Yuki Bhambri triggered a flicker of hope, but the Czechs pulled through in double quick time.
World No. 40 Jiri Vesely tackled the demons and the intimidating hot and humid conditions with the resolve of a bull-fighter, as he took the Czechs to a 3-1 victory, in the Davis Cup World Group play-off at the R.K. Khanna Stadium here on Sunday.
For the holiday crowd that tried to make its presence felt right through the fourth rubber that lasted two hours and 11 minutes, there was no further entertainment after Vesely tamed Yuki 6-3, 7-5, 6-2.
The inconsequential fifth rubber, between Somdev Devvarman and Lukas Rosol, was cancelled due to adverse weather conditions.
The 23-year-old Bhambri, ranked 125, could have possibly brought Friday’s hero, Devvarman, back on court had he not missed five breakpoints in the second set.
“I played one bad game in the first set,” recalled Bhambri, who dropped serve at love in the fourth game.
Hard-fought game
After a hard-fought first game, Vesely was solid in his service games, and dropped only six points in four games.
Bhambri did serve nine aces to Czech’s 10, but he missed a gamepoint in the 11th game of the second set that proved decisive.
“I put all my energy into that 11th game. It was the most important game of the match. He was not ready to play five sets,” said Vesely, who won the first live rubber of his career.
The Czech said that in such demanding conditions it was important to go up by a set or two, after which it becomes a mental battle.
After claiming the first two sets and racing to a 4-0 lead, Vesely did not allow the Indian to make a comeback, wrapping up the set 6-2. “I was mentally and physically prepared for a tough match. I took the responsibility,” he said. “No matter what, I was ready to get every ball back today,” added Vesely.
Rude shock
Captain Anand Amritraj said the tie had been lost on Saturday, when Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna could not even put up a fight.
“We assumed that we would win that doubles. It was a rude shock for us,” Anand said.
The Czech captain Jaroslav Navratil expressed disappointment over dropping a point on the first day, as he had expected both his singles players to come good. He said weather had made life difficult for his team.
He also revealed there was the possibility of changing Vesely in the first of the reverse singles, meant to feature the No.1 players, but there was no option as Radek Stepanek had not played singles for some time and Adam Pavlasek had a painful serving arm.
“The key for our victory was winning the doubles,” he said. He added that the country’s No. 1, World No. 6 Tomas Berdych, would be playing the first round next year in order to be eligible for the Rio Olympics.
Anand said there was time to think about the composition of the team as India’s next match in the Asia-Oceania group may only be in July next year.
The result: Czech Republic 3 bt India 1 (Jiri Vesely bt Yuki Bhambri 6-3, 7-5, 6-2).
