After a four hour, 44-minute epic in the best tradition of Davis Cup tennis on Sunday, Somdev Devvarman eased India into 2010’s elite World Group of the competition with an awesome 3-6, 6-7 (3-7), 7-6 (7-5), 6-2, 6-4 comeback victory over a gallant but ultimately exhausted Rik de Voest at the Ellis Park Indoor Arena.
The victory in the first of the reverse singles gave India a winning 3-1 lead before the last match of the tie, in which Izak van der Merwe faced India’s 17-year-old prodigy, Yuki Bhambri, in what was effectively a dead rubber. And Bhambri provided the icing on the cake for India by extending the margin to 4-1 with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory.
Earlier, what had been shaping into a possible victory for De Voest career turned into heartbreak as he ran out of steam towards the end of the tense, absorbing proceedings and fell foul to the super-fit Devvarman, who finished off by playing his best tennis of the match in the last two sets.
Yet when De Voest led 6-3, 7-6 and 5-4 in the third-set tiebreaker it seemed the prized place in the World Group was destined to be decided in the last match — with South African captain John-Laffnie de Jager having brought in Wesley Moodie to replace Van der Merwe in the decider had the penultimate match gone that way.
De Voest, however, emerged with unreserved credit for his overall performance, with nothing emphasising his grit and resolution more than the fact that he saved 20 break points through a cut-and-thrust encounter in which both players performed at an unwaveringly high level. — Sapa