Asian and Common wealth Games champion Somdev Devvarman overcome Janko Tipsarevic to pull India back level at 1-1 with defending title holders Serbia on the opening day of their Davis Cup World Group first round tie. Viktor Troicki, who sealed his country's triumph against France in December's 2010 final in Belgrade, put Serbia into the lead in Friday's first singles on the clay at Novi Sad. He raced into a two set lead over Rohan Bopanna, who then clawed his way back into argument to set up a cliffhanger which the Serb finally won 6-3, 6-3, 5-7, 3-6, 6-3.
"It was a tough match. I came back after 2-0 and I am disappointed I couldn't manage to win," Bopanna told reporters. Devvarman then levelled the tie with a 3-0 defeat of Tipsarevic, although the Serb player dug deep, leading 4-1 in each of the opening two sets with the Indian winning 7-5, 7-5, 7-6 (7/3)."I feel for Janko because he probably didn’t have enough time to adjust from Delray Beach, where it was a lot warmer and that much easier to serve," Devvarman said."I served well, kept fighting and always believed I could win the match," he added.
Serbia, missing their best player, world number three and Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic, will be represented by their strongest pairing of Ilija Bozoljac and Nenad Zimonjic in Saturday's doubles where they come up against Bopanna and Devvarman. India suffered a major blow to their chances after Grand Slam-winning doubles pair Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi were required to withdraw due to injuries. But Devvarman was sure his team still had a chance to defeat the Serbs."We definitely believe now we can win this tie and we will go out there to give it our best shot," he said.
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"It was a tough match. I came back after 2-0 and I am disappointed I couldn't manage to win," Bopanna told reporters. Devvarman then levelled the tie with a 3-0 defeat of Tipsarevic, although the Serb player dug deep, leading 4-1 in each of the opening two sets with the Indian winning 7-5, 7-5, 7-6 (7/3)."I feel for Janko because he probably didn’t have enough time to adjust from Delray Beach, where it was a lot warmer and that much easier to serve," Devvarman said."I served well, kept fighting and always believed I could win the match," he added.
Serbia, missing their best player, world number three and Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic, will be represented by their strongest pairing of Ilija Bozoljac and Nenad Zimonjic in Saturday's doubles where they come up against Bopanna and Devvarman. India suffered a major blow to their chances after Grand Slam-winning doubles pair Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi were required to withdraw due to injuries. But Devvarman was sure his team still had a chance to defeat the Serbs."We definitely believe now we can win this tie and we will go out there to give it our best shot," he said.
See all Cricket World Cup 2011 news at Legends of Sports
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