Davis Cup: Bopanna-Ramanathan lose a must-win doubles match, Finland takes tie 3-0

Rohan Bopanna and Ramkumar Ramanathan lost the crucial match 6-7(2), 6-7(2) to Henri Kontinen and Harri Heliovaara in one hour and 38 minutes.

Rohan Bopanna and Ramkumar Ramanathan have fallen short in their must-win match as India lose the World Group I bout to Finland after an unassailable 0-3 lead on Saturday. The captain, Rohit Rajpal had changed the combination for the doubles game at the very last minute after pairing Bopanna with Ramkumar instead of Divij Sharan but the change couldn’t work out in the favour of India as they eventually lost 6-7 (2), 6-7 (2) to the Finnish Harri Heliovaara and Henri Kontinen in a game that lasted 1 hour and 38 minutes.

For India, both Ramkumar and  Prajnesh Gunneswaran lost their singles matches yesterday and tried to hold on to stay alive in the tie as a must-win doubles match would have changed the hopes of the Indians. Heliovaara who was considered as the most vulnerable of the four players on the court had upped his game to create a huge instant impact on the overall outcome of the match after displaying a fearless fight in the game. Even on the contrary, the Indian team had fumbled while having the advantage as they squandered far too many breakpoints in the second set of the eight-game where a win would have seen an opening to put the hosts under the heat.

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