Serbians pocket doubles
The Somdev-Bopanna combo lost 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 6-7(10) to Nenad Zimonjic and Ilija Bozoljac in the third rubber which had a pulsating climax after three hours and 10 minutes of engrossing tennis at Spens Sports Centre.
On Friday, Somdev had pulled off an upset win over world number 45 Janko Tipsarevic 7-5, 7-5, 7-6(3) to bring India back in the tie after Bopanna’s 3-6, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, 3-6 defeat against world number 18 Viktor Troicki.
India have an uphill task to win both the reverse singles on Sunday if they have to advance to the quarterfinals. Somdev will take on Troicki while Bopanna will lock horns with Tipsarevic.
The Indian pair squandered set points in both the third and fourth set tie-breaker as Serbians relied on the strong serve of Zimonjic and their overall good game to down the fighting rivals.
Bopanna served extremely well throughout, not dropping his serve even once, but Somdev struggled with his first serve and that badly dented India’s chances. Somdev dropped his serve five times and could manage to hold just four times in the entire match.
Somdev and Bopanna put India ahead by winning the first set by attacking Bojolzac, who initially looked the weak link due to his not so strong serve. Bojolzac could not hold his serve in the entire first set and same was the case with Somdev but the crucial break which the Indian pair earned on the serve of Zimonjic in the ninth game to nose ahead.
Somdev held his serve for the first time in the match in the eighth game but the 5-3 cushion that the Serbs enjoyed helped the hosts draw level. Going with the momentum, Zimonjic and Bozoljac put a lot of pressure on Somdev, who yet again failed to hold early in the third set.
The fourth set was a see-saw affair with Bozoljac and Somdev dropping their serves to be 5-5 at one stage. The Indian pair squandered a set point in the 10th game and Somdev saved three breakpoints in 11th game. An exciting tie-breaker followed in which the hosts prevailed when Zimonjic hit a backhand volley winner.
Results (doubles): World Group: In Charleroi: Belgium trail Spain 0-3 (Olivier
Rochus/Steve Darcis lt to Feliciano Lopez/Fernando Verdasco 6-7(0), 4-6, 3-6.
In Buenos Aires: Argentina lead Romania 3-0 (Juan Ignacio Chela/ Eduardo Schwank bt Victor Hanescu/ Horia Tecau 6-2, 7-6(8), 6-1. In Ostrava: Czech Republic lead Kazakhstan 2-1 (Tomas Berdych/ Lukas Dlouhy bt Evgeny Korolev/ Yuri Schukin 6-4, 6-4, 7-6(4).
In Santiago: Chile trail US 1-2 (Jorge Aguilar/ Nicolas Massu lt to Bob Bryan/ Mike Bryan 3-6, 3-6, 6-7(4)).
In Zagreb: Croatia trail Germany 1-2 (Ivan Dodig/ Ivo Karlovic lt to Christopher Kas/ Philipp Petzschner 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, 3-6, 4-6).
In Bora: Sweden lead Russia 3-0 (Simon Aspelin/ Robert Lindstedt bt Igor Kunitsyn/ Dmitry Tursunov 6-4, 6-7(6), 7-6(6), 6-2.