Capital stroll for India!

Sasikumar Mukund returns to Togo’s Liova Ajavon during their Davis Cup World Group I playoff match in New Delhi on Saturday. Pic/PTI; (right) India’s Ramkumar Ramanathan. Pic/AP; PTI

Sasikumar Mukund returned to Davis Cup action with a fluent straight-set victory while Ramkumar Ramanathan hardly broke a sweat in his match as an untroubled India took a 2-0 lead in the World Group I play-off tie against Togo, here Saturday.

No resistance offered

There was not even a semblance of resistance from the players of the African nation, making it a pretty dull contest, watched by about 1500 fans.

The opening match of the tie went on expected lines with Liova Ayite Ajavon, languishing outside the top-1000, lacking ammunition to test the 365th ranked Mukund in his home conditions.

The 28-year-old Indian needed just one hour and 15 minutes to walk away with a 6-2 6-1 win in the opening singles at the DLTA Complex.

"We played unforced error-free tennis for the most part. I'm really happy with myself, with the way I handled the whole situation. I think I saw a lot of maturity in myself compared to before," Mukund said at the end of opening day.

"So, even though the nerves were there, my legs were holding up. So, if I had to battle it out for three hours, I was happy to do it and I had the mental composure also right from the morning," he added.

Ramkumar then overpowered Togo number one Thomas Setodji 6-0 6-2 in the second singles which got over in just 50 minutes.

It seemed that Setodji, ranked 1256, was not at his best as he struggled to put the ball across the net. His right arm taped above and below the elbow, Setodji's returns lacked sting as he made high number of unforced errors. His returns mostly fell on net or flew over the lines.

Setodji's unforced errors

Ramkumar lost just one point on his serve in the opening set, making high quality serves while Setodji struggled to contain his unforced errors. He netted most of his returns that kept the points short.

With 2-0 lead in the pocket, N Sriram Balaji and Rithvik Choudary Bollipalli will look to seal India's place in the World Group I by winning the third rubber on Sunday.

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