India stumble at play-off hurdle

India were left to battle it out in the Asian zone yet again after Ramkumar Ramanathan’s defeat in the must-win fourth rubber as Denis Shapovalov steered Canada back to the elite Davis Cup World Group here on Sunday.

India needed Ramkumar to create some magic on the final day of the tie but his failure to convert chances proved crucial as world number 51 Shapovalov shut the door on the visitors with a decisive 6-3, 7-6(1), 6-3 win.

Their fate already sealed, Yuki Bhambri won the dead fifth rubber against Brayden Schnur 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 as India lost the World Group play-off tie 2-3, stumbling at the play-off hurdle for the fourth straight year. India had lost to Serbia, Czech Republic and Spain in previous three attempts.

Canada earned their spot back in the 16-nation World Group after losing the first round to Great Britain in February this year while India will again strive in the Asia/Oceania Group I in 2018 to get to the play-off stage.

Indian captain Mahesh Bhupathi rued the missed chances on all the three days.

“We did not take our chances. We had a few on all the days including today when Ramkumar had four set points in the second to even the match,” Bhupathi told PTI.

Talking about the positives from the tie, he said, “We worked and fought hard and we are very close to making the world group. Next year this time, I expect both Yuki and Ramkumar to be in top 100.”

In a nervous start, Ramkumar lost 11 straight points but gradually the serve and volley strategy helped him negate Shapovalov’s fiery ground strokes. The Chennai youngster took some time to settle but by the time he controlled the butterflies in his stomach, Shapovalov had gone up 4-1 with a break of serve in the opening set. Ramkumar did pose a few questions in the ninth game with some sharp returns, earning two breakpoints, but Shapovalov used his big serve to save both and served it out with an ace.

The Indian grew in confidence and put up a much better fight in the second set. The chip and charge strategy paid good dividends as he led 5-4. However, the good work came to  naught as he could not convert any of the four set points he earned in the 12th game and eventually lost the tie-breaker with his fifth double fault of the match.

In the third set, Shapovalov broke the Indian at love in the sixth game to open up a 4-2 lead and clinched the tie in the ninth game, thanks to an unforced error from Ramkumar.