Davis Cup: Jiri Vesely beats Yuki Bhambri in straight sets, Czechs win playoff

Vesely shakes hands with Yuki Bhambri after beating the Indian in straight sets.

Indian professional tennis player Yuki Bhambri lost his Davis cup singles tie to the Czech international Jiri Vesely in straight sets 3-6,5-7,2-6. With this victory, the Czechs have taken an unassailable 3-1 lead in the playoffs against India and will make their 10th consecutive appearance at the World group stage while the Indian team is relegated to Asia/Oceania group I.

Bhambri, who is ranked 125th in the World ATP rankings had an uphill task from the start of the match to take on his 40th rank Czech opponent. The 22-year old Jiri started the match on an attacking front and comfortably won the 1st set 6-3.

However, after losing the first set, Bhambri fought back hard to hold his serve in the second set and led 2-1 on serve at one time. He went on to win 5 service games and tie at 5-5 in the second set, eventually losing the set 5-7 to the Czech international.

Vesely played some brilliant all-round tennis in the third set to break Bhambri twice and take a convincing 4-0 lead. Yuki tried to save the match by winning his next two service games but the damage was done already.

The Czech won the 3rd set with a forehand winner down the baseline and took the match in straight sets.

Earlier in the round, Somdev Devvarman, who is ranked 164^th, won against the much higher ranked Vesely to give the Indian team their only win over the Czech squad.

In the first match of the tie , Yuki Bhambri lost to World no.85 Lukas Rosol and the pair of Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna also lost their tie to the pair of Radek Stepanek and Adam Pavlasek.

As the Czechs took an unsalable 3-1 lead in the 5 match series, the last match between Somdev Devvarman and Lukas Rosol was called off with the Czech side winning the tie 3-1.

The Czech Republic are the top-ranked team in the Davis Cup, with India significantly lower at 21st position.