By IANS
New Delhi : Non-playing captain Leander Paes feels that India are in the driver’s seat in the Asia-Oceania Davis Cup Group I tie despite sharing the opening day’s singles. He sees the outing as a “success.”
“To sum it up, with 1-1 scoreline, today was a successful day for us, but I won’t term it as grand success. Had it been 2-0, the tie would have been over. We are now in the driver seat,” Paes told reporters after the day’s matches Friday.
The veteran Davis Cupper praised Rohan Bopanna for his authoritative performance in the first singles. Bopanna bested second best Uzbek player Farrukh Dustov 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 in an hour and 13 minutes to give India a 1-0 lead.
“Rohan played very well today. Because of him the Uzbeks are on the backfoot. I am really looking forward to his match against Denis Istomin on Sunday. He has a good chance against the top Uzbek player,” said Paes.
Bopanna, ranked 288th in the world, described his match against Dustov as one of his best Davis matches.
“Its one of my best Davis Cup singles. I was returning much better and I stuck to my strategy. If I play like I did today then there should not be any problem against Istomin,” he said.
Paes also reiterated his confidence in young Somdev Dev Varman, who was an easy prey for Istomin, losing the second singles 3-6, 4-6, 1-6.
Somdev showed sparks of his talent in the early stages of the match and traded stroke for stroke with Istomin from the baseline. However, Istomin’s circuit experience was a bit too much for the Indian.
“I still rate Somdev very high. He is an excellent player. It’s not easy to play against Istomin who is in great form,” he said.
“I took some notes from the game and was pretty impressed with the breakpoints Somdev earned in the match. It shows the boy played with a heart. He went up there and gave everything he got.”
However, Paes was of the view that the US-based Tripura lad has to work on his transition from baseline to net play.
Even the 22-year-old Virginia University student, who prefers hard courts over grass, was in no mood to give any excuses for his loss.
“I was fine, I was comfortable with my footwork on grass. He (Istomin) came up pretty big. It was not the best day for me I had better days,” said Somdev.
He also expressed his disappointment at the loss, but said that it was great learning experience.
Paes also hinted that Bopanna could partner Mahesh Bhupathi in the doubles as he is in tremendous form. There could be changes in the line-up for the reverse singles, he added.
“I will speak to Mahesh who he would like to pair up with. I know he is comfortable with both the players so I have to discuss with him. I would also discuss the matter with Prakash and Rohan,” Paes said.
“He (Bopanna) is the in-form player and is 56th ranked in doubles. So it is pretty good for us that we have options.”
Istomin was delighted to have pulled it back for his side saying that after day one he was happy with the scoreline, but would have preferred 2-0 for his team.
He also praised debutant Somdev, but was of the view that the youngster’s game was not suited for grass.
“He (Somdev) was moving very fast. He is a tough guy to play against,” Istomin said.
The 184th ranked Uzbek also said that its do or die situation for them in the reverse singles Sunday as Indians have an edge in the doubles.