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

INDIA IN WORLD GROUP AFTER 11 YEARS!!!
India bt South Africa 4-1

Day 3
[R4] Somdev Devvarman (IND,133) bt Rik De Voest (RSA,189) 36 67(3) 76(5) 62 64
[R5] Yuki Bhambri (IND,422) bt Izak Van Der Merwe (RSA,289) 36 63 64

From start of the match Rick De Voest was controlling points ... He was serving well, mixing volleying smartly and matching Somdev's shot making from backside of the court ... In 5th game Voest broke Somi's serve ... Somi had numerous break point chances but he failed to convert any ... In 9th game Somi was up 40-0 on his serve but Voest won next 5 points to broke Somi's serve second time and won first set in 50 mins.

Voest started second set with bang breaking Somi's serve in 2nd game to lead 3-0 ... But Somi broke Voest's serve in 5th game to bring back set on serve ... In 11th game Somi take crucial break and then he needed to hold his serve but he failed to hold his serve and also had couple of set points ... In tie-break Somi committed uncharacterstic couple of unforced errors to gift set to Voest in 1 hr and 16 mins.

Again in third set Rik De Voest started with breaking Somi's serve in 1st game but Somi fought back in to the match converting 4th break point in 4th game ... This turned to be turning point of the match ... Then both players hold their serve to take set into tie-break ... In tie-break both players winning points on their serve until Somi take crucial mini-break on 11 point and then won point on his serve to won 3rd set in 57 minutes.

After winning 3rd set Somi started playing his shots more confidently and Voest was looking under pressure ... Somi take full advantage of it breaking Voest's serve in 3rd and 5th games ... So after controlling this set he won 4th set in just 29 minutes without giving single break point in this set ... In this set Somi hit some amazing passing shots and controlling long rallies.

Both players take toilet break before decider ... Somi saved break point in 4th game and broke Voest's serve in 5th game ... In thiws game Voest saved couple of break point but on last break point Italian chair umpire over-ruled and gave point to India ... In 7th game also Somi had 3 break point chances but Voest manage to hang ... Then both hold their service game ... While serving for the at 40-0 Somi committed double fault but won next point as service winner to won set in 55 mins ... This match was going for almost 4 and half hours where Somi completed amazing 2 sets down comeback victory ... With this win we won tie and r back in World Group for 2010, last time in 1998 we played in World Group.

Impressive winning debut by Yuki ... In first set he was tentative, mostly due to playing first match in Davis Cup, but afterwards it looked his confidence was back and he played excellent tennis ... Good service, solid forehands and effective backhands ... Need to improve on net game but definetly super talent to watch.

Yuki lost his serve in second game of the match and with this only break he lost first set ... Second set also started badly where Yuki lost his serve in first game, at that time he was very upset with him, he banged his raquet on the court ... But from here Yuki played excellent to fought back in the match ... He broke Merwe's serve in 4th game to make it 2-all ... Then ahgain Yuki broke Merwe's serve in 8th game and then hold his serve to win his first set of Davis cup ... Third set both players were servinfg well ... In 4th game Yuki saved 2 break points and broke Merwe's serve in 7th game and then kept this lead with holding his serve ... Yuki scripted victory in more than and hour and half ... But he created history with joining very few players who made winning debut at Davis Cup.