India brush Chinese Taipei aside in Davis Cup

INDORE: India did well to brush aside the air of uncertainty that hung over the opening day's action, giving themselves an unassailable 3-0 lead on day two of the Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Group One encounter against Chinese Taipei at the ITC tennis complex on Saturday.
India No.1 Somdev Devvarman only needed eight minutes (on Saturday) to close out the second singles, carried over from Friday due to bad light.Somdev, ranked 103, beat the Taipei No. 2 Ti Chen 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (7-3), 1-6, 6-2, 9-7 in four hours and 44 minutes.
Later, Rohan Bopanna and debutant Saketh Myneni brushed aside the challenge of Hsien-Yin Peng and Tsung-Hua Yang 6-0, 6-7 (3-7), 6-3 7-6 (7-2) in two hours and 21 minutes, making Sunday's reverse singles inconsequential.
The key result of the day was Somdev's singles, as much in the Davis Cup context as with his form on the Tour. The Indian, who lapsed into a defensive knot for most part on day one, hit the right notes on Saturday. Somdev broke Chen in the 16th game to close out the match on his sixth match point opportunity.
The 28-year-old, who beat Chen in an away Davis Cup tie in 2009 and then in the Asian Games the following year, in their only two meetings, typically credited his victory to team effort.
Yuki Bhambri, who won the opening rubber on Friday to give the side a 1-0 lead, sent a message to his teammates, which read, 'keep calm'.
"They all kept me incredibly calm," Somdev said, "Everybody believed in me. I knew I had to come out and fire in the first couple of games. It's big advantage to have a captain (Anand Amritraj) who has so much experience. He kept me motivated and gave me a fantastic speech that fired me up this morning."
Somdev, who has had a difficult start to the season, said 'relief' more than 'joy' was what he felt after the match. "It was a tough match," he said, "I felt like I was playing well in the beginning (in the first set). I was up a break. I lost serve carelessly and my rival took advantage of the mistakes I made."
An emotional Somdev added: "Whenever you win a tough five-set match, it's not just you. You have to give credit to the whole team. All I had to do was look at the sidelines, everyone was cheering for me. All I had to do was fight."
The India number one's change in approach in the end decided the match. "The first thing coach (Zeeshan Ali) told me yesterday was that I needed to attack," Somdev said, "I always felt I had the upper hand until the third set. He played really good tennis. Yesterday it was not just a question of going with the wrong tactics, execution is not as easy as it looks. I knew what I was doing wrong."
In the doubles, Hsein-Yin Peng, who was originally nominated to play with Hsin-Han Lee, but teamed up with the team's no.1 Tsung-Hua Yang, however, failed to rock the Indian boat save for a mid-match lapse by the Indians.
The seasoned Bopanna was all praise for the young Myneni. "I have also played against him and he plays fantastic doubles," Bopanna said, "All I had to do was keep him motivated. I think we combined well for a team playing together for the first time. He served well and that made it easier for me at the net."