A gritty Ramkumar Ramanathan showed stomach for fight before Saketh Myneni had a taste of world class tennis as India trailed 0-2 after losing both the singles matches on the opening day of Davis Cup World Group Play-off tie against mighty Spain here on Friday.
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The tie between India and Spain is scheduled to take place on 16 September at the New Delhi, India.
There is no doubt that Leander Paes has had a remarkable Davis Cup career – in keeping with his status as one of the world’s best doubles players in the past two decades – but that alone may not be sufficient for India to challenge Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez, French Open champions and US Open semifinalists this year.
After Leander Paes and Saketh Myneni lost the doubles tie on Saturday, India had fallen 3-0 behind, rendering the 2 reverse singles inconsequential.
There was no mistake from Nadal, or Lopez, when it came to that particular aspect and Spain ensured they would return to the World Group, where the 14-time Grand Slam champion believes his team belong.
Nadal dropped serve at love with a double fault in the second game of the third set as Paes produced some exceptional returns in that game. The atmosphere is great here and it is a good feeling to play in front of a big crowd.
With the win, Spain took an unassailable lead of 3-0 to enter the World Group.
“Just goes to show how much we have to improve to compete with Spain or other teams”. The old warhorse was playing in his 54th Davis Cup tie and was just one win shy of becoming the most successful doubles player in the history of the competition.
The young Indian was graceful in a 4-6 4-6 6-3 1-6 defeat against world number 26 Lopez in the match that lasted two hours and 26 minutes.
The Spanish duo were also run in close in the second set but a crucial break in the 10th game proved to be a turning point for the visitors. They forced as many as three break points in the long and fiercely contested seventh game before breaking Myneni’s serve and reduce the deficit to 3-4. As the match seemed to be heading into the fifth set, the Spaniards fought back and won the set 6-4.
He earned another break off the next serve and held on to the advantage to pocket the set.
Lopez was playing only his second singles match in a Davis Cup tie.
The next two sets followed a similar script as the Spaniard scripted a comfortable win. However, Nadal’s serve was broken immediately in the fourth set to give the Indians a 2-0 lead. “It’s important for us to come back to where we think we have to be”.
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“The humidity was such that I felt my lungs choking in the third set”, said Nagal after the match.
