India's Ramkumar Ramanathan lost the opening match of the Davis Cup tennis tournament to Spain's Feliciano Lopez in New Delhi on Friday. The 21-year-old went down 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 1-6, as he was outclassed by his opponent's steady returns. Spain took a 1-0 lead in the tie as a result.
Ramanathan had an excellent start as Lopez chose to attack the net over striking the ball behind the baseline. After going down in the first game, the shaken 34-year-old clinched a series of games to head into the lead.
Lopez took the first set 6-4 and easily won the first two games of the second with his delicate backhand strokes leaving the Indian with no answer on a couple of occasions. Refused to be bogged down, Ramanathan made a spirited comeback in the set, smashing a few excellent returns to earn two points.
The world No. 203 came into his own in the third set and struck a couple of excellent down-the-line returns. The wiry Indian was also getting the better of Lopez in the long rallies and during his serves to win the set 6-3 and take the match into the fourth set. Lopez upped his game in the fourth set. His returns were excellent, and the Indian could do very little as the Spaniard won 6-1 took the match.
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