India News, Lillehammer (Norway) India go down 0-3 : India’s campaign in the Davis Cup came to a disappointing end as they went down 0-3 against Norway in the World Group-I tie here on Saturday.
India who came into day two of the tie needing a miracle to turn things around the hosts stumbled at the first roadblock itself as their doubles pair of Yuki Bhambi and Saketh Myneni went down to the combination of World No.2 Casper Ruud and Viktor Durasovic3-6, 6-3,3-6 in a match that lasted for one hour and 50 minutes to end India’s hopes of making it to the World Group Qualifiers.
After losing both the singles, lot rode on the pair of Yuki and Saketh and they did keep India afloat but the Norwegian proved just too good on the day. With Norway now taking an unassailable 3-0 lead, rendering the next two reverse singles null and void.
Under pressure, India did not have the best of the starts in the match as they were broken on the very first serve to go 0-2 down. However, broke back in the next and held their second serve of the set to draw parity.
But Ruud and Durasovic did not lose their calm and broke free from here to race ahead to open 5-2 lead. With their task out, the Indian combination pulled one back but did not make much difference as Norway easily pocketed the opening set to seize the momentum.
They came out rejuvenated in the second set and much against the run of play started dominating the Norwegians. Ruud and Durasovic seemed completely dazed and India took the set by the scruff of the neck. They dished out a spectacle much to the delight of Indian fans and won the second game to take the match into the decider.
With the match hanging in balance, India could not maintain their tempo in third and went down to end India’s misery in Norway.
Earlier on day one, India suffered heartbreak as they lost both their singles rubber with Prajnesh Gunneswaran losing the opening match against World no. 2 Casper Ruud, while Ramkumar Ramanathan was handed a defeat by Viktor Durasovic.
Both the players lost by an identical margin of 1-6, 4-6
In the first match, Prajnesh Gunneswaran, ranked 335, struggled against world No. 2 Casper Ruud and went down in one hour and two minutes.
Casper Ruud, the US Open finalist, won the first five games in the first set. Needing something special to avoid a bagel (6-0), Prajnesh Gunneswaran pulled off two aces in the sixth game to get on the scoreboard but couldn’t avoid going down eventually.
Gunneswaran gave a better account of himself in the second set. Though broken twice, the Indian stayed in the hunt till the ninth game, trailing 5-4. Ruud converted his first match point in the next game to help Norway draw the first blood.
Up next was Ramkumar Ramanathan, India’s highest-ranked men’s singles player at 275. He was a strong favourite against world No. 325 Viktor Durasovic but he could live up to his reputation and went down to Durasovic in a match that lasted for one hour and 16 minutes.
Ramanathan held his serve in the second game but was broken twice soon after. Durasovic’s five aces in the first set made it more difficult for India’s top-ranked player to mount a comeback.
Both the players had their shares in the final set but it was Durasovic’s solid service game which saw him hit seven aces made the difference.
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