India, Canada end Day 1 at par

Edmonton (Canada), Sept. 16: Ramkumar Ramanathan fetched the crucial win but Yuki Bhambri made the day memorable even in defeat as India and Canada shared the honours on Day One of the Davis Cup World Group Play-off tie, here.

Yuki turned the match on its head after being down by two sets and a match point in the third set but eventually lost 67(2), 4-6, 7-6(6), 6-4, 1-6 to world No. 51 Denis Shapovalov — an audacious performance in a three hours and 52 minutes battle.

It happened after 22year-old Ramkumar, ranked 154th, tamed the debutant 5-7, 7-6(4), 7-5, 7-5 in the first singles, which was also a marathon match lasting three hours and 16 minutes.

“Boys played with a lot of heart...The plan was to fight regardless of the score and Ram swung a losing battle and Yuki almost did too,” Indian captain Mahesh Bhupathi said.

This defeat would rankle Yuki for sometime as Shapovalov had started feeling the heat following the Indian’s perseverance.

The left-handed Shapovalov unleashed his power-packed game from the beginning and Yuki was mostly left to defend but after taking the third set from the home favourite, it was the Indian who dictated the terms.

An early break in the fifth set again shifted the momentum in Shapovalov’s favour. The Canadian found his mojo after breaking Yuki in the third and broke him again in the sixth game to take a 5-1 cushion and clinched the issue with a forehand winner.

Yuki proved that his recent win over world number 22 was no fluke.

Shapovalov, who recently defeated Rafael Nadal, Jo Wilfred Tsonga and Juan Martin Del Potro, was playing his first ever five-set match and all credit to Yuki for making his life tough.