The Hindu : Sport : Japan wins both reverse singles

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Japan wins both reverse singles

Kamesh Srinivasan

Delightful day for the fans as Bhupathi and Paes play singles

— Photo: Sandeep Saxena

GUTSY EFFORT: Leander Paes (right) played his heart out before losing to Satoshi Iwabuchi.

NEW DELHI: With the singles stars deciding not to aggravate their injuries, it was left to the superstars of Indian tennis — doubles specialists Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi — to have an extended session on court in the Asia-Oceania group I Davis Cup tie against Japan at the R. K. Khanna Stadium here on Sunday.

It was a rare honour for the crowd to see the veterans in action in singles, as both Prakash Amritraj and Rohan Bopanna opted to nurse their knee and wrist injuries after India took an unassailable 3-0 lead on Saturday.

It was a great opportunity for the competitive Japanese team and it won the two rubbers played today in the best-of-three format.

The 18-year-old Kei Nishikori became the youngest Japanese to win his first rubber in Davis Cup as he breezed past Bhupathi in the first reverse singles with a 7-5, 6-1 victory in 53 minutes.

Creditable effort

As skipper Paes pointed out later, it was creditable of the former world No. 1 doubles player to have taken the court and completed his singles match. Mahesh had played his last singles tie in December 2002 in the qualifying round of the Chennai Open ATP Tour event.

For Paes, it was a good chance to see whether he can improve his career record. However, he was not sharp enough to take his chances against the left-handed Satoshi Iwabuchi who prevailed 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in a two-hour duel that had the crowd cheering for the old warhorse.

“I was happy to play Leander in Davis Cup in India in both singles and doubles,” said Iwabuchi.

“Takao Suzuki was sick and that is why we had to go with Iwabuchi. He did a good job. Go Soeda was very disappointed and needed time to recover. Had we won one of the matches on the first day, we had a chance to win this tie,” said the Japanese captain Eiji Takeuchi.

Great thrill

Though he may not have liked the idea of playing the singles match unprepared, Paes was not complaining. “It was a great thrill. I had a big chance after saving two match points, but came out a little short in the end,” said Paes.

Bhupathi was gracious and said that after the superb performance of the singles players on the first day, he did not mind taking the court for singles.

“I didn’t want to take any chances with the wrist, for when I did I had been out for months in the past,” said Prakash Amritraj.

Bopanna stressed his commitment and the fact that he had skipped the finals of the Futures last week at Chandigarh to preserve himself for the tie. He also informed that he had already pulled out of a tournament next week after playing his part in the win here.

The Indian team will await the World Group play-off draw to be made by the ITF in a few days in London to know about its next tie to be played in September.

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