Bellucci and Mello put Brazil in box seat against India
India’s hopes of qualifying for the Davis Cup World Group in 2011 have taken a hit, with Brazil winning both of their day-one play-off rubbers against the India’s in five sets.
Brazil’s Thomaz Bellucci won an epic opening rubber of the day, defeating Rohan Bopanna 6-7(2), 7-6(7), 7-5, 4-6, 10-8.
Bopanna had looked set to give the Chennai crowd something to cheer about when he gained a match point at 5-2 in the second set, but the world No. 27 saved it and went on to stage what was ultimately a winning comeback.
The four hour and 28 minute match saw 11 breaks of serve, but it was Bellucci who was made better use of his chances, converting six of eight break point opportunities, including what proved to be the vital one in the 17th game of the fifth set, while Bopanna could only manage to break the Brazilian five times from the 17 chances to do so he created.
India, then, were in need of a leveller in the second rubber of the say, and Somdev Devvarman made a strong start for the hosts, taking the opening set 6-4 before Ricardo Mello fought back to take the second.
It was Devvarman though who secured the first break and took control of the third but Mello eventually broke back to send the set into a tiebreak before Devvarman regrouped to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
Three hours and 15 minutes after the match had started, this rubber too headed into a deciding fifth set, with an unforced backhand error from Devvarman – his 20th mistake of a set where the Brazilian only made 11 unforced errors – handing the set to Mello.
It took Mello almost another hour, but the Brazilian eventually closed out the match 4-6, 6-2, 6-7(3), 6-2, 6-4 to put his team in the box seat heading into the final three rubbers of the play-off tie.
Brazil are seeking to reach the World Group for the first time since 2003 while India need to defeat the South Americans to retain their place in the top tier of the competition for the second straight year.
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