NUR-SULTAN: A ruthless India raced to a 2-0 lead in their Davis Cup tie for the loss of just two games as Ramkumar Ramanathan and Sumit Nagal toyed with their teen rivals from Pakistan yesterday.
In a mismatch of epic proportion, Ramkumar double-bageled 17-year-old Muhammad Shoaib in just 42 minutes in the opening singles match. The only time Shoaib made it look like a match was in the sixth game of the second set when he stretched Ramkumar to two deuce points.
Nagal then earned his first-ever Davis Cup win, beating Huzaifa Abdul Rehman 6-0, 6-2 in the second singles match which lasted 64 minutes.
Pakistan badly missed its top players who pulled out, protesting against shifting of the matches to a neutral venue.
“I gave my best in every point. We are happy with 2-0 on the first day. Now we are looking forward to see Jee (Jeevan) and Leander fire some bombs tomorrow. Let’s get the job done,” said Ramkumar, who also thanked fans who had gathered to support them.
While the first match was not even a contest, promising Pakistani youngster Hufaiza resisted Nagal as much as possible by engaging the Indian in long rallies.
Twice he pushed Nagal to deuce points in the second game of the second set and finally put Pakistan on board by holding the third game after squandering four game points.
&uuid=(email))