Ramkumar Ramanathan and Sumit Nagal gave India a 2-0 lead in the Davis Cup tie on Friday by teaching their Pakistani rivals a tough lesson in tennis. The singles matches were completely unilateral. In the first match, Ramkumar defeated 17-year-old Mohammad Shoaib 6–0, 6–0 in just 42 minutes. Only Shoaib was able to present a slight challenge in the sixth game of the second set when he drew Ramkumar to two deuce points. Nagal then recorded his first win in the Davis Cup. In the second singles, he defeated Hufaija Mohammad Rahman 6–0, 6–2 in a 64-minute match.
Pakistan lacked its top players, who withdrew in protest to have this match in neutral position. While there was no match in the first match, in the second match, young Pakistani player Hufaija tried to engage Nagal in as long rallies as possible.
In the second game of the second set twice, he drew the Nagle Deuce points and won the third game and wrote a game in the name of Pakistan for the first time. However, this only increased the wait for Nagal to win and he won the match in the eighth game. Veteran Leander Paes and Jeevan Neduchezian will now take on Huffaiza and Shoaib in the doubles match on Saturday.
India has never lost to Pakistan in six matches so far and it is likely to continue. The win on Saturday would put Paes Davis on his world record of winning the most doubles matches in Cup history. He is currently at the top with 43 wins. The winner of this match will take on Croatia in the World Cup qualifiers to be played on March 6 and 7 next year.
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