Bopanna and Balaji seal India's place in WG Play-offs

Rohan Bopanna and debutant N Sriram Balaji were clinical in routing their rivals as India sealed the Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Group I tie against Uzbekistan by taking an unassailable 3-0 lead, here today.

Bopanna and Balaji defeated the Uzbek pair of Farrukh Dustov and Sanjar Fayziev 6-2 6-4 6-1 in the doubles rubber at the KSLTA stadium.

Ramkumar Ramanathan and debutant Prajnesh Gunneswaran had handed India a comfortable 2-0 lead yesterday by winning the their singles against Temur Ismailov and Fayziev respectively.

Tomorrow's reverse singles now will have no bearing on the outcome of the tie and will be the best of three sets. India have qualified for the World Group Play-offs, to be held in September and their next opponents will be know later.