Somdev Devvarman defeated World No. 59 Lu Yen-Hsun 6-1, 6-2, 6-3 at Yang-Ming Tennis Centre on Sunday (March 8, 2009) to help India take an unassailable lead against Taiwan. India beat Taiwan 3-2 to advance to the third and final round of the Davis Cup Asia/ Oceania Zone Group I tennis tournament.

 

Starting the match as underdog, Somdev Devvarman took advantage of Lu’s several unforced errors to win the first reverse singles match and ensure victory for India. In the second reverse singles match, which was inconsequential, Rohan Bopanna lost 3-6, 7-6(6), 6-7(5) to Tsung-Hua Yang.

 

India started the day with a 2-1 lead, which it got on Saturday when Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi won the doubles match against Yang and Chu-Huan Yi. In the match between Lu and Devvarman, Lu began as favorite but landed himself into trouble with several unforced errors. Devvarman capitalised to Lu's mistakes to defeat him in the straight sets. In the fifth rubber, which was a dead one, Rohan Boppana lost to Tsung-Hua Yang to give Taiwan as consolation win.

 

India will now play Australia in third and final round of the Davis Cup Asia/ Oceania Zone Group I tennis tournament. The winner of this tie, to be held in India, will go into the World Group play-offs.