Barkat ullah

Davis Cup World Group: Ramkumar Ramanathan and N. Sriram Balaji won their respective matches in contrasting styles as India took a commanding 2-0 lead over Pakistan in the Davis Cup World Group I Playoffs, First Round encounter here on Saturday.

Pakistan has chosen the grass courts of the Pakistan Sports Complex, Islamabad, hoping that its seasoned players Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi and Aqeel Khan will capitalise on that surface against the Indian singles players who prefer hard courts.

The plan seemed to be working as Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi won the first set against Ramkumar Ramanathan in a tiebreaker and went neck-and-neck with the higher-ranked Indian in the second. But in the end, those hopes did not materialise as Ramkumar fought back to win the next two sets and won the match. Sriram Balaji