But Bhambri and Devvarman did not lose their nerve and earned impressive straight-set victories in their reverse singles matches to aid India win the Asia/Oceania Group 1 second round tie on the indoor hard courts of the Wilding Park Tennis Centre.
Advertisement
Yuki, who won his first singles match on Friday, claimed a comfortable 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 win over Michael Venus in the tie-decider that lasted one hour and 49 minutes.
Marcus Daniell willingly stepped in but was not expected to beat the top 150 ranked Somdev Devvarman, despite the fact the Kiwi defeated a top 100 player previous year.
The winners of the tie will book a September play-off clash with either the United States, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Japan, Switzerland or Brazil, with a place in the 2016 world group on the line.
Mike Venus will face Yuki Bhambri in the deciding match this afternoon.
Daniell replaced Rubin Statham in the match who was out with the flu.
Venus did show some fight in the third but Yuki kept his cool and took home the set with a score of 6-3.
“It’s so rare for India to win a tie after losing a doubles”.
Devvarman generally had control of each set although there were opportunities where Daniell showed that with a bit more singles play and a couple of calls going his way the set and match would have been different.
Somdev went about his business calmly today and made a perfect start when he broke Daniell in the very first game of the opening set. The advantage of that early break stayed with him throughout and he served out the set in the 10th game. However, Yuki yet again found a way to get a break and created a lead of 4-2, following a break in the sixth game. However, he double faulted when he was down by another break point in the fifth. The Kiwi was down by two break points at the start of the third set but saved both.
Somdev though let slip the advantage by dropping his own serve in the next before cashing in on another chance in the ninth.
Advertisement
It was a matter of holding serve in the next which Devvarman did to make it 2-2 for India.
