Doubles trouble for India

GENOA, April 4: Syed Fazaluddin was too anxious to get the doubles point for India. Nothing wrong. That is what a player is supposed to do. ...

GENOA, April 4: Syed Fazaluddin was too anxious to get the doubles point for India. Nothing wrong. That is what a player is supposed to do. But the 23-year-old Davis Cup rookie tried to do too many things in his first big match and ended up gifting many free points, even as the Italian doubles pair of Andrea Gaudenzi and Diego Nargiso helped Italy nose ahead with a 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 win over the Indian duo of Mahesh Bhupathi and Fazaluddin.

For Fazaluddin, it was a question of adapting to Bhupathi8217;s pace and his level of doubles play. They were playing together for the first time, and for a team which did not even get decent practice, they seem to have done relatively well against veterans like Nargiso and Gaudenzi.

To top it all, Bhupathi just couldn8217;t get his serve going. It was a pale shadow of what was on show during those 15 minutes of thrilling singles play which the Indian won 6-4 6-4 6-4 to put his side on equal footing from Italy.

The lack of co-ordination between the two Indians was evidentmany a time and Bhupathi had many tasks on his hand. First, try to cover up for Fazaluddin8217;s weakness and then try and hit winners all the time. That was a tall order for him because he was playing his second match in less than 24 hours.

However, the sheen of the Italian victory was taken away by the pathetic state of the court which had such bad bounces that, at times, the ball rolled along the ground and others flew off after the serve.

quot;It is the worst clay court I have ever played in my career,quot; Bhupathi said. quot;The grass in India is definitely better.quot; He had problems tackling Gaudenzi8217;s kick serve but felt that with better preparation it would have made a difference. quot;Even if Fazal and I had played together for some more time, I think we could have pulled it off,quot; the Indian, ranked eighth in the world in doubles, said.

quot;I was rather over-anxious to win this match. I took a while to get comfortable with the environment and by the time I did were already in a corner,quot; said Fazaluddin.

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It was anominous beginning for India with Bhupathi dropping his serve in the second game of the first set. Surprisingly, Fazaluddin held more serves than his senior counterpart, as Bhupathi send in backhand down the line beauties on key points from the left court. Even though Gaudenzi was broken in the third, Fazaluddin double-faulted on break point in the eighth to let Nargiso serve out the set.

A similar pattern followed in the second set with Bhupathi losing serve in the first and again in the fifth, but by that time, he packed gallery had already smelt victory. The third set was the only time the Indians managed to get their act together. They won that set but then they had already missed the bus.

The pressure is still on Gaudenzi to seal the tie on the morrow. Bhupathi said that he was feeling a bit sore after playing seven sets in a day. quot;Body or no body, you got to be there,quot; he said.

THE EQUALISER: Earlier, it took slightly longer than the warm-up before the match. In fact, in the whole of 13minutes that it lasted, it was Bhupathi who, with awesome presence on the court, simply overshadowed the green horn Davide Sanguinetti to put India on par with the opposition.

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Bhupathi was a heart-beat away from victory when rain stopped play yesterday. Up by two sets and the third going on serve, it was the Indian who gained by the rain because as he said he was getting a bit tired. Coming back refreshed, Bhupathi was at his very best, particularly on his serve and returns. The pleasing aspect of his game was his play at the net which he set up with deep returns to the either flank.

quot;This is the best Davis Cup match I have played from start to finish,quot;Bhupathi said later.