ISLAMABAD: India took a commanding lead in the historic Davis Cup World Group I play-off against Pakistan as both home side veterans Aisam-ul-Haq and Aqeel Khan lost their respective singles ma­t­ches in front of boisterous crowd here at the Pakistan Sports Complex on Saturday.

India now require just one win in the three remaining matches — a doubles followed by two singles clashes — at the grasscourts on Sunday to bag the first-round tie taking place in Pakistan between the traditional rivals after 60 years.

The 29-year-old Ramkumar Raman­athan, India’s singles specialist, overcame an ageing Aisam in a three-set battle lasting two hours during which the Pakistan star injured his hamstring while Aqeel suffered a straight-sets defeat to Sriram Balaji in one hour and 15 minutes.

Aisam, 43, gave Ramanathan tough time and somehow managed to take the opening set on tiebreak 7-6(3).

Maintaining the momentum in the second set, Aisam was leading 4-3 and was just one point away from making it 5-3 before his Indian opponent made an impressive comeback amid Aisam’s hamstring injury to win the set 7-6(4) on tiebreak.

Ramanathan easily bagged the third set 6-0 as Aisam found it difficult to recover from his hamstring trouble. Ramanathan fired 20 aces during the match while his Pakistan rival double-faulted 10 times.

Meanwhile, Aqeel, 44, could not live up to the expectations of the local fans as he succumbed to the 33-year-old Balaji 7-5, 6-3 in the rain-hit match.

In an exciting opening, current national champion Aqeel fought well to make it 5-5 before Balaji won the crucial point to take the first set.

Later, the match was stopped due to rain and when it resumed, Balaji did not allow his veteran Pakistan opponent to settle, outclassing him 6-3 to take the match and give his country a solid 2-0 lead.

Aisam lamented he could not give Pakistan win in the opening match.

“I am disappointed, I was close to winning,” Aisam said at a news conference after his match and added that Raman­athan holding his serve at a crucial juncture in the second set was the crucial moment in the high-profile match.

“Ramanathan played two superb aces which proved decisive. Credit goes to him,” Aisam said.

Answering a question, doubles specialist Aisam said that if he recovered from the hamstring problem, he would prefer to play doubles match on Sunday.

Ramanathan termed his victory special.

“This [victory against Aisam] will go down as a special win for me,” he said and insisted that winning away matches had always been a difficult task.

Zeeshan Ali, India’s non-playing captain, sounded very satisfied at his team’s show on the opening day.

“It is always a relief to finish the first day with a 2-0 lead,” Zeeshan said, adding that they would remain focused on Sunday as well.

Published in Dawn, February 4th, 2024