Big-serving Dhakshineswar helps India pull level

Dhakshineswar Suresh added another high-impact bullet point to his fast-growing tennis resume as he beat Jesper de Jong 6-4, 7-5 on day one of the Davis Cup Qualifiers first round fixture against Netherlands at the S.M. Krishna Tennis Stadium here on Saturday.

Dhakshineswar’s maiden win over a top-100 player came after India No. 1 Sumit Nagal lost a tough three-setter to Guy Den Ouden 0-6, 6-4, 3-6. The levelling act now shifts focus to Sunday afternoon’s doubles between Yuki Bhambri-Sriram Balaji and Sander Arends-David Pel, a rubber that will break open the tie.

“It’s an unreal feeling… making it level,” Dhakshineswar said. “The whole team was behind me and I played the way I wanted to.”

In the media briefing, captain Rohit Rajpal called him his “trump card”, and it is easy to see why. In his Cup debut last September against Switzerland in World Group I, the 25-year-old had beaten Jerome Kym, a player then ranked more than 280 places above. The latest victory gap was a whopping 377.

Prima facie, de Jong appeared the better-rounded player, but Dhakshineswar had the bigger weapon – a booming serve that clicked like a dream. He allowed de Jong a solitary break-point all evening, and he was especially impressive on his second serves, of which he won 18 of 25 points.

India’s captain Rohit Rajpal is delighted after Dhakshineswar Suresh beat Jesper De Jong in the second singles match of the Davis Cup tie against the Netherlands.
| Photo Credit:
K. MURALI KUMAR

Dhakshineswar needed only two breaks of serve – in the tenth game of the first set and the 12th of the second, and on both occasions, de Jong crumbled while serving to stay alive.

The lanky Indian took the opening stanza on his fourth set-point when his opponent sent a forehand long. In the second set, with the match on the line, de Jong served two double faults to go down 0-40.

The Dutchman erased two match-points but Dhakshineswar finished the contest with a forehand winner against an advancing de Jong.

The triumph went a long way towards assuaging the fans’ pain after Nagal’s defeat. In the opening set, Nagal looked every bit the man who was playing his first match in over three weeks as he routinely missed first-serves and overcooked his ground-strokes.

In the second, he found the tennis to match Den Ouden, breaking in the seventh game and following it up with two excellent holds to restore parity. But mid-way through the decider, he lost his way again.

However, the two-hour, 30-minute workout should hold him in good stead for the reverse singles, which after Dhakshineswar’s splendid win, will be all important.