South Korea's hopes for survival in the Asia/Oceania Group 1 in the Davis Cup are hanging by a thread again as the national team suffered a defeat to Uzbekistan in its first-round playoff match in Gimcheon, North Gyeongsang Province.
Following Friday's losses in both of the singles matches, Kim Hyun-joon and Kim Young-joon went down 5-7, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 to Murad Inoyatov and Denis Isotomin in the doubles on Saturday to confirm its downfall in the best-of-five series.
Failure to take advantage of a critical chance cost the Kim-Kim pair dearly in the end. Trailing 5-3 in the fourth set, they had a chance to break the Uzbeks' serve in the ninth game, but ended up conceding four straight points to end the match.
Earlier, Lim Yong-kyu lost to Denis Isotomin and Kim Young-joon was beaten by and Farrukh Dustov, both in four sets.
Korea will play the defeated team of the Taiwan-the Philippines series in September, with the losing side relegated to Asia/Oceania Group 2.
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