New Delhi: As expected Spain completed a clean sweep against India in the Davis Cup World Group playoff as David Ferrer defeated Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-1, 6-1 in the second reverse singles rubber.
World number 13 Ferrer was all over the inexperienced Ramkumar as he never gave the youngster a chance in the entire match. The Spaniard chose to attack Ramkumar’s backhand which was his weakness.
The first set saw both the players lose serve within the first three games but Ferrer broke Ramkumar thrice and only lost serve once to win the first set 6-2 in 31 minutes after Ramkumar netted a backhand slice.
Ramkumar, who is ranked 190 places below Ferrer in the world rankings, was broken twice again in the second set as Ferrer wrapped up the set in 39 minutes.
Earlier, Sumit Nagal did raise some expectation of winning the first reverse singles as he won the second set to level the score at 1-1 against Marc Lopez. But Lopez brought the best in him to take the next set 6-3 and win the singles for Spain.
Spain, who had already taken a 3-0 lead to ensure progress to the World Group, decided to field Lopez in the first reverse singles instead of Feliciano Lopez. Nagal squandered four break points in the first set, which ultimately cost him as he struggled with his fitness in the third set after winning the second easily.
Lopez won six games in a row in the third set after trailing 0-3 as Nagal struggled with stomach cramps. The first set saw only one break of serve – Nagal’s in the second game. The rest of the set was played out on serve as Lopez won 6-3 with a backhand volley after 43 minutes.
The 19 year-old Nagal, who was playing in his first Davis Cup match, fought back in the second set and broke Lopez in the fourth and sixth games to clinch the set 6-1 in 26 minutes.
Lopez, who no longer plays singles on the ATP tour, was broken in the first and third games of the third set but Nagal took a prolonged medical time out in the second game at deuce after what looked like a bout of stomach cramps. That seemed to affect Nagal, as he attempted a bizarre drop shot at 40-15 in the fourth game that changed the momentum of the set. Lopez won six games in a row to win the set 6-3.