Davis Cup: India to play China in Tianjin

The ties will be played in the first week of April.

Yuki Bhambri.

India will take on China on outdoor hard courts at the Tianjin Tennis Centre in the Davis Cup Asia-Oceania second round tie on April 6 and 7.

While the top seeded India had a bye in the first round, China beat New Zealand 3-1 in Tianjin on February 2 and 3.

China won the singles matches through Ze Zhang and Yibing Wu, the young lad who had won the US Open singles and doubles junior titles last year, apart from the doubles through Ze Zhang and Mao-Xin Gong.

The winner of the second round will make it to the World Group play-off.

From this year, the Davis Cup matches have been reduced to best of three sets, from being best of five sets, spread over three days.

The surface will be plexi-pave, and the tie will use Head balls. The matches are scheduled to start at 10 a.m. on the two days.

India had made it to the World Group play-off over the last few years and had given a good account of itself against Canada. India had lost 2-3, despite not winning the doubles, in September last year, as Yuki Bhambri and Ramkumar Ramanathan won a match each.

India has a 3-0 win-loss record against China. India beat China 5-0 when the two teams met the last time at the RK Khanna Stadium in Delhi in 2005. When India played China in 2001 at the Langfan City, Hebei, it had pulled off a 3-2 victory. India had beaten China 5-0 when the two teams met the first time in Davis Cup in 1999, at the South Club in Kolkata, on grass.