India will start its Davis Cup Qualifier Round 2 tie against Korea on Friday with Dhakshineswar Suresh facing Soonwoo Kwon in the opening singles match, a first rubber that could set the tone for the entire contest. The tie is being played for a place in the Davis Cup Final 8.
That is why Suresh’s meeting with Kwon is drawing the focus now. Suresh is ranked 367, but he won all three rubbers he played in India’s 3-2 victory over the Netherlands in February. Kwon, Korea’s top singles player at 150, has also arrived in form after winning three Challengers this season following the completion of his mandatory military service in July. He won both of his singles matches in Korea’s 3-2 comeback against Argentina in the previous round.
The second singles match will send Sumit Nagal against Hyeon Chung, giving India two first-day tests against players with far more on their resumes than their current rankings suggest. Chung is 567 now, but he was world No. 19 in 2018, became the first Korean man to reach a Grand Slam semifinal at that year’s Australian Open and beat Alexander Zverev and Novak Djokovic before withdrawing against Roger Federer.
India’s main problem is not just the names across the net. Korea have resurfaced the court to make it slow and low-bouncing, which changes the point pattern in a very specific way: the ball comes through heavier, sits up less, and gives less reward to clean first-strike tennis. For Suresh and Nagal, that means less pace to work with and more time spent generating their own offense on balls that are expected to become heavy and fluffy as the match wears on.
That is a hard fit for India’s day-one pairing, even before the tie moves to doubles. If the score is 1-1 after Friday, India will send out N Sriram Balaji and Niki Poonacha against Uisung Park and Jisung Nam. Poonacha arrived in Seoul on Wednesday evening after being called up following Yuki Bhambri’s withdrawal due to an injury, so his preparation with Balaji has been compressed to a race against the schedule rather than a normal build-up. Balaji is ranked 49, while Poonacha recently played at the US Open and has won six Challengers this season from 10 finals.
So India’s opening-day target is simple: split the singles and keep the tie alive for doubles, or take a lead and force Korea to chase the match on a surface built to slow them down. If Suresh can carry over the momentum from February and Nagal can manage his difficult season despite hip and wrist issues, India will give itself a real chance to reach the Final 8.
