Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan saved three match points in an edge-of-the-seat thriller to prevail against a fighting Danish pair of Frederik Nielsen and Mikael Torpegaard as India kept its place in the Davis Cup World Group I by winning the playoff tie 4-0, here on Saturday.
Sharan, playing his first Davis Cup tie since February 2019, and Bopanna came from behind to win 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-6 (4) in one hour and 58 minutes.
Yuki Bhambri and Ramkumar Ramanathan had given India a 2-0 lead on the opening day of the tie on Friday. Later in the first reverse singles, Ramkumar beat Joahhnes Ingildsen 5-7 7-5 10-7.
Serving to stay in the match in the 12th game of the decider, Sharan faced three match points but the Indian team held nerves to save all, two of them on second serves, to force a final tie-breaker, in which they raced to a 4-1 lead and sealed the win when Torpegaard could not make a return on Bopanna’s serve.
It was such a close match that only one break of serve featured when Nielsen got broken at the beginning of the second set.
Bopanna praised his partner Sharan for serving big under pressure. “We missed two volleys and that put us under pressure but with lefty serve when there is not enough space is tricky to return. Credit to Divij, he pulled off those second serves and than I had that reflex volley (executed),” Bopanna said of the crucial hold in the 12th game of the third set.
“Even Nielsen later said that the second serve on third match point was quicker than he expected, so he went for a big forehand and missed. “I was just telling Divij they will also feel the pressure.”
Skipper Rohit Rajpal said they could have played Prajnesh Gunneswaran in the dead fourth rubber but Ramkumar was eager to take court, something which coach Zeeshan Ali said was a “good sign” that all the players want to win matches for India.
Bopanna also said that wins “like this” build camaraderie and that would help in taking the Indian team forward in future and in bigger Davis Cup challenges. “This is what we need to build on, this is what we have. There is no point talking about somebody going into top-50 or not being there. We have to fight with this,” said the 42 year-old.
Ingildsen was supposed to play the doubles but considering that Torpegaard served extremely well against Yuki on Friday, he was paired with his captain.
This is India’s first win since they beat Pakistan 4-0 in November 2019.
