This would, in the end, prove enough to keep them in the World Group for another year – even if, as expected, India's ever-reliable doubles stars, Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi, came up with the goods in the doubles rubber for the umpteenth time."Of course we are happy, although we expected this," smiled Romanian captain Adrian Marcu at the completion of the tie. "I said three days ago it would be 4-1, and it was 4-1."
He added: "The Indian players have a lot of experience of playing on grass courts or hard courts, whereas our players spend at least 70% of their careers on clay. It's a bit of a different game and that was a big advantage for us."
But while the Romanians began the final day's play with a 2-1 lead, the scenario could have been quite different.
In losing the opening singles rubber on Friday to the local No. 2, Victor Crivoi, Indian No. 1 Prakash Amritraj did well to win the second set from behind – but he had also been ahead in the first set before losing it.
With a two-set lead, the 24-year-old's swashbuckling serve and volley strategy might have kept Crivoi off balance long enough to secure a momentum-changing win.
Victor Hanescu, the Romanian No. 1, would still have been too strong for Tour newcomer Somdev Devvarman, but given the closeness of the dead rubber between Devvarman and Crivoi on Sunday afternoon – Devvarman served for the match at 5-3 in the second set, only to wake up when trailing 0-5 in the third – a live Devvarman-Crivoi rubber on the first day might have cast a different light on proceedings.Indian singles: work in progress
All of this is moot, of course, leaving captain Shiv Prakash Misra, himself a former Davis Cup player, to ponder the challenges of building up his side’s strength in singles.
Devvarman, a rookie at 23, clearly knows that although he has improved his ranking by 800 places in the last four months, it will only get harder from now on, while Amritraj, who turns 25 next month, had never before played on clay at this level.
"I think Leander and Mahesh are going to be around for quite some time," Misra said of his thirty something doubles stalwarts, who are the fourth most successful Davis Cup pairing in history (in winning Saturday’s doubles rubber, Paes actually moved to equal second place on the list of individual doubles wins, at 35-9, and third outright in overall wins, at 83-31).
"They are still fit and genuinely committed to the team. But with four singles and one doubles ties, winning the doubles is not enough."A dignified gentleman who was coerced by his players into singing the Indian national anthem at the official dinner as a means of initiation, added: "When you’ve got a team of four with two specialist doubles players it's tough. But I think with time Prakash and Somdev are going to improve. They are going to learn how to last five sets and to close out a match at the right time, and they are going to be serving their country for a long time."
Romanian prospects
It's back to the Asia/Oceania zonal competition for India, Romania has kept its treasured place in the World Group.
The team could be forgiven for hoping their first round opponents aren't of a Gallic inclination, having fallen to France at the first hurdle in each of the past two years.
Like Misra, captain Marcu has a blend of experience to work with; 27-year-old Hanescu is undoubtedly at the core of the team, but Crivoi, whose Davis Cup record before this weekend was a drubbing at the hands of Korea’s Hyung-Taik Lee in 2006, has clearly shifted gears as well.
"I could have let one of the other players play the dead rubber but I wanted the experience," the 26-year-old said after his comeback win over Devvarman. "I feel great – it has given me a lot of confidence."Furthermore, with Romanian legend Ilie Nastase watching on from the stands, the country's doubles team of Adrian Cruciat and Horia Tecau put on a boisterous display against Bhupathi and Paes. While they were let down by loose shots at key moments, their performance augured well for the future.
"Yes, that was a little bit unexpected, because it was their first Davis Cup match and it was against two great players," Marcu admitted. "They had their chances, were a break ahead in the first set and a break ahead in the second set, so they put a good match together. Hopefully we can develop them into a great team."
(Official report from the Davis Cup website)
(Official Photos by Robert Ghement)
In all fairness, Amritraj was hampered by a torn ligament on his left wrist which restricted him to a one-handed backhand. The 23-year-old son of former tennis star Vijay Amritraj is scheduled to have surgery in Los Angeles after he returns from New York.
The plucky lass from Hyderabad figured in the WTA Top 10 Power list for the Acura Classic and we can be sure her fearsome forehand may pack some punch yet. Add to this her second career victory over Martina Hingis at the ongoing East West Bank Classic in Los Angeles and Mirza's surely gonna be the first Indian woman to be seeded at a Grand Slam. 
In the men's singles, Prakash Amritraj is also inching towards his highest ranking yet - he was 220 in 2004 and is now at 268, after impressive runs at the ATP Hall of Fame Championships and the Comerica Challenger. He's vaulted up 200 positions in the rankings in just one month. Though it remains to be seen whether Prakash will ever match the achievements of his father Vijay, being India's numero uno is still very much within his grasp.
That position currently belongs to Rohan Bopanna. The 27-year-old reached his highest ever ranking of 213 this July after winning his maiden Challenger title at Dublin. But Bopanna is more in the limelight for his doubles victories in partnership with Pakistan's Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi. In one month, the duo notched up a hat-trick of doubles titles at Segovia, Manchester and Nottingham - making Bopanna the first Indian after Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi to break into the top 100 in the ATP doubles rankings.
After Bopanna and Amritraj, the next Indian in the ATP singles list is 340th-ranked Karan Rastogi. A victory at the ITF Futures tournament in Morocco is Rastogi's claim to fame. Keep him on your radar as this 20-something resident of Mumbai may have some more wins up his sleeve.
