Dusan Lajovic & Filip Krajinovic put India on backfoot
Serbia's Filip Krajinovic celebrates after defeating India's Somdev Devvarman in 2nd singles match of Davis Cup at KSLTA Stadium in Bengaluru
Bengaluru: Bengaluru is a city of warmth and variety. When the All India Tennis Association sat down to pick the venue for their World Group Play-off tie against Serbia, the southern high altitude centre was the unanimous choice.
In stark contrast to the weather here on Friday which went from sizzling to sultry, the Indian singles challengers threw the ‘home’ advantage into cold water, as 2010 champions Serbia stamped their superiority with a decisive 2-0 advantage.
In the opening singles tie, India’s No.2 Yuki Bhambri fell to a tactically smarter Dusan Lajovic 3-6, 2-6, 5-7.In the second singles, with the hopes resting on the country’s top star, Somdev Devvarman, the 29-year-old fought for every point, but could not add the finishing touches to his game plan in a 1-6, 6-4, 3-6, 2-6 loss to Filip Krajinovic.
After the lull of Yuki’s defeat, Somdev upped the home fans’ expectations, taking the opening game at love, but from then on, his 22-year-old opponent, playing his first Davis Cup rubber, called show time as he broke Somdev in the next game and then held back nothing taking the first set 6-1.
Somdev stormed right back into the match, breaking in an epic third game peppered with backhands and ground strokes. In the third set, the Indian was broken in the first and seventh games.
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