New Delhi: India entered the Davis Cup qualifiers for the first time. Sumit Nagle defeated Switzerland’s talented Henry Burnett in the first reverse singles match of the World Group One match to lead India to a 3-1 win. Earlier, the pair of N Sriram Balaji and Hrithik Bollipalli had lost against Jacob Paul and Dominic Stricker, raising hopes of a comeback for the hosts.
Nagle was scheduled to play against Jerome Kim in the fourth match, but the Swiss team had fielded current junior Australian Open champion Burnett, who lost. Yesterday, Dakshineshwar Suresh and Sumit Nagle gave India a 2-0 lead by defeating Jerome Kim and Marc Andrea Hassler in the singles matches. This is India’s first victory over a European team abroad in 32 years. Earlier, in 1993, Leander Paes and Ramesh Krishna had defeated France in the quarter-finals. In 2022, India defeated Denmark on grass court in Delhi. The first round of Davis Cup qualifiers will be played in January 2026.
After the victory, Nagle said, ‘This is a huge victory. We have won in Europe after a long time and we have worked hard for this. The doubles match was difficult because both the teams played well. Earlier, Balaji and Bolipalli had lost 7-6, 4-6, 5-7 in the match that lasted two hours and 26 minutes. Balaji and Striker served very well in the beginning and held serve without losing a single point. India lost the first point on a double fault by Bolipalli. The Indian pair maintained pressure on the pole but the Swiss pair made a comeback after deuce point.
The Indian pair scored three break points on the striker’s service in the sixth game. The third goal was scored when the striker’s forehand shot hit the net. In the next game, India took a 5-3 lead on Balaji’s smash. Balaji’s error on the forehand return gave the Swiss team a chance to make a comeback and level the score using pole break point. In the tiebreaker, India won the first set due to continuous errors by Paul. In the second test also the score remained equal at 4-4. In the ninth game, Balaji got a chance to get a decisive break point but he missed the volley. Paul’s return on the forehand was out, on which India got a second chance but due to the striker’s excellent return on the forehand, he also missed it. Pole held her serve and when Bolipalli was broken, India lost the second set. In the third set, Bolipalli made a double fault and also made an error on the backhand. The Swiss pair got three match points on Pol’s forehand winner and when Bolipalino’s return went into the net, they won the third set and the match.
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