BENGALURU: India's non-playing captain
Mahesh Bhupathi expressed satisfaction with his young team after they defeated Uzbekistan in their Asia-Oceania Group I, second round match here.
Coming into the third day at the
Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association
stadium with a 3-0 lead, India prevailed 4-1with
Ramkumar Ramanathan defeating Sanjar Fayziev while
Prajnesh Gunneswaran
's loss to
Temur Ismailov
was the only low point on an otherwise perfect display.
"Coming here with so many different variables and factors to deal with, to win the tie in two days was good," said Bhupathi. "Playing dead rubbers is difficult. I know, I lost my first dead rub ber against Hong Kong so I don't think we will dwell too much into today's results," Bhupathi added, referring to Ramkumar's 6-3, 6-2 win and Prajnesh's 5-7, 3-6 loss.
Bhupathi focused instead on the prospects ahead. "We're definitely thrilled about getting an opportunity to get back into the World Group."
Ramkumar was a player transformed from the first day's action, showing a calmer side. The 22-year-old didn't hurry through his game and although there are bound to be questions on his efficacy against better players, he did the job. Later, Prajnesh lost his rhythm trying to play aggressive, as asked by the captain, and paid the price.
Bhupathi said his players would be wise to not take things for granted.
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