India’s hopes of making the Davis Cup Final 8 were pushed to the brink after Dhakshineswar Suresh and Sumit Nagal squandered promising starts to lose their respective singles, leaving the visitors trailing 0-2 against Korea at the end of the opening day of their Qualifier tie on Friday (September 18, 2026).

Dhakshineswar lost the first match of his fledgling Davis Cup career when Korea’s number one player Soonwoo Kwon beat him 3-6 6-3 6-4. The onus to bring India back was on India number one Nagal but he also squandered a solid start to lose 6-2 4-6 5-7 to experienced Hyon Chung after battling for more than three hours.

Chung showed the temperament of a big player as he earned points when it mattered the most.

Kwon has not lost a Davis Cup match at home and that trend continued.

Now India need to win all three matches on the final day to advance to the knockout stage which has happened only twice in India’s history: in 2010 against Brazil at home and in 2018 against China in away tie.

India had managed to erase 0-2 deficit to win those matches.

In those contests, legendary Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi had pulled off the must-win doubles rubber and now N Sriram Balaji and Niki Poonacha have the huge responsibility to keep India alive.

Nagal was aggressive from the word go, going for his trademark inside-out forehands. Chung though struggled to contain his unforced errors, giving many free points to Nagal. The Indian got the kind of start he needed as he broke Chung in the first game.

The Korean handed a double break to Nagal when he hit a backhand wide, yet again his unforced errors benefitting the Indian, who raced to a 4-0 lead in no time.

Chung got one break back by converting break chance in game six, only to lose it once more.

Nagal squandered three points, two with double faults, and pocketed the opening set when Chung’s return flew over the baseline.

After getting a measure of his rival, Chung found his rhythm, playing intelligent tennis. He kept moving on both flanks and after getting him pinned on backhand side, he would charge to the net for winners. He used drop shots effectively.

Game seven turned out to be a humdinger with two players engaging in 7 deuce points. Eventually Nagal took the game when Chung made consecutive backhand errors.

Nagal though dropped his own serve in the next game, serving a double fault at deuce and then netting a forehand. Set was locked 4-4.

Serving to stay in set, Nagal began with a long forehand. And Hyeon came up with a service return winner to make it 30-0. Chung earned the set point with an overhead volley winner and levelled the match when Nagal netted a backhand return after a long drawn rally.

Nagal trailed 1-3 in the final set after early break but fought to level it. At one-set all and 5-5, it was anybody’s game and it was the Korean who walked away winner, with Nagal losing the steam and temper.

Earlier, Dhakshineswar made a confident start but could not sustain the momentum. He looked in control early on but Kwon raised his game like the top players do, leaving the Indian without answers.

Kwon changed tactics after the first set but Dhakshineswar could not respond as the Korean began to serve wide and on the backhand side of the Indian. His deep returns also did not allow Dhakshineswar to dictate the match as he was doing earlier. Kwon gradually found his range and didn’t look back.

The low bounce occasionally troubled Dhakshineswar, particularly when he was forced to take the ball from an uncomfortable height. Kwon took advantage of a few loose shots, but a netted backhand and a return error handed the Indian the first set point.

Kwon saved it with a volley winner and then fended off another set point before holding to stay alive.

Dhakshineswar remained composed when the rallies were stretched and was prepared to stay in long exchanges. He eventually closed out the set with an ace.

Kwon responded strongly in the second set. He created two break points in fourth game, but Dhakshineswar saved the first with an ace and second with an overhead volley winner after countering a low lob. A double fault gave Kwon another opening, but the Indian escaped by pinning him to backhand side before producing a winner.

Kwon’s pressure eventually told. Another low bounce caused Dhakshineswar problems as the game went to deuce. The Indian saved one break point with a stunning backhand winner, but Kwon converted the second chance with a backhand winner to lead 4-2.

The Korean then served big to move 5-2 ahead.

Dhakshineswar faced set point in the eighth game after netting a backhand, but Kwon sent the return just wide. The Indian then saved another set point with two consecutive aces after his forehand that sailed long.

Kwon raced to 40-0 while serving for the set and levelled the match when Dhakshineswar sent a return wide.

Dhakshineswar came under pressure immediately in the decider but held the opening game. Kwon responded by serving wide to make his opponent’s returns difficult and held comfortably.

At 2-2, Dhakshineswar earned a chance when a Kwon return error brought up deuce, but the Korean responded with a sizzling winner. A well-executed drop shot took the game to a second deuce before Kwon held.

The crucial breakthrough came in the fifth game.

Dhakshineswar fell 0-40 down as Kwon’s aggressive returning began to tell. The Indian saved the first two break points, but his forehand sailed long on the third to hand Korea a 3-2 lead.

Kwon consolidated effortlessly with an immaculate drop shot to make it 4-2. From there was it was one-way traffic.

Published – September 19, 2026 04:21 am IST

Aryna Sabalenka, of Belarus, returns the ball to Barbora Krejcikova, of Czechia, during their match at the Italian Open tennis tournament in Rome, on May 7, 2026.
| Photo Credit: AP