Somdev wins, Bopanna loses in Davis cup tie

Day One of India’s Davis Cup tryst with Chinese Taipei did not go as well as Leander Paes would have hoped for but the senior pro, still in a gung-ho mood, described the 1-1 result as “fair”.

After Somdev Devvarman had put India ahead with his maiden Davis Cup victory, Rohan Bopanna lost a difficult match as the Asia-Oceania Zone Round I tie remained 1-1 on Friday.

At the Yang-Ming Tennis Center, Somdev overcame an erratic Ti Chen 7-5 6-4 6-4 in a rubber that never rose to great heights.

“Somdev was battling his nerves to begin with,” Leander told DNA over the phone from Taipei. The Indian, who made his Davis Cup debut against Uzbekistan in Feb 2008, was far from his usual confident self. “He came back well and played. It’s still a terrific result for us and would have been awesome if we had gone up 2-0.”

But Leander had words of praise for Rohan too, who lost 6-7(2-7) 2-6 2-6 to World No.59 Yen-Hsun Lu, Taipei’s trump card.

“Rohan played well too… But Lu is in great touch. After the initial set, he just didn’t give Rohan any space to work with.”

The eight-time Grand Slam champion wants to cash in on the good start and put India ahead 2-1 in the all-important doubles encounter on Saturday. It does not matter, Leander said, that he and Mahesh Bhupathi play with different partners. The once formidable pair on the ATP Tour is still a force to reckon with in Davis Cup.

“We both are professionals and will look to dominate on Saturday. It’s still not clear whether they will stick to their announced pair or throw in one of the singles’ guys against us but that won’t be a problem,” a confident Leander said.

“We hope to play some really good tennis tomorrow and put India ahead… Just carry forward our good work that we have been doing for so long,” the elder statesman of Indian tennis said.

Leander didn’t want to speculate on how Somdev would stack up against Lu on Sunday, saying that he would like to concentrate on the doubles but for the youngster, Friday was a day he won’t forget in a hurry.

Somdev told DNA that it was the “best day of his Davis Cup career.”“I had to work hard today, but I was determined to win the match,” he said. Somdev, who defeated two top-25 players in the season opening Chennai Open, said his plan was to tire out Chen. “We both have a similar style of play, but I knew I was stronger than him both mentally and physically. I plan was to wear him down and make him work extra hard for every point.”

The 23-year-old said his work would be cut out against Lu, but he is quite enjoying the vastly different Davis Cup atmosphere.

“In Davis Cup you always have your entire team backing you and home support is vital, whereas on the ATP circuit, it’s normally just my coach and I who travel together… We will win,” assured Somdev while signing off.