No bumps along the road

The days of the famous chest-bump have firmly settled themselves in distant folklore, and they looked far from making a comeback today despite requests from the crowd — particularly in the aftermath of Paes’ comments about his erstwhile doubles partner. Consider the instance, just one of many, when Bhupathi smacked off a spectacular backhand down the line on their first break point of the third set — and pumped his fists while running over to Rohan Bopanna and the rest of the bench for a screaming celebration. Paes, meanwhile, stood apart, not part of that little moment. “We will chest-bump when we feel like it. Not for the crowd,” was Bhupathi’s terse response after the match.

Magical volleys

Of course, it was only the magical volleys and bullet returns that mattered in the quest for a World Group play-off spot. A few double faults were thrown in too, but Bhupathi managed to come up with excellent serves whenever trouble seemed near. Suzuki volleyed his way to a break, which went a long way in making it one set all, but that was about all the challenge the Japanese team could muster.

“I did expect them to be a bit more fiery, but we did enough to win. We played solid, and it was nothing out of the ordinary; we did what we had to. We haven’t played together for so long, but we found our rhythm and communication,” was a business-like Paes’s assertion after the match.

Understandable disappointment ruled the Japanese camp.

“We should have won the first set, that was very even. Once we lost that, our chances went. We lost the third on the only break point, but this is doubles, and even tiny mistakes can make a difference. They put pressure on us,” explained Japanese non-playing captain Eiji Takeuchi.

“I am really disappointed. We should have played the first set tie-break better. One point makes a big difference on the grasscourts, and even though they haven’t played together for long, they looked like good tennis players,” said the still-smiling Suzuki.

Role reversal

Sunday, then, dawns as a dead rubber day, but a couple of interesting matches are sure to catch the eye. Inaugurating the unexpected proceedings will be Mahesh Bhupathi, who takes on Go Soeda in the first reverse singles.

Leander Paes, who has battled through many live Davis Cup fifth rubbers in the past, will be up against the teenage brilliance of Kei Nishikori in the second, and final, match of the day.

Rohan Bopanna, originally scheduled to play one of Sunday’s matches, is nursing an injured knee, while Prakash Amritraj has a sore wrist.