If India’s upcoming Davis Cup tie towards Finland is to be a tricky process, the draw on Thursday got here out in favour of the guests. This is the primary time India will play within the World Group 1, after the format was modified in 2020. In the earlier construction, India would play within the Asia/Oceania Group, the place they’ve bossed for the previous seven years. But of their first ever tie towards Finland, the Indians come up towards a workforce that can subject increased ranked gamers.
There is the 22-year-old Emil Ruusuvuori – who has overwhelmed the likes of Dominic Thiem and Alexander Zverev – who’s the very best ranked singles participant within the tie, 74. Their doubles workforce consists of World No 76 (in doubles) Harri Heliovaara and former No 1 Henri Kontinen (at the moment 46), who gained the 2016 Wimbledon blended doubles and 2017 Australian Open males’s doubles title. Their weakest hyperlink on paper is 20-year-old Otto Virtanen, ranked 419.
India tackle Finland within the Davis Cup.
Crucially for the Indians, the opening rubber will see its No 1 participant Prajnesh Gunneswaran (165) come up towards Virtanen.
“We are happy that (Prjanesh) plays first. If he plays to potential and performs, then we should go up 1-0, and the pressure will be on (Ruusuvuori) to beat Ramkumar (Ramanathan),” says India workforce captain Rohit Rajpal.
“Ram is a very versatile player. We are preparing him well for this match.”
Ramkumar, India’s third highest ranked singles participant at 187, will play the second rubber on Friday towards the Finnish spearhead.
On Saturday, the tie will resume with the only doubles rubber. India No 1 and a couple of Rohan Bopanna (44) and Divij Sharan (86) respectively will play Kontinen and Heliovaara, adopted by the reverse singles matches – Ruusuvuori-Prajnesh and Virtanen-Ramkumar as the ultimate match.
The ‘luck’ component from the draw for the guests on the Espoo Metro Areena, is that Finland’s principal singles participant will play within the second and fourth rubbers. As Rajpal claims, Prajnesh would be the favorite to choose up the win towards Virtanen so as to add strain on Ruusuvuori.
Furthermore, on Saturday, ought to the tie be levelled at 2-2 and go into the deciding rubber, it’ll be the unfancied Virtanen who will come up towards the 26-year-old Ramkumar, who travelled to Espoo recent after reaching the quarterfinals of a Challenger in France, beating former World No 10 Ernests Gulbis en route.
Ramkumar, India’s third highest ranked singles participant at 187, will play the second rubber on Friday towards the Finnish spearhead.
Prajnesh nevertheless, who had reached a profession excessive of 75 and is the one at the moment energetic Indian singles participant to have damaged into the highest 100, has been affected by recurring wrist accidents this yr. Should he not be match for the fourth rubber within the best-of-five match tie, he shall be changed by the bottom ranked singles participant within the tie, World No 573 Saketh Myneni, whose final aggressive match was at a Futures occasion in March.
Yet there’s confidence relating to Prajnesh’s present health.
“He’s been hitting the ball very well and there’s no sign of any injury,” says workforce coach Zeeshan Ali.
“There was a scare a few weeks back when he told me his wrist had been bothering him. He went back to Chennai to get some rehab done. But coming here, he’s been hitting the ball well, he’s moving well. The court also seems to be suiting him with the speed and everything. This is the best I have seen him play.” The intention shall be to focus on the 2 singles rubbers towards Virtanen and the doubles match to realize the required three factors to win the tie. At an indoor venue that was initially designed for ice hockey, towards a difficult opponent, India hopes to make it to an eight consecutive playoff.
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