Davis Cup: Ramkumar, Sumit beat Pakistan on day one

India raced to a 2-0 lead in their Davis Cup tie as Ramkumar Ramanathan and Sumit Nagal toyed with their teen rivals from Pakistan, at Nur-Sultan yesterday.

Ramkumar double-bageled 17-year-old Muhammed Shoaib in just 42 minutes in the opening singles.

Sumit Nagal then earned his first-ever Davis Cup win, beating Hufaiza Mohammed Rehman 6-0, 6-2 in the second singles.

Pakistan badly missed its top players who pulled out, protesting against shifting of the matches to a neutral venue.

Veteran Leander Paes and



debutant Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan will now look to seal the tie when they clash with Hufaiza and Shoaib in the doubles rubber today.

India have never lost a tie to Pakistan in six meetings so far and the trend does not look like changing. A win tomorrow will stretch Paes' record for the most number of doubles wins in Davis Cup history. He is leading the chart with 43 wins.  

The winner of the tie will travel to Croatia for the World Group Qualifiers, to be held on 6th and 7th of March next year.