India defeated New Zealand 5-0 in the Davis Cup Asia-Obceania group ‘I’ relegation play-off tennis tie at the CLTA Stadium, says a report in The Hindu.
India was 3-0 up and the top ranked Indian players Yuki Bhambri laboured to a 2-6, 7-5, 7-6(5) victory over Jose Statham to take India’s lead to 4-0.
In the final encounter, Sanam Singh outplayed Artem Sitak 6-4, 6-1 to ensure a clean-sweep.
“Motivation was not a problem. Once I won that first set, I just ran through the second,” said Sanam after the match.
Meanwhile, The Hindustan Times reports that Yuki has not been in top form. Yuki after the match said, “It was the nerves and the pressure. It's different when playing a home tie and going into a match knowing that as the number one player, you have to win. It made me too tight. But I am glad I still managed to pull off my matches.”
Yuki was a set down and labored to a win, the match that went for two hours and forty minutes saw the Indian winning 2-6, 7-5, 7-6 (5).
Team captain, SP Misra on Yuki’s play said, “Yuki was slightly inconsistent. He was playing well in patches. Maybe the mantle of being number one troubled him. But he is young and has time on his side. He will come around.”
The conditions seemed to take the toll on Yuki and he admitted that he will be working on his fitness and on his legs as he don’t want to give people the opportunity to question his legs in the future.
