The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Indians reduce deficit with doubles win

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 12, 2006

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Indians reduce deficit with doubles win

— Photo: AP

HITTING BACK: Leander Paes (right) and Mahesh Bhupathi combined to pull one back for India in the Davis Cup match against Korea.

CHANGWON: Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi dropped a set before digging deep into their vast reserve of experience to beat the Korean duo of Oh-Hee Kwon and Woong-Sun Jun 6-2, 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 and make it 1-2 for India in the Asia/Oceania Group 1 Davis Cup tie here on Saturday.

With this win, Paes and Bhupathi reduced the margin after both Rohan Bopanna and Prakash Amritraj had lost their singles matches on Friday.

Both the reverse singles matches are scheduled for Sunday and losing another match will cost India their Group 1 place and they will have to battle it out in the play-off with the zonal Group 2 winner to avoid relegation.

Even in the tough, cold conditions, Paes and Bhupathi looked in rhythm and after sharing the first four games of the first set, the pair broke loose.

Sublime net play and great understanding saw them breaking Kwon in the fifth game and there was no looking back thereafter. They went on to break Jun as well before Bhupathi overcame a double fault and served for the set.

The second set saw a Korean resurgence and the local favourites stunned their illustrious rivals by winning the set dropping just one game.

Sense of urgency

Jolted out of complacency, the Indians showed a sense of urgency in the third set and raced to 5-0 and Paes played an unbelievable lob, catching the Koreans napping. The Koreans won the next three games on the trot but it was too late and Paes served to clinch the set with consummate ease.

The fourth set followed more or less the same script, with the Indians — playing their 21st doubles match in Davis Cup — calling the shots and despite the Koreans breaking Paes in the third game, the visitors won five games in a row to seal the match.

The result: Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Group 1: Leander Paes/Mahesh Bhupathi (Ind) bt Oh-Hee Kwon/Woong-Sun Jun (Kor) 6-2, 1-6, 6-3, 6-2. — UNI

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