By IANS
New Delhi : Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin made a remarkable comeback to down India’s Rohan Bopanna in a marathon five-setter and take the tie to the deciding singles rubber in the Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Group I tennis here Sunday.
The 184th ranked Uzbek stunned his opponent and the home crowd defeating the in-form Indian 4-6, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-1), 8-6 in just more than three hours.
In the fifth and final match of the tie, Prakash Amritraj will take on Farrukh Dustov.
Bopanna started from where he left off in the first match as he cruised to a two-set lead against an out-of-sorts Istomin. But the Uzbek poured water on India’s hope of wrapping up the tie in the first reverse singles, making what can be termed as an unexpected comeback.
Although Bopanna pocketed the first two sets easily, he was inconsistent with his serve and return, unlike his previous matches, leading to his downfall.
The 27-year-old Bangalorean fired 15 aces, but he committed 16 double faults as well.
In the 13th game of the deciding set he committed two double faults, which gave the break to Istomin.
The top Uzbek player kept his cool throughout the match, in spite of some line calls going against him.
In the deciding singles in the afternoon, the onus will be on Amritraj, who will be featuring in the tie for the first time, to take India out of trouble against second best Uzbek player Dustov.