India back to Group Zone after losing WG play-off to Japan

Tokyo, Sep 18 (PTI) Vishnu Vardhan made an impressive
Davis Cup debut but lost the must-win first reverse singles of
the play-off tie to Kei Nishikori here Sunday, which relegated
India to Asia/Oceania Zone Group I and catapulted Japan to
World Group for the first time since 1985.
Ranked as low as 456th, Vishnu lost 5-7 3-6 3-6 after
battling the 55th ranked Japanese for two hours and nine
minutes, giving the hosts an unassailable 3-1 lead.
Rohan Bopanna will play Go Soeda in the inconsequential
fifth rubber.
Vishnu was handed the Davis Cup cap after Somdev
Devvarman was ruled out of the rubber because of a shoulder
strain he suffered during the first day's match against Yuichi
Sugita.
India came to the play-off stage after losing the World
Group first round to reigning champions Serbia and will now
yet again strive in the Asia-Oceania Group I in 2012 season.
Thanks to the doubles win of Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan
Bopanna, India were afloat in the tie after Somdev and Bopanna
had lost both the singles on Friday.
India needed Somdev badly on Sunday but his
unavailability hit the visitors hard.
It was enormous responsibility to fill in the shoes of
Somdev but Vishnu did show the stomach for fight although he
could not maintain the intensity with which he presented his
challenge early on.
The 24-year-old Vishnu made all the right moves right
from the word go. Nervous he might have been but it never
showed in his game.
Vishnu did not look like a debutant as he made a player
of Nishikori's ability to work hard for his points.
Vishnu's impressive game, specially the double-handed
backhand coupled with good serve and composure, reduced the
ranking difference to a mere statistics, at least in the first
set.
The first break of serve came as late as in the 11th
game of the first set as Vishnu went neck and neck with
Nishikori in the first 10 games.
Facing a breakpoint, Vishnu approached the net but
Nishikori cashed in on the chance by smashing a forehand past
the Indian and then held his own in the next to take the set.
As Nishikori stepped up the pressure, the Indian was
again staring a break in the first game of the second set but
saved both the chances.
Nishikori kept opening the lead and succeeded in
breaking Vishnu in the third game, which eventually put him
ahead 5-3 by the eighth game.
The Indian saved first of the three set points before
double faulting on the second to hand a 2-0 lead to Nishikori.
Vishnu was still fighting and saved two match points in
the eighth game of the third set, having suffered an early
break, but that was not good enough and Nishikori had no
problem in ensuring Japan's passage to World Group after 26
years.