Johannesburg: Somdev Devvarman, in a sensational comeback, outlasted South Africa's Rik De Voest, 4-6, 6-7(3), 7-6(5), 6-2, 6-4 in a near five-hour slugfest in the first reverse singles on Sunday to seal India's place in the elite World Group for the first time in 11 years.
India, who last played in the World Group finals in 1998, needed to win just one reverse singles to wrap up the tie in their favour.
The visitors had won both their opening singles for a 2-0 lead on Friday but lost the doubles to South Africans Wesley Moodie and Jeff Coetzee on Saturday when Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna conceded midway after Mahesh pulled his right groin.
Somdev's win thus gave India an unbeatable 3-1 win over the hosts. The 17-year-old junior Australian Open champion, Yuki Bhambri, will make his Davis Cup debut in the inconsequential second reverse singles.
Somdev, who shares the coach with De Voest, stunned his South African practice partner and the vociferous home crowd.
"It is a wonderful feeling to see India into the World Group. I was down two sets. I kept looking at the bench. My teammates stood behind me and that gave me the confidence to fight back. It kept me going," an elated Somdev said.
"I was little nervous in the third set tiebreak. But after winning it and coming back into the match, I realised that it is going to be more of a physical game. I just let my legs carry me through the match."
"Rik is a great player and a great practise partner. He made life difficult for me in the first two sets," Somdev said.
After the doubles debacle on Saturday, India were resting their hopes on Somdev who had a fine run at the US hard court circuit and also reached the second round of the US Open.
The 24-year-old lived up to the expectations. The two-time National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) champion showed a lot of heart as he rallied from two-set down to pull a nailbiting encounter. This was the second time that he won two singles matches in a Davis Cup tie, having done that against Chinese Taipei in February.
The start, however, was anything but a reflection of the outcome, with De Voest making life difficult for Somdev with his superb net play.
Somdev kept himself in the match. The furiously fought five-setter went into long rallies, with both players grinding it out from the baseline, but it is De Voest's crafty net play that made the difference. The Indian's discomfort at net was apparent and the South African cashed in on the weakness, rushing to the net frequently, his backhand slice teasing.
De Voest's big serve bailed him out of precarious situations, firing aces. But Somdev hung on hitting deep groundstrokes and waiting for his South African to committ mistakes.
The Indian dropped his serve in the fifth game of the first set thanks to two successive forehand errors, the last being a stab volley hit wide. He though had a chance to break back immediately, when De Voest netted a backhand volley, but the South African fired two solid first serves to consolidate a 4-2 lead.
De Voest's serve was once again attacked by the Indian in the eighth game, that saw five deuces and four break points, but the 29-year-old South African survived all that and returned to break Somdev for the second time in the match, in the ninth game, to go up 1-0 after a 50-minute struggle.
De Voest was in command in the second set, cruising to a 3-0 lead, but was broken back in the fifth game before the South African clinched the tie-breaker after a 76-minute battle.
Somdev was broken in the first game of the third set before he staged a remarkable recovery, breaking back in the fourth to enforce the second tie-breaker.
In the fourth set, Somdev broke Rik in the third and fifth games and when he served out the set in the eight game, it was two set each.
In the decider, a fired-up Somdev broke the South African in the fifth game after a controversial line call that went against the hosts and then held his serve to consolidate the break. He soon served out the set and the match in the tenth game.
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