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Journalism of Courage
It wasnt the way the South African Davis Cup team would have liked to win,but the minor celebrations at the end of their doubles tie against India on Saturday probably betrayed a slight sense of relief. The Indian teams World Group aspirations will have to wait one more day after Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna conceded their match to allow the home side a bit of breathing space in Johannesburg,the formers groin injury being the reason as they called it off with the score at 6-3 3-6 4-0.
Its a pity. Nobody likes to give away a Davis Cup match. It was disappointing for everyone. The injury was so serious that he Bhupathi felt he could not serve and volley,so he could not continue, said non-playing captain SP Misra.
Coetzee,the shortest player out on court at 58,displayed excellent control at the net and with both him and Moodie keeping their unforced errors to a minimum South Africa only had four in the first set,the opening set had their names written all over it. The second set saw Bhupathi and Bopanna get in only 54 per cent of their first serves,but despite that,they stayed determined with a few classy volleys and passing shots of their own to break Coetzee in the eighth game and take the set minutes later. Right at the beginning of the third set,though,Bhupathi reached up for a volley and thats when he suffered his injury. He didnt look comfortable with his serve and pounded in two double faults before deciding that was it.
Bhupathi is coming straight from the US Open. The travel can get very gruelling at this age. I am 30 and I can understand. Mahesh is 35 and it could be quite tiring to play after landing barely 48 hours before the tie, said Moodie.
I thought they India were trying different tactics, joked Coetzee. I couldnt understand why he Bhupathi was serving and staying back. A wins a win. Im just glad we could give our singles guys another chance.
This result makes the tie-score 2-1 in Indias favour,and the visitors need one victory in Sundays reverse singles day to complete their journey to the Davis Cup elite group. The first match of the day will pit Somdev Devvarman against Rik de Voest,two players who know each others game well enough,having played college tennis together as well as being trained under the same coach for a while. Rohan Bopanna is scheduled to play Izak van der Merwe in the last match,but non-playing captain Misra may decide to put in Yuki Bhambri if it turns out to be a dead rubber.
Karlovic loses despite 78 aces
Porec: Radek Stepanek overcame a record 78 aces to defeat Ivo Karlovic in one of the longest matches in tennis history as the Czech Republic took a 2-0 lead over Croatia in the Davis Cup semi-finals on Friday. Stepanek won 6-7 5,7-6 5,7-6 6,6-7 2,16-14 in a match that lasted 5 hours,59 minutes. The 82 games equaled the Davis Cup record since tie-breakers were introduced in 1989.
In the second singles,Tomas Berdych beat Marin Cilic 6-3,6-3,3-6,4-6,6-3 to put the Czechs on the verge of reaching the final for the first time since they won it in 1980.
Elsewhere ,Spain beat Israel 3-0 to reach the final. Agencies
