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 Asia|Oceania group I Davis Cup tie against South Korea here on Friday.
It seemed bizarre but both Ramkumar and Myneni saw their opponents conceding when the Indians were serving for their respective matches.
The 21-year-old Ramkumar, ranked 217, put the hosts ahead in his Davis Cup debut when Seong Chan Hong conceded the first singles due to cramps in his right thigh as the Indian was serving for the match.
After battling hard for two hours and 36 minutes, Ramkumar was leading 6-3, 2-6, 6-3, 6-5 (15-15) when Hong suddenly clenched his right thigh and grimaced in pain, bringing about a sudden end to the match at the Chandigarh Club.
Since the 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 the knee height.
However, the surface improved when Myneni played as the ball was bouncing a lot better. The onus to bring Korea back was on the most experienced player of the side, Yong-Kyu lim, but Myneni dashed their hopes with a 6-1, 3-6, 6-4, 3-6, 5-2 win to set India up nicely.
lim 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 28-year-old Myneni, who played his first ever five-setter, threw his jersey and punched the air, to celebrate his victory. His teammates lifted him on the shoulders, acknowledging the grit showed in a tough contest. 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.
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.
Rohan Bopanna and leander Paes will look to wrap up the tie when they face Hong Chung and Yunseong Chung on Saturday.
Myneni made a dominating start by sealing the first set in no time as he broke lim twice to race to a 5-1 lead. True to his game, the lanky Myneni served extremely well, hardly conceded points on his serve and wrapped up the first set quickly.
lim though managed to raise his game and matched Myneni’s level from the second set onwards. It was 4-3 when the 25-year-old Korean capitalised on Myneni’s double faults to get crucial break and levelled the match in the next game.
A flurry of unforced errors meant that Myneni was now facing three breakpoints in the opening game of the third set. He was broken at love and India had reasons for concern.
Much to the relief of the home camp though, lim served a double fault at 30-40 in the fourth game as Myneni neutralised the break. lim staved off three breakpoints in the eighth game that saw five deuce points being fought off by the two players.
lim managed to hold that but suffered reversal in the 10th. lim’s attempted lob went long, giving Myneni his first set point, but the Indian netted a backhand on that. Myneni found a forehand winner to earn his second set point and converted on lim’s unforced error.
lim refused to throw in the towel and kept fighting. He broke Myneni in the fifth game to create a mini lead.
He broke lim in the very first game that was followed by a long toilet break. Myneni played some smart tennis by keeping the points short with his big serve.
The Korean again lost serve in the fifth game and when lim fell on his back when Myneni was serving for the match in the seventh game, he could not recover from this bout of cramps.