Advantage India
Ramkumar, Saketh win as hosts take 2- 0 lead over South Korea on opening day
Chandigarh, July 15: Saketh Myneni and Ramkumar Ramanathan endured challenging conditions to wear down their spirited rivals as India took a comfortable 2- 0 lead on the opening day of the AsiaOceania Group I Davis Cup tie against South Korea here on Friday.
Ramkumar and Myneni saw their opponents concede when they were serving for their respective matches.
The 21- year- old Ramkumar, ranked 217, put the hosts ahead on his Davis Cup debut when Seong Chan Hong conceded the first singles due to cramps in his right thigh.
After battling hard for two hours and 36 minutes, Ramkumar was leading 6- 3, 2- 6, 6- 3, 6- 5 ( 15- 15) when Seong suddenly clenched his right thigh and grimaced in pain, bringing a sudden end to the match at the Chandigarh Club.
S i n c e rain has been lashing the city for the past few days, it made the grass soggy. The surface was dry but it turned out to be a dead court where the ball hardly rose to knee height.
However, the surface improved when Myneni came on. The onus to bring Korea back was on their most experienced player, Yong- Kyu Lim, but Myneni dashed their hopes with a 61, 3- 6, 6- 4, 3- 6, 5- 2 win to set India up nicely.
Yong conceded the match when Myneni was 15- 15 and serving for the match in the eighth game. It was after the two players fought tooth and nail for three hours and nine minutes.
The second singles was littered with medical timeouts and a long toilet break as both players started to struggle with cramps from the fourth set onwards.
Myneni, who has a high sweat rate, was fighting a battle with himself too as he struggled to stand but endured the torrid time to come out triumphant.
The hot and humid conditions tested fitness of the players even as the Koreans negotiated the grass courts, on which they hardly play, quite well. They had done their homework and made life tough for both Ramkumar and Myneni.
Surprisingly, it was the Koreans who approached the net more than the Indians, who are far more accustomed to playing on grass including the run- up to Wimbledon.
Rohan Bopanna and Leander Paes will look to wrap up the tie when they face Hong Chung and Yunseong Chung on Saturday.