In Astana, the second day of play in the Davis Cup home tie between Kazakhstan and Thailand ended in dramatic fashion: Alexander Shevchenko lost to Kasidit Samrej 6-1, 2-6, 3-6, leveling the overall score at 2-2, according to infohub.kz.
The day began with doubles: the pair of Beibit Zhukayev and Denis Yevseyev fell to Thailand's Pruchya Isaro and Maximus Jones 4-6, 6-3, 5-7.
The previous day, Kazakhstan won both singles matches. Shevchenko defeated Maximus Jones 6-4, 1-6, 7-5. Timofey Skatov overcame Samrej 6-4, 7-6 (7-4).
Leading 2-1, Kazakhstan needed just one win from the remaining two singles rubbers to clinch the tie. Shevchenko lost the first.
Shevchenko wrapped up the first set against Samrej in just half an hour. Breaking his opponent twice, the Kazakh won the set 6-1. But then the Thai, despite a huge ranking gap, seized the initiative, played almost error-free, and took the second set 6-2.
No matter how hard Alexander tried to rediscover the tennis that had brought him success in the first set, Samrej stuck to his guns. Hitting the lines and angles and running his opponent all over the court, the Thai left our player with no chance of a comeback. 1-6, 6-2, 6-3 in 1 hour 51 minutes.
Thailand, trailing 0-2, leveled the score. In the decisive match, Skatov and Jones will take the court. Their encounter will determine the winner of the tie.