Three-time runners-up India were knocked out of the Davis Cup 2026 after losing their second-round qualifiers to South Korea 1-3 in Seoul on Saturday.
N Sriram Balaji and Dhakshineswar Suresh briefly gave India hopes of a comeback after winning their doubles rubber before Sumit Nagal’s defeat in the singles gave South Korea an unassailable lead and a spot in the Final 8. The loss means India will now compete in the first round of the 2027 Davis Cup Qualifiers.
Starting the day 2-0 down after Dhakshineswar Suresh and Sumit Nagal lost their opening singles rubbers on Friday, India kept their hopes alive by winning the first doubles rubber.
Balaji and Suresh keep India hopes alive
World No. 49 in doubles N Sriram Balaji and Dhakshineswar Suresh kept India in the contest with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 victory over South Korea’s Nam Ji-sung and Park Ui-sung.
The Indians made an early breakthrough in the opening set, breaking their opponents in the fourth game, only to surrender their serve in the next.
However, Sriram Balaji and Dhakshineswar Suresh responded with another break in the sixth game and then held serve to take the opening set.
Nam Ji-sung and Park Ui-sung fought back in the second set, breaking the Indians in the sixth game before holding serve to force a decider.
The deciding set remained on serve until the eighth game, when Balaji and Suresh secured an all-important break and then held their serve to close out the contest and keep India’s hopes alive.
Sumit falls to Kwon Soon-woo
Any hopes of an Indian comeback, however, were soon extinguished as 157th-ranked Kwon Soon-woo sealed the tie for South Korea by defeating the country’s top-ranked singles tennis player Sumit Nagal 6-1, 6-2.
In the first set, world No. 247 Sumit Nagal held serve in the opening game but was broken in each of the next three as Kwon Soon-woo raced to take the opener.
The second set was more evenly contested but Sumit Nagal was broken again in the sixth and eighth games as Kwon Soon-woo closed out the match and secured a spot in the Davis Cup Final 8 in Bologna, Italy, in November.
India have finished as Davis Cup runners-up three times, in 1966, 1974 and 1987, but are yet to reach the Final 8 under the current format.
