Ramkumar, Prajnesh lose, India down 2-0 vs Serbia
Ramkumar Ramanathan gave his all before losing while Prajnesh Gunneswaran squandered chances galore in his match as India conceded a 0-2 lead in the World Group Play-off tie against Serbia here on Friday.
Ramkumar battled hard but it was not enough to stop Laslo Djere from winning his first Davis Cup match. The Indian lost 6-3, 4-6, 6-7(2), 2-6 after intense three hour and 11 minutes on the indoor clay courts at Kraljevo Sports Venue.
Djere, ranked 86, had lost both his Davis Cup matches before clashing with Ramkumar, ranked 135.
The onus to bring India back was on Prajnesh but the lefthander frittered away many break opportunities to lose 4-6 3-6, 4-6 to number 56 Dusan Lajovic in one hour and 57 minutes.
Prajnesh had nine break points but converted only two.
For the tie to stay alive, Rohan Bopanna and N Sriram Balaji must defeat Nikola Milojevic and Danilo Petrovic in the doubles rubber on Saturday.
In the absence of reigning US Open Champion Novak Djokovic and injured Filip Krajinovic, the Indian players were expected to win at least one rubber on the opening day.
Ramkumar pulled away in the opening set with a break of serve in the sixth game. The Indian was solid with his returns from the baseline while Djere faltered on the second break point, sending
KRALJEVO:
a forehand return long.
An easy hold in the next put Ramkumar ahead 5-2. He served out the set in the ninth game when Djere hit a backhand wide.
Ramkumar charged to the net several times, as he has been doing of late, in the second set and got a few points.
Djere curtailed his errors and led 3-2. Before that happened, Serbian captain Nenad Zimonjic argued with the chair umpire for overturning a call from the linesman, who called fault on Ramkumar’s first serve at 40-30 in the fourth game.
The chair umpire checked the spot where the ball landed when Ramkumar protested and awarded him an ace. Serving at 4-5, Ramkumar could not pick up a half-volley and netted a backhand slice to hand two set points to Djere. He served a double fault to put the match on even keel.
POUILLE PUTS FRANCE ON BRINK OF FINAL
Pouille dug deep to deny Roberto Bautista-Agut in five sets to give France both points on the opening day of their semi-final against Spain on Friday.
The French No 1 fought back from losing the first set to see off the Spaniard 3-6, 7-6, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 at Lille’s Stade Pierre-Mauroy.
He took to the court with the hosts and defending champions already off the mark after Benoit Paire enjoyed a dream Davis Cup debut with a 7-5, 6-1, 6-0 defeat of Pablo Carreno Busta in Friday’s opening rubber.
His win, with Paire doubling up, leaves France 2-0 and heading for a final against either Croatia or the United States.
VILLENEUVE-D’ASCQ(FRANCE):Lucas