I

ndonesia ended up 0-3 down to Japan after Christopher Rungkat and Elbert Sie’s resistance against Tatsumo Ito and Yasutaka Uchiyama collapsed in the men’s doubles in their Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Group 1 encounter in Tokyo on Saturday.

Indonesia, who trailed 0-2 after it lost both its singles matches on Friday, had the chance to reduce the gap but Christopher and Elbert failed to capitalize.

They led 2-1 after three sets and needed only one more set to win the game when, for some reason, their form began to desert them. They were beaten 4-6, 7-5, 6-2, 5-7, 2-6.

Team captain Bonit Wiryawan said that Christopher and Elbert provided a real challenge for the Japanese pair.

“I’m satisfied with their performance. They narrowly missed out. They should have won the match,” Bonit said as quoted by Antara news agency.

“They should have been able to capitalize on the moment [fourth set]. What a rueful turnaround it was,” he said.

Japan won the singles matches on Friday, with Tatsumo beating Christopher 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 and Go Soeda defeating Wisnu Adi Nugroho 6-0, 6-0, 6-1.

The players from both sides will swap opponents on Sunday, although the matches will not affect the overall results, as the host nation already has an unassailable 3-0 lead.