Davis Cup: Sumit Nagal and Ramkumar Ramanathan beaten as Spain blank India
Spain have beaten India 5-0 in the Davis Cup World Group playoff after Marc Lopez beat Sumit Nagal and David Ferrer dismantled Ramkumar Ramanathan in the reverse singles tonight. It marked the end of a dismal tie for India, who would have expected to win at least 1 match in the tie.
After Leander Paes and Saketh Myneni lost the doubles tie on Saturday, India had fallen 3-0 behind, rendering the 2 reverse singles inconsequential.
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But Sumit Nagal showed plenty of spunk in the first tie against Marc Lopez and won the 2nd set before injuring his ribs at the start of the 3rd. Subsequently, he lost the set and the match 6-3, 1-6, 6-3. In the 2nd game of the night, Ramkumar Ramanathan who had pushed Feliciano Lopez to 4 sets on the opening day was brutally dismantled by David Ferrer in straight sets to seal an emphatic 6-2, 6-2 victory.
Nagal gives Lopez a run for his money
India opted to field Sumit Nagal in the first tie of the night rather than going with Saketh Myneni against Marc Lopez who is more known for his doubles game. But he started extremely well and broke Nagal early on to go 2-0 up.
Both players went full throttle at each other from the baseline but the Spaniard was always in charge of the first set. Lopez promptly closed out the first set 6-3 without much incidents.
Sumit started the 2nd set confidently and broke the Spaniard’s serve in the 4th game to go up 3-1. He was not done yet. The 19-year-old showcased impressive resilience to break Lopez again and took a commanding 5-1 lead in the 2nd set. He proceeded to hold his serve with ease and took the set 6-1.
With confidence seeping through his game, Sumit went on to break Lopez in the first game of the 3rd set and looked set for an upset. Unfortunately, in the next game, Sumit injured his ribs while going for a drive volley to save a break point and had to call for a medical timeout.
He managed to get back up and held his serve and then broke Lopez again to go 3-0 up. But it was apparent that Nagal was struggling with his ribs. His movement was restricted and Lopez took full toll by winning 6 straight games to take the match 6-3, 1-6, 6-3.
But to the credit of the teenager, he displayed grit to push an experienced campaigner to the limit.
Ramkumar no match for Ferrer
The 2nd match of the night featured 21-year-old Ramkumar Ramanathan who found himself playing against David Ferrer. The 34-year-old Spaniard was in no mood to ease off though the tie was inconsequential. He started the 1st set by breaking Ramkumar in the 2nd game and went up 2-0.
But a double fault saw the Indian break back to get back on serve at 1-2. But Ferrer gained his composure back and took his inexperienced opponent apart to take the first set 6-2.
Though the Indian played better tennis at the start of the 2nd set, Ferrer’s quality began to tell soon enough. Ferrer broke the Indian to go 4-2 up and then proceeded to hold his serve. Ramkumar, needing to hold to stay in the match, was broken again by Ferrer who completed a 6-2, 6-2 demolition and in the process gave Spain a 5-0 win.