Tennis News
At Davis Cup World Group play-off 2009, Johannesburg, South Africa

India leads South Africa 2-0

Day 1
[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,133) bt Izak Van Der Merwe (RSA,289) 76(5) 63 64
[R2] Rohan Bopanna (IND,488) bt Rik De Voest (RSA,189) 26 64 62 64

1st match -
Until first and half sets both players played to stick their plan ... Izak Van Der Merwe was controlling the net and Somi was dictating base line duels ... Both were solid on their serves ... First break point chance came in on 8th game when Merwe had it on Somi's serve ... Then on 9th game Somi had break point but both times servers hold with good services ... Merwe looks weak on backhand but playing excellent serve and volley games ... In tie-break Somi started with mini-break but Merwe immediately broke back ... Again Somi take min-break on 5th point and then had couple of set points on 6-4 but Merwe take next point on Somi's serve to make it 6-5 but on his serve Merwe double faulted to gift Somi first set.

In second set Somi broke Merwe's serve in 6th game after long battle where Somi saved 3/4 game points and Merwe saved 2 break points ... In 8th game also Somi had 2 break points but Merwe saved both with big serves and he managed to hold his serve ... Until Somi breaking Merwe'serve both players didn't giving any chance to opponent on their own serve ... Somi hold his serve on luv to won second set 6-3 and lead 2-0 sets lead.

In first set Somi was looking tentative while executing his shots ... But as match progress he is showing variety of shots and executing his plan perfectly ... He is passing Merwe whenever he get chance (that's hardly few times) ... Ususally good on baseline duel ... His returning at feet of Merwe is awesome that really open those points for Somi ... Very few times Somi approched to the net but he won all those points, he look comfortable on net and knowing what he is doing.

Somi had couple of break points but Merwe hold and then Somi hold easily with big service game to make it 1-all in third set ... In this set Somi his some amazing passing shots, he hit down the line, forhand and backhand cross-court shots but for me best shot was running cross-court passing shot in 5th game and after that Merwe came under pressure to serve double fault ... Merwe lose this game on luv to gave crucial break to Somi ... After that both players hold their serves ... In 10th game Somi played excellent forehand passing shot to gave himself match point which he converted to won match in 2 hours 10 minutes.

Match stat looks disappointing but knowing Somi's waiting game this was expected
Merwe - Winners 30 and UFEs 81, First serve % 51
Buji - Winners 17 and UFEs 52, First serve % 61

I was watching Buji first time after Chennai Open ... Huge improvement in his game, now his shots are more deeper and it looks he is making efforts to finish point ... His first serve is good solid and second serve is effective ... Now his net game is plus for him, which he uses very smartly ... I m impressed with his improvements ... Need more work on groud strokes to generate more power but progress in heartening.

2nd match -
Rik De Voest started well and other hand Rohan was struggling with his game ... In 10 minutes Rik De Voest up 5-0 with 2 service games ... Then Rohan hold his serve and broke Voest's serve to make it 5-2 ... But in 8th game again Rohan troubled with his serve and lost set with double fault in 25 mins.

In second set Rohan started to hit first serve and suddenly game started to change ... Rohan was holding his serve more easily and started making pressure on Voest's serve ... He broke Voest's serve in 7th game and then hold his serves easily to won second set.

From second set Rohan didn't show any sign of lack of match practice ... He was very dominating on court ... His best serve calculated 127 MPH on speed gun, that's more thn 200 km/ph ... He is serving on will and hitting powerful shots one after another ... Bops broke Voest's serve in 5th and 7th games to won third set easily ... In 4h set Bops saved break point with huge serve in second game ... Bops is controlling rallies so Voest didn't know how to handle him ... Voest saved 3 break points in 3rd game ... But committed double fault on 4th point as Bops screaming backhands he couldn't handle ... After this break Bops hold his serve on luv but Voest also comfortably hold his serve ... In 8th game some drama happened, Bops was down 0-15 when chair umpire over-ruled Rohan's winner and asked to play again ... Our players were upset with the call and suddenly Rohan lost focus .. He lost game on luv with errors and a double fault ... Its back on serve 4-all ... Luved the way Bops kept composure and up 15-40 with his huge shots and broke back with big roar ... Served 3 aces to finished match in style ... We r up 2-0.

Bops served 18 aces with 7 double faults ... His first serve % was 47% but won 82% points on that.
Voest served 13 aces with 7 double faults.

I need to applogise to SP Misra when I commented his selection of Rohan for second rubber ... He was spot on ... Rohan's game was tailor-made for this high altitude condition ... Court was fast and Bops luved to keep point short ... I think Rohan's played one of the best match of his life to secure this win .. Match was treat to watch.
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At $50K+H Todi Challenger, Italy (Clay)

[SF] (2) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Kevin Anderson (RSA) l Martin Fischer (AUT)/ Philipp Oswald (AUT) 36 63 (7)10

Harsh and Kevin lost in super tie-break against Austrian pair.