A small girl’s cry pierced the silence of the night sky as Prajnesh Gunneswaran slipped to a half crouch to receive Sanjar Fayziev’s serve. The Indian was two points away from victory. The telling factor here being the silence.
One would think it was expected on a tennis court but that was perhaps the few times when the etiquette of the game was followed to a tee. More due to the situation than by design.
The 27-year-old didn’t wrap the match up then, but he did so with an ace and a fist pump in the next game to give India and debutante captain Mahesh Bhupathi a formidable 2-0 lead against Uzbekistan in the Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Group I Round 2 encounter at the KSLTA Stadium on Friday.
After Ramkumar Ramanathan gave India the first tie with a laboured and disjointed 6-2, 5-7, 6-2, 7-5 win over Temur Ismailov, Prajnesh produced a performance, more fluid and decisive than the former, to register a 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 on his debut.
The second match of the day provided a more enjoyable contest with the points being decided more by winners than by errors or poor serves.
Prajnesh, showing no signs of panic despite the occasion, broke in the 11th game before serving out the first set 7-5.
Fayziev came back into the contest zooming to a 3-1 lead in the second and wrapping it up 6-3 with minimum fuss.
He continued the same fashion in the third, helped by his agility and approach play, to break in the first game and save two breaks in the fourth to hold on 3-1.
It was then the Uzbek star, who suffers from heart arrhythmia, had an attack of the same. Struggling for breath, he double faulted in the sixth and fell to 6-3 to Prajnesh.
While Fayziev’s movements improved markedly in the fourth set following a medical timeout, he was no match for the left-hander as Prajnesh broke early and kept up the pace to clinch the rubber.
Ram takes the tough route
Earlier, Ramkumar, the India No.1 was inconsistency personified as he served aces and double faults to finish with 16 aces and 14 double faults to make the match a three-hour 14 minute struggle.
While both gave signs of formidable serves early on, it didn’t take long before they gave indication of just how small the margin of error would be.
Ismailov surrendered his serve in the third game with a double fault and then again in the fifth to concede the set to Ramkumar 2-6. The Uzbek struggled to land his first serves and was often let down by his wayward shots.
The second set followed a similar pattern before the Indian took a 4-3 lead. Undeterred, the Uzbek broke right back, with willing assistance from Ram who double faulted twice in a row and netted a volley.
From then on, the baby-faced foreigner targeted the almost non-existent backhand of the Indian forcing him to run extensively in his attempt to manoeuver a return with his forehand.
Despite that, the 22-year-old’s inability to land deep cross court shots forced him to save two breaks. Ram then committed four double faults in the 12th game to lose the set 5-7.
Just when it seemed like the script was set to continue, Ismailov called for a medical time out in the third set to deal with a thigh niggle. With the Uzbek’s movements restricted, Ramkumar broke twice and wrapped up the set 6-2.
Following more treatment, the visiting number two looked more in his element in the fourth set. But just after struggling to hold his serve for 5-all, Ramkumar broke for a 6-5 lead.
Serving for the match, the lanky Indian double faulted on match point. He did so again to concede a break point before battling back and sealing it with a volley and a signature grunt for a 7-5 win.
Numbers game on the stands
As a city, Bengaluru is generally one that is savvy about sport. While that cannot be disputed, it was easy to understand why only around a few hundreds took time off to watch the ‘world cup’ of tennis.
Unlike the previous occasion when Novak Djokovic’s name was revealed in stage whispers during the run-up to the tie, this time the biggest name was Denis Istomin. While neither one showed up eventually, the latter, despite his stature in world tennis and recent victory over the former, was clearly not a draw at the same level.
Add to that the fact that top two Indians, Saketh Myneni and Yuki Bhambri, were also missing, the tickets sales explains themselves.
But to give credit where it’s due, the cheers and the sheer volume certainly made up for the low numbers.
Hesh with hosh and josh
There is an air about they way Mahesh Bhupathi carries himself off the court and on his first day out as non playing captain, it certainly made it’s way into the court as well.
In a stark contrast to the generally animated and colourful Anand Amritraj, who carried out the captain’s duties with great zeal and vigour till the previous tie, Bhupathi cut a more reserved figure.
But the passion for the game can only lie hidden for so long.
As the day went on, the former Grand Slam star was out giving high-fives, barking orders and even arguing with the chair umpires.
You can take a player out of the game, but you can’t take the game out of him.
