Thomas Johansson overcame the uneven bounce at the RK Khanna Tennis Stadium and stiff resistance from India's Rohan Bopanna to take Sweden to a 2-0 lead in the Davis Cup World Group Play-Off tie in New Delhi on Sunday.
Johansson beat the Indian, ranked 297 places below him, 7-6 (3), 7-6(2), 7-6(4) in a rain-affected match.
Showers since Friday afternoon had delalyed the game and though there was no rain on Sunday, the court could not dry out due to overcast conditions.
Johansson, leading 5-0, won the tie-break 7-2 once play resumed on Sunday after a delayed start. The rain, however, didn't seem to dampen the Bopanna's spirit one bit as his serve proved impossible to penetrate in the third set too.
Bopanna, serving consistently around the 200 kmph-mark, recorded 21 aces to 11 from his opponent. But he also had 15 double faults to Johansson's four.
There wasn't much to choose between the two as Johansson won only 14 points more than the Indian in the match, but he played the crucial points better.
Bopanna's movement on court was affected by a bad fall in the ninth game of the third set where hurt his left ankle.
Team doctor Vece Paes and trainer Sanjay Singh were called onto the court and brought the 25-year-old back in action with quick medical aid.
Bopanna held two set points on Johansson's serve at 6-5 but two backhand errors saw the third set go into the tie-break.
His inexperience was again exposed as Johansson quickly moved to a 5-1 lead. The Indian foughtback to 6-4 but couldn't stop Johansson from completing a hard-earned victory in two hours and 44 minutes.
The second singles game was to be followed by the doubles rubber between India's Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi and Sweden's Jonas Bjorkman and Simon Aspelin on Sunday.
Jonas Bjorkman defeated Prakash Amritraj 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 in the opening tie on Friday to give Sweden a 1-0 lead.
