Finishing blues

The irony, perhaps, was not lost on Prakash Amritraj and Rohan Bopanna. Their recent stormy letter to the All India Tennis Association derided Leander Paes...

The irony, perhaps, was not lost on Prakash Amritraj and Rohan Bopanna. Their recent stormy letter to the All India Tennis Association derided Leander Paes for his insistence on playing singles even against players they could have beaten, but today, there they were — injured and sitting on the sidelines, watching him play on. Of course, the reason why they weren’t fuming for this one was because it just happened to be a dead rubber.

Rohan and Prakash preferred to sit out today’s reverse singles matches, apparently because they didn’t want to aggravate their injuries. “My wrist is still not a hundred per cent after my surgery, and I think I aggravated it a bit during the match on Friday. It felt a bit sore; I pushed it, it felt quite bad. I may have to rest for some time before I can get back to playing,” said Prakash. Rohan has been having trouble with his knee, and he has also pulled out from his next tournament in Valencia.

In the event, then, it was Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi who finished off this Asia/Oceania Group I tie. Japanese captain Eiji Takeuchi did not field first-day competitor Go Soeda, and instead gave 18-year-old Kei Nishikori and doubles specialist Satoshi Iwabuchi a chance to get Japan on the scoreboard in this tie. The challenge they faced was miniscule — Mahesh Bhupathi’s last singles match was back in 2003, and it has been over a year since Leander last played on a singles court.

“We had to get some good news today, I couldn’t go back to Japan without at least one win,” joked Takeuchi after the match.

Nishikori handled Bhupathi with ease today, coming up with fine serves to counter Bhupathi’s zipping aces, and even drew applause from his opponent after a stunning forehand flew past with Bhupathi’s racquet stretched out in vain. This 7-5, 6-1 victory created another little piece of history — Nishikori became the youngest Japanese ever to win a Davis Cup match. “I had no pressure today, I was much more aggressive and also came to the net. It was nice to win my first match,” smiled the shy youngster.

The pumped fists and rallying cries in the second match of the day made it appear as though Paes was battling to save the tie, but his fight too gave out in the end despite saving two match points. Iwabuchi added a second victory for Japan after his 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 win, and the captain found himself wishing in retrospect for more singles practice ahead of the match. “I really enjoyed myself today, it was a great thrill; but I wish I had more singles practice,” he laughed.

India’s opponents in the World Group play-off will be drawn next week from the first-round losers of this year’s World Group.