Riding on the back of some scintillating tennis by Prakash Amrtiraj, India exposed Uzbekistan's frailty on grass courts to clinch the two singles matches for a 2-0 lead on the opening day of the Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Group I second round tie at the Jai Club courts in Jaipur on Friday.
Captain Leander Paes, playing only his second singles match of the season, put the hosts 1-0 up with a 7-6 (7/4), 6-2, 6-0 win over Farrukh Dustov before Amritraj gave a superlative display of serve and volley game to maul Denis Istomin 6-3, 6-2, 6-2.
The crucial doubles match is scheduled for Saturday, followed by the reverse singles on Sunday, but the two defeats have put the Uzbeks so low on morale and confidence that they will need a mircale to reverse their fortunes.
Paes, who nominated himself ahead of number one player in terms of ranking Harsh Mankad, said even though the Indians were comfortably placed, it was still a tough decision for him.
"It was very very tough to ask your number one player to sit down. I guarantee if we are 0-2 down, you all would be sitting over my head now," he said.
"It is a tough job to be the captain of Indian team, no matter what team it is. You have to believe in your decision, it must be a well thought out decision, and make that decision, whether people agree with you or not," he added.
Dustov's performance summed up the story. His was a two-part act, the first comprising the first set when he took it up to Paes with some strong serving, and the second forming the remaining two sets when he mentally disintegrated and cracked under pressure.
As it were, the veil of being competitive on grass by the Uzbeks was torn open. And, as Paes showed once again, rankings Dustov is 338th on the ATP computer, hardly matter in Davis Cup.
"I was surprised by the way Dustov's serve came apart after the first set," the Indian captain said. "It goes to show that as long as you stay mentally ahead of your opponent, a time will come when they will fall."
Earlier the start was delayed by more than an hour due to wet patches caused by heavy rains last evening. And the tricky bounce, mainly the ball keeping low after hitting the patches, troubled the Uzbeks throughout.
Dustov struggled to find an answer to Paes' kick serves that frequently left him high and dry. Still, it was a tense first set. If Paes was dominated with net play, Dustov held his own with strong serving.
The Uzbek turned out to be the first to crack under pressure when he hit a backhand wide and followed it with a double fault, before putting a forehand volley long.
But the lack of match practice then showed on Paes who was broken back in the very next game with successive double faults.
There was no question of exposing Istomin's weakness, for his inadequacy was all there in the open. The player who had clinched a five-set decider to put his team past Indonesia in the first round and around whom a hype had been built up following his two wins over Mankad on the professional circuit, simply could not match Amritraj's superiority and was completely outplayed.
Paes was all praise for Amritraj whom he said "has made a big jump in performance in this tie".
"No matter that I had won the first rubber, it was still important for Prakash to play a good first set, and he came out with flying colours," he said.
Amritraj, who began and finished the match with an ace, was irreprisible in both serve and volley as well in playing from the back when the Uzbek tried to prevent him from coming upto the net.
The 293rd ranked California resident said it did not matter that Paes had given the side a 1-0 lead.
"It is more thinking about things from outside the court. I just stuck to the basics, once I served the first ball everything went out of my mind," Amritraj said.
Dustov said he was not happy with the courts. "This is the first time I am playing (Davis Cup) on grass, and it was not a proper grass court," he said.
"There were lot of places where there were big patches. There was bad bounce, and return was impossible," he said.
Non-playing Uzbek captain Vadim Kutsenko, however, gave credit to the Indians even while being understanding of his players.
"Nothing has changed (after the 2-0 result). Both the players (Dustov and Istomin) played well," he said.
