Ramkumar Ramanathan, Yuki help India Take 2-0 Lead Against Denmark

NEW DELHI: India got off to a strong start against Denmark in the Davis Cup World Group Playoff 1 tie with Ramkumar Ramanathan and Yuki Bhambri a comprehensive 2-0 lead at the Delhi Gymkhana Club here on Friday

Ramkumar set the stage with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Denmark's Christian Sigsgaard in the first singles before Bhambri tamed Mikael Torpegaard 6-4, 6-4 to give India a brilliant start in the two-day match.

The match between Bhambri and Torpegaard enthralled the Indian fans at the DGC after the Indian ranked World No. 590 displayed some wonderful groundstrokes early on, while the 305th-ranked Torpegaard took little time to acclimatise to the pace and bounce of the courts. The Indian player won the match in straight sets against the 27-year-old Torpegaard in 1 hour 27 minutes.

Bhambri made full use of his home advantage and was aggressive from the beginning. He started the match with the opening serve and both players held onto their serve till 4-4 in the first set. However, things changed when Torpegaard could not hold onto his serve in the ninth game. This allowed Bhambri to take a 5-4 lead. In the next game, he did not give any points to Torpegaard and took the first set with a perfect slice at the net.

In the second set, Bhambri who smashed only 3 aces, displayed his 'slice and touch' skills on the net while Torpegaard, who was struggling with his first serve, made two double faults. The 27-year-old Torpegaard was trying very hard to hit more aces but in the process, he served seven double faults. However, he managed to save two match points in the last game, but in the end, he gave up and lost the match.

Earlier in the first singles, Ramkumar gave India a perfect start after defeating lowly-ranked Christian Sigsgaard in the first singles, 6-3, 6-2 in just 59 minutes. World No. 170, Ramkumar was at his best from the first game, breaking the service of his 24-year-old opponent regularly and grabbing points with ease.

The 27-year-old Ramkumar caught the world No. 824 Christian off-guard from the beginning and took the lead in the very first game. He raced to 5-2 in no time and sealed the first set with a beautifully-crafted backhand stroke.

In the second set, both players held their serves, but Ramkumar, who hit five aces during the match, broke the Dane in the third game and took a 2-1 lead. After that, the winner of the Adelaide trophy this year broke Christian's serve two times in a row, and completely took control of the match.

Christian tried hard to come back into the match, but Ramkumar did not give him many opportunities and won the second set with an ace. IANS

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