Powered by Yibing, China take 2-0 lead against India

China is well poised to script a historic Davis Cup win against India after taking a 2-0 lead on the opening day of the Asia Oceania Davis Cup tie in Tianjin on Friday. In the opening rubber, China’s 18-year-old sensation Wu Yibing outclassed India’s no. 1 singles player Ramkumar Ramanathan, ranked 132nd, in straight sets to draw the first blood.

Firing on all cylinders, Wu, who claimed a single and doubles titles during a US Open in September, faced some resistance from his higher ranked Indian opponent in the opening set but the 332nd-ranked Chinese eventually clinched the set in a tie-breaker. Then he broke Ramanathan in the 3rd game of the second set and held on to it to win the set 6-4 as well as the match.

In the second rubber of the day, Zhang Ze put a gritty performance against India’s Sumit Nagpal to give the hosts a crucial 2-0 lead. Zhang, ranked 247th, outclassed his 213rd-ranked Indian opponent without burning much sweat. The scoreline was 6-4, 6-1 in Zhang’s favor.

China’s Zhang Ze in action in Davis Cup.

With China leading after the opening day’s rubbers, their doubles duo of Gong Maoxin and Wu Di will face an uphill task against multiple-Grand Slam winner Leander Paes, the most major winners for India till date, and last year’s French Open mixed doubles champion Rohan Bopanna tomorrow.

Saturday’s other singles rubbers will feature a match between Zhang and Ramanathan while the 5th and final rubber are scheduled between wonder kid Wu and Nagpal. Interestingly, a win in the doubles will help 44-year-old Paes become the winner of the most number of doubles matches in Davis Cup history. He is currently tied with Italy’s Nicola Pietrangeli with 42 wins.

Historically, India has a 3-0 win-loss record against China. India beat China 5-0 when the two teams met the last time in Delhi in 2005. Earlier, in 2001, at Langfan City, north China's Hebei Province, the Indians had pulled off a 3-2 victory while they had overpowered China 5-0 in Kolkata during their first-ever meeting in Davis Cup in 1999.

However, to buck the trend, the Chinese side need a single rubber win on Saturday in Tianjin to notch up their first-ever Davis Cup tie against India as they went down in all three of their past Davis Cup encounters.

(CGTN)