Vishnu Vardhan made an impressive Davis Cup debut but lost the must-win first reverse singles of the play-off tie to Kei Nishikori here today, which relegated India to Asia/Oceania Zone Group I and catapulted Japan to World Group for the first time since 1985.
Ranked as low as 456th, Vishnu lost 5-7 3-6 3-6 after battling the 55th ranked Japanese for two hours and nine minutes, giving the hosts an unassailable 3-1 lead.
Rohan Bopanna will play Go Soeda in the inconsequential fifth rubber.
Vishnu was handed the Davis Cup cap after Somdev Devvarman was ruled out of the rubber because of a shoulder strain he suffered during the first day’s match against Yuichi Sugita.
India came to the play-off stage after losing the World Group first round to reigning champions Serbia and will now yet again strive in the Asia-Oceania Group I in 2012 season.
From: http://ping.fm/Fv1jl
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