Davis Cup: Dominant India thrash Togo 4-0 to stay in World Group I

Starting the day with a 2-0 lead in pocket, India needed to win just one of the three matches of the day

New Delhi: N Sriram Balaji and Rithvik Choudary Bollipalli were clinical in their effort before Karan Singh dished out an impressive show on debut as India thrashed Togo 4-0 in the play-off tie to keep their place in the Davis Cup World Group I, here Sunday.

Starting the day with a 2-0 lead in pocket, India needed to win just one of the three matches of the day. The pair of Balaji and debutant Bollipalli did the job in the very first contest against M’lapa Tingou Akomolo and Hod’abalo Isak Padio.

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The Indians needed only 57 minutes to dispatch the Togo team 6-2 6-1 at DLTA Complex. Togo replaced their best player Thomas Setodji with M’lapa Tingou Akomolo due to an arm injury. It hurt them as Akomolo could not hold serve even once in the contest.

The tie already sealed, India expectedly handed debut to youngster Karan Singh in the first reverse singles. Watched by his coach Aditya Sachdeva, the 21-year-old raced to a 6-2 6-3 victory.

Both teams decided not to play the dead fifth rubber. Surprisingly, it was Sasikumar Mukund who sat in the captain’s chair instead of Rohit Rajpal when Karan played. Karan served extremely well, was aggressive in his returns and also wisely used the drop shots. Padio, who plays in the US Collegiate circuit, hit the ball well but Karan had better control and that made a huge difference in the outcome of the match.

Karan, who also trained at the now-shut National Tennis Centre (NTC) at DLTA, showed a lot of composure and did not let the occasion get to him. The only blemish for Karan was dropping his serve in the fifth game of the second set. Balaji was sensational with his serving. Playing percentage tennis, he lost just one point on his serve during the match.

It was a pretty straightforward show from Balaji and Bollipalli, who had won a Challenger together last year. Bollipalli was a bit under pressure when he could not pick up a half-volley, making it 30-all in his first-ever service game on debut but managed to hold. After that, it was one-way traffic throughout.

The Indians got their first break when Akomolo served in the third game. At 15-15, Bollipalli hit an uppish forehand return that sailed over the two players but landed inside the lines. Balaji then hit a service return winner to earn two break points.

A riveting volley rally ensued on first break points with all four players showing some great reflexes, but eventually one Akomolo return flew over the baseline. It gave India a 3-1 lead and Balaji made it 4-1 with another strong service game.

His nerves settled, Bollipalli came out serving even better and soon Akomolo was serving to stay in the set. However, he did not help Togo’s cause by serving consecutive two double faults from 15-15, giving the Indians two set points.

Togo saved the first but Bollipalli found an overhead volley winner on the second. The Indians yet again got the break early, literally killing any possibility of a fightback from Togo. Akomolo’s second serve came under attack at 30-all. The Togolese missed an easy forehand to give the Indians a breakpoint.

Balaji lost the first point on his serve when he served a double fault in game five as the Indians led 4-1. Put under the pump, Padio too lost his serve and Bollipalli served out the tie for the hosts.