Yuki gives India lead, Somdev’s fate hangs in balance
1 Feb 2014 6:09 AM IST
Troubled by cramps in both the legs in the third set, Yuki fought off pain and his sluggish rival for a 6-2 6-4 6-7 (1) 6-3 win in two hours and 52 minutes as he put India ahead in the first round tie.
In the second singles, a defensive Somdev was locked in an engrossing battle against an offensive Ti Chen, in which both have won two sets apiece and fifth set was tied 7-7 after four hours and 30 minutes of tennis. When bad light forced suspension of the match, the score was 6-7 (4) 7-6 (3) 1-6 6-2 7-7.
Somdev has squandered four match points, including three in the ninth game of the deciding set, so far and Chen has kept his side’s hopes alive to level the tie with his fighting spirit.
The match will be completed tomorrow before Rohan Bopanna and Saketh Myneni clash with Hsien-Yin Peng and Hsin-Han Lee in the doubles rubber.
There was hardly any contest in the opening singles as Yuki hit winner after winner with superb control over his shots and even when he suffered the injury and was limping, Yang failed to take advantage.
It was surprising that Yang did not go for kill even as Yuki was struggling to serve and his movement was restricted severely. Yang had a fantastic opportunity to push Yuki out of the match but he blew away the chance with his error-prone game.
To his credit, Yuki did not give up and kept fighting and his persistence finally paid off. What followed in the next match was engrossing tennis as Chen played a solid game.
He just outmanoeuvred Somdev. If Somdev approached net, Chen would past him with blistering winners and when the Indian stayed behind, Chen came up with amazingly calculated drop shots.
His ground strokes were solid and he opened up the court with ease as he made Somdev run on court.
Now it was a game of nerves and Chen did lose control over his shots a bit. Earlier he was finding the lines but now they were going wide and long. One such error handed Somdev a break and a 5-3 lead.
Roger Federer gives Switzerland 1-0 lead over Serbia
NOVI SAD: Roger Federer got Switzerland off the mark in their Davis Cup World Group opener on Friday as France, Germany and Kazakhstan also took early leads. Federer, a last-minute addition to the Swiss team, won through 6-4, 7-5, 6-2 against 268th-ranked Ilija Bozoljac on the hard court surface in Novi Sad. The Swiss are favourites with Serbia weakened by the absence of their top players Novak Djokovic and Janko Tipsarevic. In Astana, Mikhail Kukushkin and Andrei Golubev gave hosts Kazakhstan a 2-0 advantage against Belgium. Hosts France went 1-0 up on clay against Australia.
In the second singles, a defensive Somdev was locked in an engrossing battle against an offensive Ti Chen, in which both have won two sets apiece and fifth set was tied 7-7 after four hours and 30 minutes of tennis. When bad light forced suspension of the match, the score was 6-7 (4) 7-6 (3) 1-6 6-2 7-7.
Somdev has squandered four match points, including three in the ninth game of the deciding set, so far and Chen has kept his side’s hopes alive to level the tie with his fighting spirit.
The match will be completed tomorrow before Rohan Bopanna and Saketh Myneni clash with Hsien-Yin Peng and Hsin-Han Lee in the doubles rubber.
There was hardly any contest in the opening singles as Yuki hit winner after winner with superb control over his shots and even when he suffered the injury and was limping, Yang failed to take advantage.
It was surprising that Yang did not go for kill even as Yuki was struggling to serve and his movement was restricted severely. Yang had a fantastic opportunity to push Yuki out of the match but he blew away the chance with his error-prone game.
To his credit, Yuki did not give up and kept fighting and his persistence finally paid off. What followed in the next match was engrossing tennis as Chen played a solid game.
He just outmanoeuvred Somdev. If Somdev approached net, Chen would past him with blistering winners and when the Indian stayed behind, Chen came up with amazingly calculated drop shots.
His ground strokes were solid and he opened up the court with ease as he made Somdev run on court.
Now it was a game of nerves and Chen did lose control over his shots a bit. Earlier he was finding the lines but now they were going wide and long. One such error handed Somdev a break and a 5-3 lead.
Roger Federer gives Switzerland 1-0 lead over Serbia
NOVI SAD: Roger Federer got Switzerland off the mark in their Davis Cup World Group opener on Friday as France, Germany and Kazakhstan also took early leads. Federer, a last-minute addition to the Swiss team, won through 6-4, 7-5, 6-2 against 268th-ranked Ilija Bozoljac on the hard court surface in Novi Sad. The Swiss are favourites with Serbia weakened by the absence of their top players Novak Djokovic and Janko Tipsarevic. In Astana, Mikhail Kukushkin and Andrei Golubev gave hosts Kazakhstan a 2-0 advantage against Belgium. Hosts France went 1-0 up on clay against Australia.
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