Superior Italy breeze past India to qualify for Davis Cup Finals

Kolkata, Feb 2 (IANS) India lived up to their doubles reputation, but were no match to their far superior Italy in the singles rubbers as they went down 1-3 in the Davis Cup World Group qualifier tie here on Saturday.

Italy, who had won the tournament in 1976, will now take part in the inaugural 18-nation finals in Madrid in November while India will be relegated back to the zonals.

Opening day singles successes for veteran Andreas Seppi and debutant Matteo Berrettini hed left the Indians with no further room for error.

On Saturday, the experienced Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan -- who were coming into the meet on the back of their Maharashtra Open win -- came back from a set down to outshine Italy's doubles specialist Simone Bolleli and 22-year old Berrettini, thus raising hopes of a comeback much like the 3-2 win against China in Asia/Oceania Group I last year from a similar situation.

But Seppi, ranked 37th in the world, swept aside India's highest ranked singles player Prajnesh in straight sets to leave the vociferous crowd at the action-starved South Club -- hosting the meet after 16 years -- high and dry.

India's non-playing captain Mahesh Bhupathi had stressed they had the best chance on grass, but the gulf in class was visible from day one in all singles ties and Bhupathi later conceded the same.

"Everybody needs to live in the real world. How many countries, who have made it to the finals, have players outside the top 100? You can't expect miracles in sport. It doesn't work like that," Bhupathi said.

The hosts started the second day on the best possible note with Bopanna and Sharan not losing heart despite losing the first set to break Berrettini in the fourth game of the second before sealing the issue 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Berrettini, whose sterling show on Friday forced captain Corrado Barazzutti to keep in the mix for the doubles ahead of their No.1 ranked player Marco Cecchinato, failed to live up to his billing as India made the most of the momentum gathered in the second set to break Bolleli twice after Sharan failed to hold on to his serve in the fourth game.

A clinical Bopanna forehand and a fine volley by Sharan gave the Indians two break points.

Bopanna fired in a deep return that proved too much for Bolelli as he hit the net to concede the set. All fired up with the crowd on their feet, India cruised to 30-0 in the ninth game with Bolelli conceding the second point by a double-fault as they broke them again.

Serving for the set and match, Bopanna and Sharan once again complemented well to keep their hopes intact.

Making a comeback for the first time since 2012, southpaw Sharan complemented senior pro Bopanna and wrapped it up with a forehand volley winner in the end.

"It was a tough doubles. It was not too easy for us in this surface but I think we played very good doubles. I think the first set was good. Bad luck on the third set. We lost a very tough match. Think they played better but we also played good," Bolleli said later.

In the reverse singles, it was always going to be an uphill task for Prajnesh, who hit a career high ranking of 102 recently, to stun Seppi and there was no upset on the cards as the 34-year old eased to a 6-1, 6-4 verdict.

"We just could not step up to the challenge. We didn't play with enough intensity. We didn't play with enough intensity. We played under pressure. I did what I could but it wasn't good enough," Prajnesh said.

In the opening rubber on Day 1, Ramkumar Ramanathan, ranked 133rd in the world, frittered two break points in the second and eighth game of the first set to lose to Seppi 6-4, 6-2.

In the second rubber, Prajnesh had no chance against in-form Berrettini as the 2018 Swiss Open winner won 6-4, 6-3.