India vs Pakistan Davis Cup 2024 Day 1 Result: Ramkumar Ramanathan, Sriram Balaji Give India 2-0 Lead

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India vs Pakistan Davis Cup 2024 Day 1 Result: India took a 2-0 lead on the opening day of the best-of-five Davis Cup 2024 World Group I play-off tie against Pakistan in Islamabad on Sunday (February 3).

Ramkumar Ramanathan saw off a fight from Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi 6-7 (3/7), 7-6 (7/4), 6-0 before Sriram Balaji defeated Aqeel Khan in straight sets 7-5, 6-3 in a rain-marred second singles match.

Ramkumar Ramanathan was made to work hard for his win by Aisham. The first set turned out to be an even affair with none of the players coming close to breaking the serve. Aisham showed his experience in the tie breaker to notch the set up. Ramkumar Ramanathan responded well in the second set by breaking the serve early.

His joy was short-lived as Aisham broke his serve soon to level the score. The second game was stretched into the tiebreaker too. However, Ramkumar only grew confident as the match progressed and pulled up a gap in the second tiebreaker to level the scores at 1-1.

The third set ended in no time as Aisham-Ul-Haq called for a medical timeout. He was never the same player as Ramkumar Ramanathan took the final set a bagel (6-0).

The second match started with Aqeel Khan dominating his serve while putting some pressure on Balaji as the first set progressed. However, Balaji, while leading 6-5, broke the serve of Aqeel to take the first set 7-5. This was immediately followed by a rain interruption, delaying Sriram Balaji's by more than an hour. The Indian eventually came back to win the second set 6-3 as Aqeel struggled to dominate his own serve against a much younger opponent.

February 3 (Day 1) Match Schedule/Result
Singles 1: Ramkumar Ramanathan defeated Aisham-ul-Haq Qureshi 6-7 (3/7), 7-6 (7/4), 6-0
Singles 2: N Sriram Balaji defeated Aqeel Khan 7-5, 6-3

February 4 (Day 2) Schedule
Doubles: Muzammil Murtaza/Barkatullah vs Yuki Bhambri/Saketh Myneni
Singles 1: Aqeel Khan vs Ramkumar Ramanathan
Singles 2: Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi vs N.Sriram Balaji