Bhupathi’s injury gives South Africa a lifeline(Lead)
September 19th, 2009 - 9:27 pm ICT by IANS
Johannesburg, Sep 19 (IANS) As India were looking to seal the Davis Cup World Group play-off, a groin injury to Mahesh Bhupathi forced him and Rohan Bopanna to concede the doubles tie and that kept South Africa alive here at the Ellis Park Indoor Arena Saturday.
Bhupathi and Bopanna were down 3-6, 6-3, 0-4 against South African pair Jeff Coetzee and
Wesley Moodie when the Indians decided to pull out.
India still lead the tie 2-1 after Somdev Devvarman and Rohan Bopanna won their opening singles matches Friday.
India now will have to win one of Sunday’s two reverse singles to enter the World Group Finals for the first time in 11 years. The top players of the two countries Somdev and Rik De Voest will play the first reverse singles while Bopanna will take on Izak van der Merwe in the second.
The last time India lost a doubles tie was in 2003 World Group play-off against the Netherlands and interestingly Bhupathi and Bopanna paired up then too as Leander Paes did not play in the tie. They lost to Dutch pair Ohan Van Lottum and Martin Verkerk.
The Indian pair lost the first set as Bhupathi dropped his serve in the eighth game, but the Indians fought back to make it a set-all, breaking Coetzee’s serve in the eighth game when the South African double-faulted on break-point. Bhupathi then served out the set.
The South Africans, breaking Bopanna’s serve in the second game, cruised to 3-0 ahead in the third set and when Bhupathi dropped his serve at love with a second double fault in the fourth game, he walked up to shake hands with the opponents.
“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 more tiring for him to play after landing barely 48 hours before the tie,” said Moodie.
South Africa had won both its previous tie against India. The hosts have won their last 10 ties in the competition and have reached the World Group playoffs for the first time in 10 years. They have had four World Group appearances, the last being in 1998.
It is the second successive year that India have reached the World Group playoffs — they lost to Romania last year.
– Indo-Asian news Service
pt/vs
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- Somdev's strained shoulder makes him doubtful for reverse singles - Sep 17, 2011
- Davis Cup: Somdev to spearhead India's challenge against Serbia - Jan 29, 2011
- Davis Cup: Bhupathi-Bopanna keep India alive by winning doubles - Sep 17, 2011
- Davis Cup: Somdev and Bopanna outclassed, India go 0-2 down - Sep 16, 2011
- Davis Cup: India pull off stunning win against Brazil - Sep 19, 2010
- India relegated, Japan through to Davis Cup World Group(Lead) - Sep 18, 2011
- Davis Cup: Somdev happy with weather and courts - Sep 15, 2011
- Davis Cup: India have a tough battle against Serbia - Mar 03, 2011
- Davis Cup: Paes-Bhupathi keep Indian hopes alive - Sep 18, 2010
- I pushed Nishikori to step-up his game: Vardhan - Sep 18, 2011
- Paes to miss Davis Cup tie against Japan - Sep 13, 2011
- Davis Cup: India concede doubles tie against South Africa - Sep 19, 2009
- Davis Cup: India go down 1-4 to defending champions Serbia (Roundup) - Mar 07, 2011
- India to play Japan in Davis Cup World Group play-off - Jul 13, 2011
Tags: break point, double fault, eighth game, ellis park, groin injury, indian pair, indoor arena, jeff coetzee, leander paes, mahesh bhupathi, martin verkerk, rik de voest, rohan bopanna, second game, somdev devvarman, south africans, time india, van der merwe, wesley moodie, world group