Not used to playing singles anymore, India's Rohan Bopanna found rhythm in nick of time to edge past Hong Chung before Yong-Kyu Lim prevented a Korean whitewash with a gritty win over Ramkumar Ramanathan in the Davis Cup Asia\Oceania Group I tie here today.
Asked to take court in place of Saketh Myneni, who is still recovering from his gruelling match on Friday, Bopanna laboured to a 3-6 6-4 6-4 win against Chung, who is ranked as low as 655 in the ATP rankings.
Bopanna last played a singles match in the Davis Cup in 2012 when he won the dead fifth rubber against Uzbekistan's Sarvar Ikramov.
It was 10th singles win for Bopanna in Davis Cup today and thankfully it was a dead rubber since India had sealed tie on Saturday itself by wining the doubles.
Playing the dead fifth rubber, 217-ranked Ramkumar lost the close contest 3-6 6-4 6-7(2) in little over two hours to Lim, who is placed 409 rungs below the Indian.
Despite losing the tie 1-4 , the Koreans have to be credited for making life tough for the Indians. They were playing on an alien surface but fought their hearts out in the tie.
All Indian players performed a popular Bollywood number 'Bayee Wah', immediately after Lim closed the tie, much to the surprise and delight of the fans.
India will now make its third attempt to qualify for the elite 16-nation World Group. They await the results of the World Group matches to know the rival in the play-offs to be held in September.
India last played in World Group in 2011 when it lost the first round against Serbia. After that, they have lost play-offs twice - against Serbia (in 2014, Bangalore) and Czech Republic (in 2015, New Delhi).
Army man Lim, who lost to Myneni, recovered remarkably from the spasm he suffered on Friday, and played clean tennis to beat Ramkumar.
Lim broke Ramkumar in the fourth game and served out the opening set in the ninth game in which he also saved a break chance after the Indian had saved three set points.
In the second set, Lim again had a chance to go up but the Indian saved a break chance in the seventh game to hold. The 21-year-old lad from Chennai kept fighting and finally broke Lim in the 12th to make it one-all.
Ramkumar grew in confidence and started to play much better. He broke Lim in the sixth game for a 4-2 lead but was broken while serving for the match in the ninth as he served a double fault.
That proved costly as Lim stretched it to tie-breaker in which he prevailed.
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At 4-4, Nadal had lost only one point on his serve but lost four in the ninth game to drop serve. After losing first break chance, Paes won a net battle with Lopez to earn team's second chance and then found another winner to seal the crucial break.
Myneni served out the set with Paes hitting another backhand volley winner.
Myneni served solid, losing only four points on his serve and three of those were in the 10th game when he was serving for the set and that was key for India.
India drew the first blood in the second set by breaking Lopez in the third game. The Spaniard was up 40-15 but the Indians took the next three point with Myneni hitting a backhand cross court winner to pocket the break.
Paes held in the fourth, giving India a 3-1 lead. The accuracy of Paes' drop shots was a sight to watch. The break stayed with India, giving Myneni to serve out the set but he was broken in the 10th.
Nadal's fierce service return winner and Myneni's volley error handed Spian two chances. The Indian saved first with an ace but a poor decision to go for a drop shot instead of killing ball cost the hosts. The drop shot did not have enough trajectory and force to cross the net.
It made the score 5-5 and a hold by Lopez meant that Paes was now serving to stay in the second set. The veteran did not disappoint, forcing a tie-breaker.
Myneni, who was solid till now, though played his worse on the first three points as India trailed 0-3. The tall Vizag lad failed to out away an easy overhead volley and also could not pick up a half-volley that also kissed the net.
In no time it became 5-0 in Spain's favour and Nadal made it 1-1 with a forehand that came like a rocket towards Myneni but the Indian just about managed from being hit on the face.
Paes dropped serve in the third game to give visitors advantage in the third set. The lead stayed with the Spaniards, who forged ahead 2-1 with Nadal serving out the set with an easy forehand winner in the 10th.
Nadal dropped serve at love with a double fault in the second game of the third set as Paes produced some exceptional returns in that game.
With Saketh holding, India were up 3-0. Paes saved two break chances in the fifth to help hosts take a handsome 4-1 lead. India though lost the edge with Myneni dropping serve in the seventh game, the longest of the match as he served two double faults. It was back on serve.
Nadal's super-strokes had the Indians gasping in the ninth game, served by Paes. The champion player found un-returnable angles to put himself in a position to serve out the tie in the next game and he did.
