India took an unassailable 3-1 lead in their Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Group I first-round clash against New Zealand in Pune on Sunday after Ramkumar Ramanthan defeated Finn Tearney 7-5, 6-1, 6-0 in the first of the reverse single rubbers.
The first set was contested evenly with both players holding serve. Ramkumar Ramanthan’s big serves kept him in good stead as the world No. 276 saved three break points in the fourth game and went 3-2 up. On the other hand, Tearney’s volley game helped him stay in the contest as he saved three break points as well to keep the game at 4-4.
With Ramanathan 6-5 up, the 414th-ranked Kiwi lost his head completely, serving double fault after double fault to give the 22-year-old from Chennai the break and the first set.
The second set started with both the players winning a game each. But Ramanathan had a tough battle on his hands in the third game where after a protracted match involving plenty of deuces, the 22-year-old finally managed to go 2-1 up. Tearney played a bad game after that gifting points on a platter and Ramanathan took the key break point to lead 3-1. The 22-year-old from Chennai quickly capitalised and played some booming shots in the next two matches to extend the lead to 5-1. There were no mistakes as he wrapped up the set in the last game 6-1 with his big serve.
Ramanthan broke Tearney in the first game of the third set and then won the next on serve to take a 2-0 lead. The Kiwi player twisted his ankle in the second game of the set and visibly suffered from pain, calling for a medical time-out while trailing 0-3. He put up a brave fight thereafter, taking the fifth game of the set to several deuces but Ramanathan ultimately held out and won the set 6-0, to seal the tie for India.
This win takes India to the second round of the Asia-Oceania Group I where they will meet Uzbekistan in April. On Friday, Yuki Bhambri and Ramanthan had won their respective single rubbers to put India 2-0 up. New Zealand got one back through the Kiwi duo of Artem Sitak and Michael Venus who defeated Leander Paes and Vishnu Vardhan 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(6), 6-3.