CHANDIGARH -- The Indian team saved its most entertaining performance for the end as they broke into a jig, which from the delightfully synchronized moves, seemed rehearsed, as they celebrated a convincing 4-1 win over South Korea in the Davis Cup Asia/Oceania tie on Sunday. The victory has earned them a spot in September's World Group playoffs.
Rohan Bopanna beat Chung Hong 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, while Ramkumar Ramanathan went down to Yong-Kyu Lim 6-3, 5-7, 7-6(2) in the two remaining dead rubbers. India had already sealed the tie with a 3-0 lead on Saturday and made the World Group playoffs.
Filling in for Saketh Myneni, who is yet to recover from the bout of spasms he suffered during his match on Friday, Bopanna staved off an opening set loss to subdue South Korea's Hong in the day's first reverse singles. Chung Hong was filling in for teammate Seong Chan Hong, who was originally slated to play the rubber.
Securing his 10th singles win in Davis Cup, the last one being in yet another dead rubber against Uzbekistan in 2012, Bopanna was guilty of often placing his returns into the tramlines. One that he conceded later. "I don't remember the last time I was slicing returns," Bopanna said after the match, "I had no clue till I woke up this morning that I would be playing the match. It was difficult for me to get used to the court and movement, particularly since I had to change my playing style to play singles. I was instinctively hitting shots into the doubles alley."
Throwing away the first set, courtesy a bunch of poor returns, Bopanna was soon trailing 1-4 in the second. However, hitting his opponent's weak spot, Bopanna then switched to a serve and volley game. He broke serve in the ninth game after Chung slapped a forehand into the mesh. Three games into the third set and the Korean's left shoulder seemed sore, and all Bopanna had to do thereafter was to hold his serve and break Chung's serve once more for a comfortable win.
In the other tie, Ramkumar got off to a convincing start using his characteristic big serve and took the first set in a jiffy against Lim, who, along with compatriot Chung Lyeon, had beaten the Indian duo of Saketh and Sanam Singh to clinch the 2014 Asian Games doubles gold. However, a couple of sloppy forehands and a few lobs which were off target, helped the experienced Lim level affairs. With the third set spilling into a tie break, the 21 year-old Indian dispatched two returns wide and shanked a couple into the net to hand the visitors a consolation win.
"I'm glad that the team won," said Ramkumar, "I gave my best but fell short." He did make up for it, though, with his dance moves.