Bad light stops play in crucial doubles tie
India were all set to grab a 2-1 lead against New
Zealand when the weather played spoilsport in their Davis Cup
Asia-Oceania Group I second round match in Wellington on Saturday.
After a four-hour delayed start, the Indian pair of
Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi, playing together after a
much publicized second career split, won the first two sets of the doubles rubber 6-4, 6-3 against Daniel Willman and James Shortall, when the Kiwis appealed for bad light, forcing the
umpire to suspend play.
The Indian duo have to wait till Sunday morning
to finish off the match. And they need to do it quickly as Paes will then have enough rest before he takes on Kiwi
No.1 Mark Neilsen in the first reverse singles.
The Kiwi duo matched Paes and Bhupathi,
winner of three Grand Slam titles, at the net for most of the two sets. They battled
their famous opponents stroke for stroke but when the push
came to shove, the former world No. 1 duo put their foot down.
Paes and Bhupathi were more bothered by the cold and
south-easterly winds than the inexperienced Willman and
Shortall. While Paes was impressive with his patented volleys,
Bhupathi was as sharp as ever with his reflexes.
Willman, who in partnership with Hunt had beaten Bhupathi
and Jeff Tarango at the Auckland ATP tourney in January, and
Shortall displayed good temperament but found the Indians too
hot to handle, especially on crunch points.
Willman/Shortall began on a confident note with the former
trying to copy Paes's tricks at the net and Shortall coming up
with big serves.
The scores remained level at 4-4 in the first set before
the Indians threatened with three break-points on Willman's
serve in the tenth game.
Serving to stay in the set at 4-5, the Kiwis were suddenly
staring three set points and conceded the crucial break on the
second when Shortall put a forehand into the net.
The second set too followed on the same lines with the
hosts beginning positively only to falter later.
The Kiwis were more aggressive and were up to every
challenge that Paes and Bhupathi posed. But the Indians had
already indentified their man and in the eighth game they
again put pressure on Willman's serve. The ploy worked as a
series of errors cost the home team dear.
After Willman failed to keep a simple volley in, the two
Kiwis were caught in a mix-up going for a lob, giving the
Indians a double break-point opportunity.
The Indians wasted no time and converted the very first
chance when Paes pounced on a weak return from Shortall, and
then served out the set in the next without any difficulty.
The match will resume on Sunday at 3.00 am IST and will be
followed by the two reverse singles.
Yesterday's report
Paes helps India to draw level on day one
