Moscow: Somdev Devvarman came close to giving India a point but the Russians wrapped up both the opening day singles to take a 2-0 lead in the first round of Davis Cup World Group at Luzhniki arena on Friday.
While Somdev lost a hard-fought four set battle 7-6(6), 6-7(4), 3-6, 4-6 to last minute inclusion Igor Kunitsyn, Rohan Bopanna could only show flashes of brilliance in his 4-6, 2-6, 3-6 defeat by World No. 13 Mikhail Youzhny.
Now, it is left to the famed pair Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi to keep India alive in the tie when they take on Teimuraz Gabashvili and Kunitsyn on Saturday. But the Russians could change the combination in view of Kunitsyn's unexpected appearance in the singles as he had to come in for injured Igor Andreev at the last minute.
Somdev, who played a key role in India's march to the World Group after 11 years, was a set and 5-2 up against Kunitsyn before losing in three hours and 35 minutes.
"I had him where I wanted to and we both played a pretty good first set," said Somdev. "Things started to go my way, but I wasn't able to close it out as I would have liked to."
Kunitsyn stepped in after Andreev pulled out with a left knee injury. Andreev himself came in for World No. 6 Nikolay Davydenko who was out with a left-wrist injury.
"It was a surprise for me and there is no way you can prepare yourself with just an hour to go before your match," said Kunitsyn. "We are used to having at least one day, or 12 hours to prepare."
Kunitsyn, who beat Somdev in both his previous two meetings on the ATP tour, was in danger of going two sets down when he was up against a second service break to go 0-4, but he survived. A couple of bad line calls did not help the Indian's cause either and his game went to pieces as the Russian charged the net often to unsettle him.
The 107th-ranked Russian came out with power-packed groundstrokes on the hard court indoors. His stunning net play found no answer from the 128th-ranked Indian. Yet, the match could have gone to the fifth set if only Somdev had steadied himself a bit and tried to pass the Russian with his powerful groundstrokes.
Somdev was clearly the better player when the two fought from the baseline, but once Kuitsyn started coming to the net, the tide has turned. The Indian could win only 44 percent of his net points as compared to Kunitsyn's 74 percent.
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In the last two sets, the Russian's game plan was simple, to force Somdev out of the court and come into volley with ease.
The Indian put up a gusty show in winning the first set tie-break after trading breaks in the sixth and seventh games. He then cruised to a 3-0 lead and had a break point in the fourth game which he squandered in the second set. Then the two traded breaks in the fifth and the sixth game and Somdev was serving for set at 5-2, but could not hold his nerve and that gave Kunitsyn fresh life.
With the set back on serve, the second tie-break of the match saw the Russian take control of the things from the start, leading 4-0, before prevailing without any hiccups.
Both the players served well in the third set before Somdev's backhand down the line at breakpoint in the eighth game was ruled out, leaving the Russian to serve out the set. An angry Somdev protested but to no avail and Russia was soon 2-1 sets ahead.
Now there was no stopping Kunitsyn. The Indian was a breakpoint up in the sixth game but Russian with sheer power saved it and held his serve.
Sensing it to be his last chance, Somdev once again attacked Kunitsyn serve in the eighth game that went to four deuces before the Russian held it again. Kunitsyn then upped the ante in the ninth game to force the Indian into errors to drop his serve and with it evaporated his chances of revival.
Kunitsyn then served out the set and match, Somdev managing to save only one match point after being down 0-40.
"It was an exciting match," said Kunitsyn. "It's the first time I ever opened a Davis Cup tie for Russia, the first time I ever played a live singles match, it was a day of first's for me."
The 416th-ranked Bopanna, who is now essentially a doubles player at the circuit, was clearly fighting a losing battle but to his credit he did come with some spells of spectacular play.
With a little luck he could have broken Youzny's serve as he had three breakpoints. In the ultimate analysis the Indian's string of unforced errors let him down. These errors overshadowed his good serving. He fired nine aces.
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