Bopanna ends Davis Cup career on a high, wins with Yuki in final tie
Lucknow (PTI): Rohan Bopanna brought the curtains down on his Davis Cup career with a comfortable straight set win with Yuki Bhambri, a victory that put India ahead 2-1 in the World Group II tie against Morocco, here on Sunday.
The 43-year-old Bopanna, coming out to play his 33rd and final tie, and Bhambri raced to a 6-2 6-1 win over Elliot Benchetrit and Younes Lalami Laaroussi in one hour and 11 minutes at the Mini Stadium.
Sumit Nagal now need to win against Yassine Dlimi to close the tie in India's favour.
An emotional Bopanna rested his India-shirt on the court, marking the end of his Davis Cup career in which he played 33 ties, winning a total of 23 matches including 13 in doubles.
Watched by his family and friends, Bopanna acknowledged their and fans' appreciation and blew kisses towards the stands.
About 50 of Bopanna's family and friends flew to Lucknow to watch him one last time in Davis Cup.
They were wearing T-shirts that had a tri-colour-waving Bopanna picture printed.
Younes could not hold his serve even once in the match while the Indians faced just one break point when Bhambri served and saved that too.
The Indians drew the first blood when they broke Younes. On a Bhambri backhand return at 30-15, Younes netted the volley. Bhambri smashed a volley winner on Younes' return to earn the first breakpoint.
Benchetrit went for an angled volley winner on a Bhambri return but the ball went out as Indians led 3-1. Bopanna came out serving the next game at love to make it 4-1.
Younes' serve came under attack once again in game eight. Bopanna found a winner at 15-15 and the Morocco player served a double fault to be down by two break points.
Yuki converted the set point with a volley winner on a feeble Younes return. The first set ended in a jiffy, just 34 minutes as the Indians lost five point on their serve.
Bopanna's big serve was at work in the second set too as he began the proceedings with a comfortable hold but Bhambri's serve came under pressure in the third game when at 30-all, his half-volley pick up flew out of the court.
The Indians, though, saved the break point.
Younes was up 40-0 on his serve in game four but lost his way, serving double fault and making a lot of unforced errors to lose his serve for the third time in the match.
Bhambri served out the match.
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Rupee rises 6 paise to 90.85 against US dollar in early trade
Mumbai (PTI): The rupee rose 6 paise to 90.85 against the US dollar in early trade on Thursday on the back of a weaker greenback and FII inflows.
A positive start to the session at the domestic equity markets lent further support to the local unit while a rise in global crude oil prices, coupled with geopolitical uncertainties, capped sharp gains, according to forex traders.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 90.86 against the greenback before inching up to 90.85, higher by 6 paise from its previous close.
The rupee stayed range-bound and settled with a gain of 4 paise at 90.91 against the US dollar on Wednesday.
"As the dollar index fell and Asian currencies gained today (Thursday) the rupee opened higher... A risk-on sentiment in the markets and RBI selling near 91.00 levels ensured yesterday (Wednesday) also that rupee is unable to cross 91.00 levels with FPIs being buyers of equity and sellers of dollars," Anil Kumar Bhansali, Head of Treasury and Executive Director, Finrex Treasury Advisors LLP, said.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.13 per cent down at 97.57.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, rose 0.21 per cent to USD 71.00 per barrel in futures trade.
On the domestic equity market front, the Sensex climbed 303 points to 82,579.16 in early trade, while the Nifty rose 85.1 points to 25,567.60.
On Wednesday, foreign institutional investors purchased equities worth Rs 2,991.64 crore, according to exchange data.
