Heartbreak for India on Day One

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“We’ve got our backs against the wall,” Devvarman said after the match that lasted over four hours. “A lot went wrong. After taking the first three games of the match I felt like (Roger) Federer with those winners,but obviously am very disappointed to have lost after the best start I could have got.”

The turning point of the match was in the third set when,leading at 5-4,Devvarman was broken. Even though he won the tie-breaker thanks to three unforced errors by Mello,the India No.1 had lost his rhythm. “He definitely attacked my second serve and was returning very well even on my first,but I had game points in every game that I got broken in; they were really close,” Devvarman recalled.

The turning point of the day though came in the first match. Bopanna had three match points against Brazil’s top player Thomaz Bellucci while leading 5-2 in the deciding set,but that’s when the wheels came apart.

World No. 27 Bellucci wedged his foot in by winning three games in a row to make it 5-5 in the fifth,and then slammed the door shut on the Indian to give his team a crucial lead with a marathon 6-7 (2) 7-6 (7) 7-5 4-6 10-8 victory.

“Can’t really say it was pressure in the end,I had my best chance at 5-2 but that’s how Davis Cup matches are,you win some,you lose some,” Bopanna told The Indian Express.

Form,confidence,style,attitude and serve – Rohan Bopanna,ticked almost every box to close in on a memorable Davis Cup win,before his game deserted him inexplicably. The Bangalore player looked to have momentum by his side when he broke Bellucci in the penultimate set to win 6-4. He quickly followed it up with a 4-1 lead in the final,but his nerves came in his way.

Serving well

Up against an opponent ranked 400 places higher in the world rankings,one thing that stood out for Bopanna on Friday was his stellar serve. Right till the final set,he was winning games at love consistently,while Bellucci double faulted twice in a game on more than a couple of occasions. In fact,the Indian had a break point on Bellucci’s very first serve of the match.

“My serve comes as a big positive out of this match that I have to carry till Sunday. But even in the U.S. Open I only got broken once throughout the tournament,” Bopanna said. But Bellucci,clearly not on a surface to his liking,held when it mattered.

Bopanna might not have won on this day,but he walked away with a lot of praise. And confidence. “Playing so much doubles has definitely sharpened my serve and volley game. I won almost all the points coming in to the net in the initial period of the match but later didn’t have so many chances. Lack of match practice in the singles format was a factor. It’s not that I play four hour singles matches everyday,” Bopanna said.

With Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes’s record winning streak of 22 matches in doubles,India are most likely to pull one back tomorrow but in order to advance,both Bopanna and Somdev will have to win their reverse singles matches on Sunday.