World goes flat for India

Hopes of joining Davis Cups elite nations suffer a blow after trailing 0-2 to Japan.

India faced relegation to the Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Zone after Somdev Devvarman and Rohan Bopanna lost their singles rubbers,handing Japan a 2-0 lead on the opening day of the World Group play-off tie. Somdev,ranked 65th,suffered an unexpected 3-6 4-6 5-7 defeat against Yuichi Sugita,who is placed 110 rungs below the Indian.

The visitors never recovered from the shock of the opening singles rubber,which lasted two hours and 32 minutes. India needed an exceptional performance from Bopanna to come back in the tie but the Indian was no match to the supremely talented Kei Nishikori.

World number 55 Nishikori showed his superiority by disbanding Bopannas challenge 6-3 6-2 6-2 in the second singles. India now face to win all the remaining matches if they want to make it to the elite 16-nation World Group. Japan,on the other hand,are strongly placed to advance after a long gap of 26 years.

We had a tough day today. The Japanese boys played very well and deserved to win. We didnt foresee being down 0-2. Somdev Devvarmans injury was clearly bothering him. He just could not hit the ball well, Indian non-playing captain SP Misra said. Being down 2-0 is a tough position for us. We will have to take it one match at a time from now starting with the doubles, he added.

Somdev fell to a charged up Sugita,egged on by the home crowd. There was no margin of error and all three sets were fought closely,with Somdev dropping serve early in the first two sets to hand advantage to Sugita. Down 0-2,Somdev did raise the level and played cautiously in the third set,which was 5-5 at one stage,heading for a tie-breaker. However,Sugita got that crucial break in the 11th game and served out the rubber in the next game.

While Bopanna relies heavily on his serve,he struggled to hold his own on Friday,thanks to the superior all round game of Nishikori and the Indians unforced errors. An easy overhead volley,which should have been put away,was hit onto the net and it handed the first break of the match to Nishikori,who opened a 3-1 lead. The Japanese consolidated by holding his serve. The sixth game was an interesting duel as Bopanna fought hard and saved a breakpoint en route to hold.

Bopanna started attacking Nishikoris serve and earned two breakpoints in the seventh game but Nishikori served well to deny the Indian any comeback. As the next two games went with serve,Nishikori nosed ahead 1-0 in the rubber.

Story continues below this ad

Another drop volley fault and a backhand error cost Bopanna dear as it gave a 2-1 lead to the host player in the second set. The story did not change in the third set as Nishikori broke Bopanna twice to hand his side a 2-0 cushion going into the second day.

Spain,Argentina lead in semis
Cordoba: Spanish world number two Rafa Nadal showed little sign of post-U.S. Open fatigue when he thrashed Frances Richard Gasquet 6-3 6-0 6-1 in the opening singles of their Davis Cup semi-final. David Ferrer then beat Gilles Simon 6-1 6-4 6-1 to leave four-times champions Spain needing just a win in Saturdays doubles tie to ensure their place in the final.

Meanwhile,in Belgrade,Djokovic was a late withdrawal from the opening days singles in Serbias semifinal against Argentina with back problem. His replacement,Viktor Troicki,lost to David Nalbandian 6-4 4-6 6-2 6-3.