AGENCIES
PUNE
India defeated New Zealand 4-1 in Asian Oceania Group 1 Davis Cup tie here on Sunday. Following the win, India will now take on Uzbekistan in the second round of the Asia-Oceania Group I in April.
Ramkumar Ramanathan and Yuki Bhambri won their respective reverse singles matches to hand India a comfortable victory at the Balewadi Sports Complex here. Ramanathan outplayed Tearney in straight sets 7-5, 6-1, 6-0 while Bhambri edged past Jose Statham 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 to seal the spot in the second round.
The first set was evenly contested but it was Ramanathan who proved superior and defeated the Kiwi 7-5. The second and third games witnessed Ramanathan at his best. He outclassed his opponent in every department of the game.
In the second match, Statham put up a fight to the Indian player but eventually surrendered the first set 5-7. The 24-year-old Indian player made a good comeback in the first set, winning four games on the trot to come back from 2-5 down and win the set 7-5. In the second set, Statham bounced back in style with some swift court movements to beat Bhambri 6-3. In the decider, the Indian player pressurised the 29-year-old right from the start. He played some quality game to clinch the set 6-3.
Earlier, Bhambri and Ramanathan both won their men's singles matches to give India a crucial 2-0 lead against the visitors on Friday. After that, Leander Paes and Vishnu Vardhan went down in the third rubber to Artem Sitak and Michael Venus on Saturday.
