Hosts slump on Day One

The proceedings started on the centre court with the second ranked players from both teams — Fatehdeep Singh and Chih Chun Tang taking the court. Right from the first game of the match the momentum was swinging on either sides with both players breaking each other back. And though Singh fought hard to retain serve for 6-6 and then won the tie-break 7-3,Tang came back with a renewed vigour.

It helped that around the same time an abysmally high number of unforced errors came out of Fatehdeep Singh’s racket.

As sides were changed after the first set,so were the fortunes reversed for the two players as Singh hit all returns wide in the first game on Tang’s serve and in no time,he was 4-0 down,games almost flying past him as he stood unable to control the double faults,backhands in the net and forehands wide.

He showed a glimmer of a comeback at 5-2 when Tang baulked under pressure,hitting an underhand serve on which Singh capitalised and hit a winner. But his aggression did not last long as he got broken back for the set 6-3.

The third set began on a similar disappointing note for Singh as he hit three consecutive unforced errors in the first game. It was only Tang’s inability to punish weak lobs that gave Singh chances to keep the ball in play and the scoreline soon matched that of the second set with the Indian being 4-0 down. At the beginning of the match,his serve and groundstrokes were his strength but by now he was even double faulting twice in a game. After being 5-0 down,Singh managed a game back but the effort came too late in the day and he netted a backhand to lose the match 6-7 6-3 6-1.

Abdullah’s fightback

The pressure was then on Sheik Abdullah,India’s top player to level the scores but his opponent Wen Chun Liang played exceptional tennis to race to a 4-0 lead and when some predicted it to be a lopsided affair,Abdullah showed great grit for a 4-4 fightback. At 5-4 in the first,the match’s longest rally,almost of 30 shots ensued but a forehand long saw Abdullah getting broken for the set (6-4).

Fortunately for India,that tough point only motivated him to do better and he went on to win four games on the trot as Liang’s form also showed a dip in the severe heat.

The two players were at their aggressive best,screaming words of encouragement to themselves and also sneering at the other at a missed shot. Even though Liang was down,he continued to play with an attacking style.

The third set saw an exchange of service breaks in the first two games but that was the only break that the Chinese Taipei player could manage as Abdullah raced to a 4-6 6-2 6-3 in one hour and twenty nine minutes.

However,India’s straight sets loss in the doubles means that the only chance they have to qualify for the world group is if they beat Sri Lanka and sixth seeds China – the remaining two teams in the group.

Results: Japan (1) beat Kazakhstan 3-0; Korea (7) beat New Zealand 2-1; Australia(2) beat Indonesia 3-0; Hong Kong (5) beat Philippines 2-1; Uzbekistan (3) beat Syria 2-1; Thailand (8) beat Malaysia 2-1; Chinese Taipei (4) beat India 2-1; China (6) beat Sri Lanka 3-0