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Bopanna a victor in defeat against Verkerk

By Nirmal Shekar

Zwolle (Netherlands) Sept.19 . Bravely swimming against the tide in a hostile sea of orange, amidst the sort of noises that might have drowned out an atomic explosion, Rohan Bopanna sighted the promised land.

Climbing on a magic ladder invisible to all but Leander Paes in Davis Cup play for India in recent times, the 23-year old from Coorg somehow found hope and glory where, at the start of the day, neither seemed within his _ or his team's _ reach on a memorable afternoon in the World Group playoff tie between India and the Netherlands at the Ijsselhallen here on Friday.

Thrown into the ring _ a maroon carpet surrounded by unbroken human walls of orange _ like a Christian against a hungry lion in a Roman colliseum in another era, Bopanna made a mockery of the ranking distance that separated him from Martin Verkerk, the French Open finalist who is world ranked 14, a good 330 places ahead of the Indian.

The epic five-setter, which Verkerk won 5-7, 6-3, 5-7, 7-6(7), 12-10 in four hours and 35 minutes brought up one of the finest moments of Bopanna's career, no matter that he ended up at the wrong side of the scoreline. It was one of the longest matches played by an Indian in the competition since tiebreaks were introduced in the competition _ there are, of course, still no tiebreaks in the fifth set in Davis Cup.

In the event, it was a remarkably courageous performance from Bopanna in only the second five set match of his career. He sustained an exceptional level of brilliance over four and half hours, something that not even the most optimistic of Indian tennis fans might have expected from a pro whose bread and butter tennis is played out in the obscure realms of Futures and Challenger tournaments.

Off the starting blocks like an ace sprinter, Bopanna showed that he was ready for the big occasion and never once in the match did the French finalist manage to suggest any sort of domination over his journeyman opponent.

Serving almost as big as Dutchman Bopanna came within two points of winning the match in four sets. In fact, he would have had matchpoint in the fourth set tiebreak if not for a close call that went against him.

The Indian team's non-playing captain Ramesh Krishnan argued with the chair umpire as a Bopanna forehand was called long at 5-5 but the official refused to interfere with the linesman's call.

"The better player lost unfortunately,'' said a veteran Dutch tennis writer as your correspondent sat down to write this report.

In a match in which he hit 43 aces to Bopanna's 20, Verkerk struggled to assert himself early and every time he got his nose in, Bopanna slammed the door shut on the Dutchman's face. The French finalist worked up a lot of anger _ which in the end helped him through _ but came alarmingly close to losing the match in four sets, and might well have found himself in the dressing room after three hours had this been an away tie for the Netherlands.

Bopanna staved off a setpoint in the 10th game of the first set to show his fighting qualities and hit a pair of superb forehand winners on Verkerk's serve in the 11th game, forcing a double fault out of the Dutchman on breakpoint.

After serving out the first set, the Indian suffered a bit of an emotional letdown, understandably, and Verkerk took the second set on an early break _ in the second game.

Neither man was troubled on serve in the third set until the 12th game where the Dutchman looked a touch nervous and lethargic.

Bopanna immediately cashed in with a charge behind a lovely approach shot. A return winner off the tape saw the Indian wrap up the set.

The fourth set was rather bizarre with the players trading breaks three times before the tiebreaker which Verkerk won on his third setpoint after managing skip over a landmine, so to say, on the 11th point, thanks to a favourable linecall.

The fifth set alone lasted an hour and two minutes. After staving off two breakpoints to hold to 2-2, Bopanna looked so much the better player on the court for much of the distance as he hit the lines time and again after over four hours on the court.

But in the 22nd game, a double fault by Bopanna at 15-30 gave the Dutchman his big chance. Verkerk returned long on the first point but a Bopanna approach shot flew over the baseline on the next.

The ball had not even bounced its way into the ballgirl's hands by the time an ecstatic Tjerk Bogtstra, the home team's non playing captain, rushed on to the court to congratulate Verkerk on his first ever Davis Cup singles victory _ in his third match.

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