Team Japan dumps Team India as Rohan Bopanna retires with injury – Davis Cup 2011 WG Play-offs
An authoritative victory was witnessed for the Japanese in the Davis Cup World Group playoffs against the bleak Indian side on Sunday. Team Japan registered a 4-1 win to dispose of India from the competition in the most assertive
manner.
The tie was played on the Ariake Coliseum, Tokyo, Japan, with the home side living up to the expectations of the home crowd to devastate Team India without much trouble. Japan reduced its huge trail deficit against India to 4-18
after their victory in Tokyo and moved into the next round of the Davis Cup World Group.
Eiji Takeuchi was the captain of the Japanese side and the world number 55, Kei Nishikori, lead the attack. Tatsuma Ito, Go Soeda and Yuichi Sugita were the other Japanese who took part in the demolition job against India to win
4-1.
Team India was captained by Shiv-Prakash Misra, with the world number 65, Somdev Devvarman, as its spearhead in the tie. Rohan Bopanna, Mahesh Bhupathi and Vishnu Vardhan were also in the side but they all couldn’t contain the
aggressive Japanese in the competition.
The Indians got their first jolt of the day, when their best player, Devvarman, lost to Sugita in straight sets 3-6, 4-6, 5-7, in the opening singles rubber on Friday. He Japanese displayed his amazing tennis skills to outplay
the Indian spearhead in an assertive manner, giving his side a 1-0 lead early in the competition.
A second hammer blow came from the Japanese, when Nishikori blew away Bopanna 6-3, 6-2, 6-2, in the second singles rubber of the day. Team Japan raced away to a 2-0 lead in the competition, with one win requiring disposing of India.
The Indians finally showed their presence in the tie when the combination of Bhupathi and Bopanna clinched the doubles encounter against Ito and Sugita on the next day. They reduced the overall deficit to 1-2 after a stiff battle
but all their hard work went in vain when Vardhan was devastated in straight sets 5-7, 3-6, 3-6, against Nishikori in the third rubber of the tie.
Bopanna lost the final rubber against Soeda, after he was forced to retire in the opening set due to injury and gifted a comprehensive victory to the Japanese squad at 1-4. The Japanese made it to the next round of the Davis Cup,
which will be played towards the end of November.
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