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.
And Hyeon came up with a service return winner to make it 30-0. 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. 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. At 2-2, Dhakshineswar earned a chance when a Kwon return error brought up deuce, but the Korean responded with a sizzling winner.
Serving to stay in set, Nagal began with a long forehand. 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. Kwon saved it with a volley winner and then fended off another set point before holding to stay alive. 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. Another low bounce caused Dhakshineswar problems as the game went to deuce. A well-executed drop shot took the game to a second deuce before Kwon held.
Kwon’s pressure eventually told.