Davis Cup tennis: India falter in must-win match, go down to Finland
Rohan Bopanna and Ramkumar Ramanathan lost the must-win doubles match after Prajnesh Gunneswaran and Ramkumar Ramanathan had earlier lost their singles matches.
The Indian tennis team lost 3-1 to Finland in the Davis Cup Group I tie on Saturday.
India had to win all three matches on the second day after Prajnesh Gunneswaran and Ramkumar Ramanathan lost their respective singles matches on Friday.
However, the second day started on a sombre note for India as the doubles pair of Rohan Bopanna and Ramkumar Ramanathan lost 6-7(2) 6-7(2) to Henri Kontinen and Harri Heliovaara, giving Finland an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match series.
The Indian pairing was changed at the last minute after Ramkumar Ramanathan was named in place of India’s second-highest ranked doubles player Divij Sharan (ranked 86) as Rohan Bopanna’s partner.
However, the move bore no fruit. The Bopanna-Ramanathan duo failed to make it count when needed and lost the tie-breaker in both sets, thus putting an end to India’s challenge.
Prajnesh Gunneswaran did win the inconsequential fourth rubber against Patrik Niklas-Salminen
Gunneswaran, the highest-ranked Indian men’s singles player at 165, sailed to an easy win over the much lower-ranked Finn to give India their first win of the series.
The Indian defeated Patrik, ranked world No. 491, 6-3, 7-5 in 67 minutes.
A win in the five-match series would have moved India up to the qualifiers for the next Davis Cup edition in 2022. India have now dropped into World Group I play-offs zone.