India’s Yuki Bhambri beat New Zealand’s Finn Tearney in the first match of the Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Group 1 first-round tie in Pune on Friday. Bhambri, ranked 368th in singles, beat his 414th-ranked opponent 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 in just over two hours at the Balewadi Sports Complex. The win gave India a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five tie, with Ramkumar Ramanathan set to take on Jose Statham in the second singles rubber later in the day.
Both players traded breaks in the first six games before the scores were back level on 3-3. Both looked rusty and were committing too many unforced errors, but Bhambri’s were more surprising considering he had just played in the Australian Open qualifiers. The 24-year-old was going for too many shots and, thereby, messing up his accuracy. Bhambri eventually managed to keep his unforced errors in check enough to take the first set 6-4.
Bhambri was broken early in the second set, but fought back to take it 5-4 and serve for the set. Tearney stretched Bhambri in the following game, but the Indian held on to make it two sets to love. The New Zealander then held his serve for two games before Bhambri broke through. The slip-up was enough for the 24-year-old to seal with the match.