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India clinches thriller

Kamesh Srinivasan

Bopanna loses heart-breaker; Prakash emerges hero

— Photo: Rajeev Bhatt

COMMENDABLE SHOW: Prakash Amritraj, Leander Paes, Rohan Bopanna and Mahesh Bhupathi celebrate India’s victory in the Davis Cup tennis tournament in New Delhi on Sunday.

NEW DELHI: Rohan Bopanna played his heart out against the Asian champion Denis Istomin but left the job of clinching the Davis Cup tie to Prakash Amritraj, as India wrapped up a 3-2 victory over Uzbekistan in the Asia-Oceania group ‘I’ tennis event at the R.K. Khanna Stadium here on Sunday.

Playing a ‘live’ fifth rubber for the first time in his career, the 24-year-old Prakash regained a semblance of his grasscourt game in time to snuff the challenge from Farrukh Dustov 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.

“I was looking forward to the fifth match. I don’t think that it was one of my best performances on grass. Was a bit rusty, and he (Dustov) got his rhythm in winning the second set. I needed to serve harder and am glad that I came out stronger,” Prakash said.

Morale-booster

The effort was a morale-booster for Prakash who could not figure in the scheme of things on the first two days despite being the best ranked singles player in the team.

Incidentally, it also proved that non-playing captain Leander Paes had really put on his thinking cap in finalising his strategy that had come under fire at some stage during the tie.

It was time for a round of celebration as the team was drowned in a spray of champagne before it ran the victory lap much to the jubilation of the crowd that was thoroughly entertained.

The hero of the first two days, the 27-year-old Bopanna was unlucky to find his game dip while he was leading 4-2 in the third set after having won the first two.

He was equally surprised to find Istomin come up with a spectacular performance as he had promised the previous day.

Istomin prevails

Istomin prevailed 4-6, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(1), 8-6 in the fourth rubber that lasted just over three hours on a bright sunny day in front of a colourful crowd that was delighted to witness the thriller.

“He started returning better and I didn’t serve that well compared to the first two sets,” observed Bopanna, who was quite pleased with his overall effort and the high quality of his game.

It was the fourth time that Bopanna was losing a five-setter, the heart-breaker being the 10-12 loss in the fifth set to the French Open finalist Martin Verkerk at Zwolle in Holland in 2003.

Travelling with a trainer of late, Bopanna is sure to reverse the trend with better fitness in future.

“I am proud of the whole team. It was up and down through the week but the good thing was we stuck together. Rohan played unbelievable. It was a brilliant effort by Denis (Istomin) to have come back to win the match. I had a hunch that the fifth rubber could be the key to this tie and Prakash is the hero,” said Paes, a bit emotional when he reiterated that he was proud to be the captain of the team.

Paes announced that he would study the form of the players before the next tie against Japan at home, likely to be played at the same venue in April.

“We move forward, taking the team unity. I believe in selecting the players on current form. We all go to the circuit and get back together for the next tie.

“We will try to stick to the idea of three singles players. I hope to be fit for the next tie. If Mahesh is in great form, he will be in. There are no ego issues,” Paes emphasised.

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