Davis Cup: Weather spoils the fun for Indians

With the Davis Cup World Group play-off tie locked at two-all, Yuki Bhambri, after losing the opening set, had just broken Filip Krajinovic's serve when the heavens opened. Play was halted for the night and so was India's fightback after a remarkable come-from-behind victory by Somdev Devvarman earlier in the evening.

After Somdev's outstanding victory, Yuki lost the first set 3-6 and the second set was in the balance at four-all when bucketfuls of rain came down at the KSLTA courts, forcing play to be suspended.

The Yuki-Filip match will resume at 12 noon on Monday to decide which team reaches the top-16 and which gets relegated to Group 1.

In the first reverse singles rubber, Serbian Dusan Lajovic rattled through the first set and was leading 2-1 in the next when India captain Anand Amritraj, with his lush grey hair glinting in the Bangalore sunshine, came up to Somdev to give him a pep talk.

Serbia, the World No. 2 team, had its foot firmly in the World Group before Somdev changed the complexion of the match and registered a 1-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 win over Lajovic, ranked 83 places above the 144th-ranked Indian.

His win pushed the tie, in which India were 0-2 down on the opening day, into the fifth rubber.

The Bangalore crowd witnessed two top quality matches in as many days and ensured their decibel levels never came down as the Indian team thrived in the environment.

Somdev showed experience, class and temperament to overcome a stiff challenge from Lajovic, who has had decent success this year.

The big serving Lajovic looked to have found his touch straightaway and Somdev seemed to be in the same mode that he was in during his defeat in the second singles rubber on the opening day against Krajinovic.

The top-ranked Indian seemed to have no clue how to tackle Lajovic's serves. But Somdev regrouped. After Amritraj's pep talk, he suddenly looked a different player and not only did he hold his serve but nerve as well.

"I kept telling myself 'just hang on' in there. I thought I didn't have a chance against his serves but I really can't figure out what happened and suddenly, I got everything going," Somdev said.

He got a break point in the 10th game of the second set and capitalized on it to draw parity. The Indian had the third set firmly in his grip and was leading 4-1 before Lajovic battled his way back to surge to a 5-4 lead and then broke Somdev again to take the set.

Somdev targeted Lajovic's backhand and, at times, faltered, but he persisted and that finally paid rich dividends. The fourth set was a see-saw battle which Somdev eked out with his experience, and in the decider, the Indian broke the Serbian in the third and seventh games and then served out the match.

"I was serving well and all of sudden I got tired midway in the second set and it continued till the fifth set. Somdev raised his game and slowed the match which really helped him. He started to return well and I lost confidence in my serves and service is very crucial at high altitudes," said Lajovic.