In singles former world No. 13 Jarko Nieminen jumped from his chair and celebrated together with his doubles teammate Henri Kontinen, a former world No. 1 and Harry Heliovara, present No. 76. Finland beat India 7-6(2), 7-6(2) within the doubles rubber of the World Group 1 tie at Espoo. And with two singles victories from Friday, the Finns had secured a last playoff spot for the primary time since 2002.
By the top of the sport on Saturday, Finland had registered a 3-1 win over India – the comfort level after Prajnesh Gunneswaran received the lifeless fourth rubber 6-3, 7-5 towards world quantity 491 Patrick Niklas-Salminen. raised.
While the Finns stand an opportunity of creating it to the highest degree of the competitors, the Indians at the moment are at risk of falling down a notch. Their subsequent match shall be within the Group 1 playoffs in 2022.
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Finland received the worldwide. Kontinen/Heliovara received the doubles 7-6(2), 7-6(2)
Thanks to the viewers for the encouragement, Together More – Succeeding Together! pic.twitter.com/cxl0uwRPTX
— Finnish Tennis Association (@tennisfi) September 18, 2021
Key to Finland’s victory this weekend had been 20-year-old Otto Vertenen and 22-year-old Emil Rusuvuori – ranked 74th, the highest-ranked singles participant within the tie. Even his doubles group ages 32 and 31, Heliovara being the oldest participant. And it was central to Nieminen’s optimistic view of the way forward for Finnish tennis.
“Our singles players are young and improve every time we play,” the Finland captain mentioned after the tie. “We are strong as a team. In theory, we can beat anyone on our day. We are getting closer (to the Davis Cup Finals). None of our players have done their best yet “
It was by no means going to be a straightforward tie for the Indians on an indoor courtroom quickly positioned above an ice hockey rink on the Espoo Metro Arena. But even for the Finns it was not anticipated to be really easy.
Prajnesh was anticipated to beat world quantity 419 Wirtenen within the opening spherical, and a win there would have put some stress on Rusuvuri within the second match towards Ramkumar Ramanathan. But the lower-ranked participant set the tone for the Finnish victory with an upset win in straight units on the Indian rankings 165.
“We lost momentum in the first match. We were hoping to get the first one and take it from there. It would have been a different scenario if we had won it, but it held us back,” defined India captain Rohit Rajpal.
Ramkumar misplaced to Rusuvuori 6-4, 7-5, main the hosts to a 2-0 loss after the primary day.
The Indians then changed Divij Sharan with Ramkumar to group up with Rohan Bopanna for the doubles match. The rationale for giving the Chennai participant his maiden Davis Cup doubles match was his potential to serve huge that would have labored nicely on a slower, much less bouncy courtroom.
“We knew Ram and I were the right team to pick for this match,” mentioned doubles world quantity 44 Rohan Bopanna. “We had the chances and it could have easily gone up to three sets.”
India will now should compete within the World Group 1 playoffs subsequent yr – their first loss for the reason that format was launched in 1983, placing them within the decrease Group 2.
“We should have a huge pool of players to choose from,” Rajpal mentioned. “To move forward we need to go back to the drawing board. Even in doubles I was talking to Rohan, the youth at 41 is not pushing him. We need to look at the next group of people. We need better players, better strategy.”
The format of finest of 5 matches is such that simply having a robust doubles group will not win the spherical.
“The focus should be on winning singles, doubles is a part of it,” Bopanna mentioned. “If you’re not winning the (singles) match, unfortunately that’s where we will be.”
The final time an Indian received a singles match towards a high-ranked participant within the Davis Cup was when 164-ranked Somdev Devvarman defeated Czech Republic’s then-number 40 Jiri Vesely in 2015. Now the group is at risk of falling. decrease division.
Playoff hopes thwarted, struggle now to remain in second leg
After a 3–1 loss to Finland within the World Group 1 Davis Cup tie, India have failed to achieve the ultimate playoffs (beforehand referred to as the World Group playoffs) for the primary time since 2013. The group will now should play one other tie, to remain in Group 1 (the second tier within the Davis Cup) subsequent yr. The Group 1 playoffs could be between all groups comparable to India that misplaced in Group 1, and groups that received their ties within the Lower Division Group 2. The draw for the Group 1 playoffs shall be established solely after the ultimate set of matches in November are over.
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
