Davis Cup: India trail 0-2 vs China as Ramkumar & Nagal suffer shock defeats

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Ramkumar Ramanathan lost the first singles 6-7(4), 4-6 against Yibing Wu of China.

XtraTime Web Desk: India is staring at losing a Davis Cup tie in the zonal competition since 2013 after a shocking opening day results against China following loses to Ramkumar Ramanathan and Sumit Nagal. Ramkumar lost the first singles 6-7(4), 4-6 against Yibing Wu while Sumit Nagal too lost in straight sets 4-6, 1-6 to Ze Zhang.

The Indians definitely missed the service of in-form Yuki Bhambri who was forced to withdraw the tie due to abdomen injury.

Terming the result as shocking, India’s non-playing captain Mahesh Bhupathi said, “It was disappointing display by both. No hunger, no fight and no aggression.”

India have managed to win a Davis Cup tie from being down 0-2 only once. It was in 2010 when India beat Brazil in Chennai with Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi winning the doubles and then Somdev Devvarman and Rohan Bopanna producing thrilling victories on the last day.

All eyes will be on Leander Paes as he is in front of creating a world record of most doubles win in Davis Cup. 44 year old Paes is tied on 42 wins with Italian great Nicola Pietrangeli.

The veteran Davis Cupper will pair Rohan Bopanna in a do or die rubber against Mao-Xin Gong and Di Wu on Saturday.

The last time India lost a tie at the Asia/Oceania level was in February 2013 when all the top players, led by Somdev, had boycotted the contest against Korea and the depleted Indian side lost 1-4 in New Delhi.

The last time India competed in the elite 16-nation World Group was in 2011 when it lost to Serbia in an away first round tie.