Somdev beat Marcus Daniell, while Yuki best Michael Venus.
Advertisement
India had advanced to the World Group Play-offs previous year as well only to lose 2-3 to Serbia in September.
Yuki Bhambri’s performance against New Zealand was no less than a top-50 player and even the staunchest of his critics would have changed their opinion about the youngster had they seen him play in Christchurch, says India’s Davis Cup coach Zeeshan Ali.
Speaking to TOI from Christ church on Sunday Yuki said: “It was cold and we were playing away but I think we all adjusted well in the end”. Under the circumstances it’s definitely up there. “It’s a proud feeling to be able to pull off the win for my teammates and the country”.
Statham has been plagued by health issues recently and struggled to play his natural running game on day one when he was beaten on Friday in straight sets by Bhambri.
Bhambri stamped his class proper from the beginning and didn’t face a single break level until the sixth recreation of the… The winning team will go through to the World Group playoffs in September.
“The self-belief was always there”.
With the win, India extended their head-to-head record to 5-3 against the Kiwis.
Senior players Somdev Devvarman and Rohan Bopanna paid glowing tributes to the 23-old-youngster, who was never broken in this tie against the Kiwis.
Devvarman went about his business calmly and made a ideal start to his match when he broke Daniell in the very first game of the opening set.
Advertisement
The onus to bring India back was now on Yuki, who did not disappoint the Indian camp as he raced to a 6-2, 6-1, 6-3 win over Jose Statham in the second singles. Somdev though let slip the advantage by dropping his own serve in the next before cashing in on another chance in the ninth.
