Davis Cup Qualifier 2019: India drop down to Asian Zonals after grass-court gamble backfires

Just past the hour-mark, Italy’s Andreas Seppi served his seventh ace of the match to bring the tie against India to an emphatic end. It had taken the 34-year-old only 62 minutes to get the better of India’s No 1 player Prajnesh Gunneswaran 6-1, 6-4.

The match, like the rest of the tie, had been a reality check for India and its Davis Cup ambitions.

Hosts India had started the second day of the Davis Cup qualifiers against Italy at the grass-courts of the Calcutta South Club 0-2 down. Even though the doubles team of Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan fought back from a break down in the deciding set to beat Simone Bolelli and Matteo Berrettini 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 to close the gap, India once again stumbled in the singles. Gunneswaran presented only a hint of a challenge in the second set but not enough to stop his team from crashing to a 3-1 defeat.

“All of us believed that we had a chance coming in,” Mahesh Bhupathi, India’s non-playing captain, said on Saturday. “For that we needed to win a point yesterday. Rohan and Divij did well… They were expected to win. But it was always going to be a monumental task in singles.”

Italy was already missing the services of their top-ranked player Fabio Fognini and even kept World No 19 Marco Cecchinato out of the tie. But the depth in the team — they have five players in ATP’s top-100, India has none — meant they still started as the overwhelming favourites. The hosts tried to cash in the home advantage, rolling out a grass court for the Italians, hoping for them to slip up.

Though the logic is sound on paper, the Indian team was banking more on past than taking stock of the present. Of all the players participating in the tie, it was India’s No 1 player — the 102-ranked Gunneswaran — who seemed most uncomfortable on the surface and least equipped to make the necessary adjustments. Gunneswaran didn’t turn up for most part of the tie, losing to debutant Berrettini in 57 minutes on the opening day and then crashing in straight sets to Seppi.

On Saturday, the 28-year-old had to win against Seppi to keep the tie alive. He started like he had in the match against Berrettini — by losing the first service game of the set. Instantly put on the back-foot, Gunneswaran rattled off errors and managed to win only 12 points in the opening set. He guarded his serve with a little more pride in the second, but Seppi was in cruise control by the time.

“Just like the first match (second rubber) I did not step up enough,” the Indian southpaw admitted later. “I did not play with right intensity against Seppi. He took an early lead and I could not find my way back. He played well under pressure. I did what I could but it was not good enough.”

The silver lining, once again, was the doubles performance. That one point didn’t give India much solace but it was a point well earned.

If India were to mount an unlikely comeback in the tie, it had to start with doubles. And Bopanna and Sharan shrugged off the loss of the first set and soldiered on.

In a surprise move, Italy decided to replace Cecchinato with Berrettini in the doubles contest. The debutant had been quite impressive on Friday, powering past Gunneswaran with his big serve and forehand. And the 22-year-old continued in the same vein in doubles. His power from the back of the court was keeping the Indians at bay.

Though Bopanna, the senior of the two, wasn’t at his best, Sharan at the net carried the team through in the second set. While serving for the set at 5-3, he survived a nervy game, which went to four deuce points, and saved three break points to draw India level. Sharan’s lefty serve was persistently aimed at his opponents’ backhand, and two successive return errors, first from Berrettini and then from Bolelli helped him to a second set point. Bolelli’s weak backhand volley into the net saw them win it at 6-3.

In the cauldron of pressure of the deciding set, the Indians proved just that much sharper at the net. The teams traded breaks in the fourth and fifth games. But the hosts turned up the heat on the return game, breaking Bolelli for the second consecutive time to go 5-4 up. Bopanna served out the match without much drama to help India secure their first point in the tie.

Doubles had delivered yet again. But the singles players had failed to even put up a fight, and on a surface they had categorically asked for.

“I think everybody needs to live in the real world,” said Bhupathi after India lost the Davis Cup qualifiers against Italy 3-1 at the Calcutta South Club.

“The Madrid field will be finalised this evening and if you look at it, I don’t think there will be any team there without a player in the top-100. This is one of the most global sports, played by 190 countries. There won’t be a single team there without a top-100 player. Our boys are only working. Ram(kumar Ramanathan) is up from where he was. Yuki (Bhambri) is getting back. Prajnesh was in the 300s and now is nearing 100. Once we get a fully fit get squad, we can challenge.”

The captain had pulled on a brave face. It will take more than fighting talk for India to challenge the bigger teams in the world and make their way to the newly-minted Davis Cup Finals. The team will have to start all over again in the Asian zonal round, in September.