where Rungkat led 40-0, before closing out the match.
Results
> Somdev Devvarman bt Wisnu Nugroho 6-1, 6-2, 6-2
> Yuki Bhambri bt Christopher Rungkat 6-3, 6-2, 6-2
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