Rohan Bopanna and Ramkumar Ramanathan blew away their probabilities within the must-win doubles match as India misplaced the World Group I tie to Finland after conceding an unassailable 0-3 lead, right here on Saturday.
Captain Rohit Rajpal modified the doubles mixture on the final minute by pairing Bopanna with Ramkumar as an alternative of left-handed Divij Sharan however nothing helped as they misplaced the essential match 6-7(2) 6-7(2) to Henri Kontinen and Harri Heliovaara in a single hour and 38 minutes.
🇫🇮 3️⃣-0️⃣ 🇮🇳
Suomi voittaa maaottelun Kontinen/Heliövaara vietyä nelinpelin 7-6(2), 7-6(2)!
Kiitos yleisö kannustuksesta, yhdessä enemmän – yhdessä menestyen! pic.twitter.com/cxl0uwRPTX
— Suomen Tennisliitto (@tennisfi) September 18, 2021
Both Prajnesh Gunneswaran and Ramkumar had misplaced their singles matches on Friday and to remain alive within the tie, the Indians wanted to win the doubles.
The reverse singles have now been rendered inconsequential.
Heliovaara was thought-about probably the most weak of all 4 gamers on the court docket however he raised his recreation by a number of notches and created a big impact on the end result of the match along with his fearless method.
The Indian, quite the opposite, fumbled even once they had benefit as they squandered as many as 4 breakpoints within the eight-game of the second set when successful that recreation may have given them the prospect to place the hosts underneath the pump.
After doing all of the laborious work, the Indians cracked at essential junctures.
At 3-3, the Indian pair attacked the serve of Heliovaara, going 30-all however the house participant served large on the following two factors to make sure the set stays on serve.
Eventually, the opening set went to tie-breaker. Heliovaara discovered a shocking service return winner off Bopanna on the second level to get the mini-break and in addition held his function Finland took a 4-1 lead.
Then got here Ramkumar’s double fault and a volley error on the web that gave Finland gamers 5 set factors. They transformed the second when Ramkumar couldn’t return Kontinen’s serve.
A forehand winner by Ramkumar at 30-all within the second recreation of the second set, arrange the primary break likelihood for India and so they transformed when Kontinen couldn’t return Bopanna’s backhand.
However, the big-serving Bopanna dropped his personal serve within the subsequent recreation when he made consecutive unforced errors.
Bopanna’s serve once more got here underneath assault however he managed to carry after taking place to deuce factors from 40-15 as India led 4-3.
In the following recreation, the Indians went up 40-0 on Heliovaara’s serve however blew away all three breakpoints and later yet another to let the rivals maintain for a 4-4 scoreline.
Another tie-breaker adopted. Helovaara pulled of a sensational forehand winner at 5-2 to get to first match level and it was throughout for India when Ramkumar couldn’t return the ball within the subsequent level.
