Davis Cup: Feliciano Lopez downs fighting Ramkumar

Spain’s Feliciano Lopez en route to his 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 win over Ramkumar Ramanathan in their first singles rubber of the Davis Cup World Group playoff at RK Khanna Stadium in New Delhi on Friday. (Photo: Biplab Banerjee)

As expected, Spain began their campaign on a strong note taking a 2-0 lead against India on the opening day of their Davis Cup World Group playoff tie at the RK Khanna Stadium here on Friday.

Home boy Ramkumar Ramanathan punched above his weight but could not get past the experienced Feliciano Lopez in the first singles rubber. Lopez won 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 in more than two hours.

The second singles rubber was a lop-sided affair with David Ferrer easing past Saketh Myneni 6-1, 6-2, 6-1.

It was heartbreak for the Indian audience when it was announced at the start of the day that Rafael Nadal has pulled out of the first rubber with a nagging wrist injury but 21-year-old Ramanathan’s show on the day won him many hearts and made sure that the full house experienced some entertaining tennis.

“Last night it was decided that I will play the match. Rafa was not 100 per cent ready to play the opening rubber. He was struggling with his wrist for the last couple of weeks. He played through the pain at the US Open and so he didn’t want to aggravate it further. There are still two more days to go in the tie,” Lopez said. The disparity between the players was huge with Lopez ranked world no. 26 while Ramanathan was way down at 202. But the latter gave a good fight to stop the match from being a lop-sided one.

The first set saw four games go with serve, but in the fifth, two backhand errors from Ramanathan cost him the game. Lopez then went on to hold serve for a 4-2 lead.

The gritty Ramanathan was always close on Lopez’s heels and held his next two service games. Lopez, though, did not waste much time and used his cross court shots to spool four points in a row to close out the first set.

The second set was relatively easy for Lopez as he took less than 30 minutes to demolish the Indian but in the third, Ramanathan cut down on his errors and upped the ante. The set went with serve till the seventh game but the home boy broke the Spaniard in the next for a 5-3 lead and held on to take the set. In the fourth set, the Spaniard went ahead with a service break in the second game and raced to a 3-0 lead.

Lopez clinched another break in the sixth game to increase his lead and wrapped up the match by holding serve. “I will take the positive from the match. Training in Barcelona made me mentally stronger to play big matches like the one here,” Ramanathan said.

Nadal up for doubles rubber After missing the first days’ play, Nadal could be back for the doubles rubber with Marc Lopez. “There is a very good chance of Nadal to play the doubles rubber against Leander Paes and Saketh Myneni but the final decision will be taken tomorrow only,” Lopez hinted.