India clip kiwi wings

Ramkumar sealed the tie for the hosts by thumping Tearney 7-5 6-1 6-0 in two hours in the fourth rubber before Yuki won the dead fifth rubber against Statham 7-5 3-6 6-4 in one hour and 55 minutes. India now play second round tie at home in April against Uzbekistan, who got past South Korea in their first round away tie. 

The 22-year-old from Chennai, with a singles world ranking of 276, was lifted shoulder high by all his team members after his superb show and the entire team made a lap of the stadium with the Indian tricolor. The resounding victory for India also signaled the end of Anand Amritraj’s three-year reign as the team captain as he will be replaced by Mahesh Bhupathi for the second round tie against Uzbekistan. India had taken a 2-0 lead on the first day when Yuki Bhambri and Ramkumar clinched their singles rubbers against Tearney and Statham respectively. 

New Zealand clinched the doubles rubber yesterday when Artem Sitak and Michael Venus got the better of Indian veteran Leander Paes and Vishnu Vardhan. Ramkumar clinched a closely fought 51-minute first set and Tearney’s game went to pieces thereafter as the Indian seized on the opportunities and ran away with the second and third sets. 

The 22-year-old Chennai-born 276-ranked Ramkumar fired 12 aces but also committed nine double faults as compared to Tearney’s 16. The Kiwi player committed a staggering 10 double faults in the opening set, including three in the 12th game in which he was decisively broken by his Indian opponent. 

The 6-foot-2-inch tall Indian youngster also had to dig himself out of the hole in two service games in which he faced break points. He saved three in the fifth game in which he committed the first of his two double-faults with the help of his strong first serve clocked at over 200 kmph.

Davis Cup holders Argentina came from behind to beat Italy in a thrilling doubles match on Saturday and keep alive their hopes of retaining the trophy for at least one more day.

British pair Jamie Murray and Dominic Inglot defeated Canadians Daniel Nestor and Vasek Pospisil in four sets in Ottawa to give Britain a 2-1 lead ahead of Sunday’s reverse singles. “It was a 50-50 match going into it,” Murray told reporters after the 7-6 6-7 7-6 6-3 triumph. “We knew it would be close, because everyone knows how to play doubles. So we’re pleased to give the guys two bites at the cherry tomorrow. I think we did a great job.” In Buenos Aires, reigning champions Argentina fought their way to a dramatic win in front of a passionate home crowd. 

Home pair Carlos Berlocq and Leonardo Mayer won the first two sets but Italians Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini fought back to level the score. 

The winners will play either Belgium or Germany with the Belgians, who have never beaten their neighbours in eight previous Davis Cup encounters, 2-1 up. Rubens Bemelmans and Joris de Loore defeated German brothers Alexander and Mischa Zverev in five sets to give them a slender advantage going into the reverse singles in Frankfurt. It also took five sets for Croatians Marin Draganja and Nikola Mektic to beat Spanish pair Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez in Osijek and give the home side the edge before Sunday’s final singles rubbers. 

The winners of that tie will play Serbia, who qualified on Saturday thanks to a doubles win over Russia that gave them an unassailable 3-0 victory. The other three teams to guarantee their quarter-final places were France, Australia and the United States.

India’s former Davis Cup and Fed Cup coach Enrico Piperno feels it is nearly impossible for the country’s tennis players to make the world’s top-50 as there is neither funding nor infrastructure to produce bankable talent. 

“It is almost impossible now, the closest being Somdev (Devvarman) who was ranked 62nd. The reason is, where is the support, where is the funding? Where is the infrastructure in place? Where are the kids to bank on?” he told PTI. He was in the city to announce the launch of a Sports Management Programme in collaboration with Shri Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwara Institute for Management Development and the Centre of Sports and Management Studies. 

“I am based in Kolkata. Imagine, in the month of April. How much can I make it, my training and practice? There is no indoor facility. There is no weather control facility. Everything is done outdoors. How much can you do?” he asked. “Just compare the way it is taken in Australia and see what we have in Patiala, the 1960s kind of systems. You can’t blame the athletes. We perform less in the competitions,” he added.