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Davis Cup: India stays in World Group I as Rohan Bopanna, Divij Sharan clinch doubles win

The tense win ensured that India will stay in World Group I for the 2022 season while Denmark will now again go back to World Group II.

Divij Sharan and Rohan Bopanna

Bengaluru, March 5: Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan saved three match points in a thrilling contest to beat Danish pair of Frederik Nielsen and Mikael Torpegaard 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) as India kept its place in the Davis Cup World Group I by taking an unassailable 3-0 lead in the play-off tie at the Delhi Gymkhana Club on Saturday (March 5).

Later, India made it 4-0 with Ramkumar Ramanathan prevailing over Johannes Ingilsden 5-7, 7-5, 10-7 in the inconsequential reverse singles tie while the fifth dead rubber was not played.

Sharan, playing his first Davis Cup tie since February 2019, and seasoned pro Bopanna came from behind to prevail in the contest which lasted an hour and 58 minutes.

The tense win ensured that India will stay in World Group I for the 2022 season while Denmark will now again go back to World Group II.

Davis Cup: Ramkumar, Bhambri give India 2-0 leadDavis Cup: Ramkumar, Bhambri give India 2-0 lead

Earlier, on the opening day, India had grabbed had a 2-0 lead with Yuki Bhambri and Ramanathan posting contrasting victories.

In the opening singles, Ramanathan cruised to a 6-3 6-2 win over Christian Siggsgaard.

Later, Bhambri, playing Davis Cup for the first time since 2017, doubled India's lead with a 6-4, 6-4 win in the second singles against Torpegaard.

Davis Cup 2022, India vs Denmark: Schedule, Squads, Venue, Where to watchDavis Cup 2022, India vs Denmark: Schedule, Squads, Venue, Where to watch

On Saturday, 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.

This is India's first win since they beat Pakistan 4-0 in November 2019 when Rohit Rajpal took over as non-playing captain. After that India lost to Finland (1-3) and Croatia (1-3) in away ties.

There was no break of serve in the opening set and a tie-breaker was required. Bopanna lost the first point on his serve and the Danish team opened up a huge 5-1 lead from where Torpegaard found a volley winner on Sharan's return to earn five set points.

Bopanna managed to save two with his booming serves, but Torpeggard fired a body serve on Bopanna to seal the opening set.

Ironically, it was Nielsen who blinked in the second set, dropping his serve in the opening game. At 15-30, he could not return one shot from Bopanna to be down by two break chances. He saved the first but double-faulted on the second to hand the Indians an advantage.

That break stayed with the Indians and Sharan served out the set in the 10th to force a decider.

The Indian team had three break chances against Torpegaard in the fifth game but fluffed all.

Bopanna came out to serve to stay in the match in the 10th game and was under pressure when Torpegaard found a backhand winner to make it 30-all, but the Indian held to stay afloat after one deuce point.

In the 12th game, India saved three match points and sealed the match in tie-breaker.

The two-day contest is the first between India and Denmark since September 1984, when the latter won 3-2.

India has been allotted a home tie after three years while Delhi is hosting Davis Cup matches after more than five years.

(With PTI inputs)

Story first published: Saturday, March 5, 2022, 16:28 [IST]
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