Namangan (Uzbekistan), Apr 8: India salvaged some pride by winning the two inconsequential reverse singles to reduce their margin of defeat against Uzbekistan to 2-3 in the Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Group I second round tie here today.
Young Yuki Bhambri stunned Uzbek number one Denis Istomin in the first reverse singles of the day before Rohan Bopanna gave India their second win by beating Sarvar Ikramov.
20-year-old Bhambri and Bopanna showed a lot of character to win their singles encounters though India had already lost the tie yesterday.
World number 295 Yuki inflicted world number 43 Istomin his first defeat at home in six years, albeit in a dead rubber with a 6-7(1) 7-6(3) 7-6(3) upset win in a hard-fought battle at the Sport Complex Pahlavon.
In the second match, Bopanna, a replacement for Sanam Singh, who was hospitalised for chicken pox after losing to Istomin on the first day, made amends of his doubles loss to defeat Ikramov 6-2 6-7 6-1.
India had already crashed out of Davis Cup Group I after Uzbekistan had taken an unassailable 3-0 lead yesterday. The seasoned doubles pair of Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna lost their doubles rubber yesterday, making the today's reverse singles inconsequential.
On day one, Sanam Singh and Yuki had lost their singles matches in straight sets against Istomin and Farrukh Dustov respectively.
Uzbekistan advanced to their sixth World Group play-off in September. The Central Asian nation has never made the 16-nation elite group since it joined Davis Cup in 1994.
