Davis Cup: Ramkumar dedicates his win to birthday boy Bopanna
After winning the first match against Denmark's lowly-ranked Christian Sigsgaard in the Davis Cup World Group Playoff 1 tie, Ramkumar Ramanathan dedicated his win to the teams senior-most player Rohan Bopanna who turned 42 on Friday.
New Delhi, March 4 (IANS) After winning the first match against Denmark's lowly-ranked Christian Sigsgaard in the Davis Cup World Group Playoff 1 tie, Ramkumar Ramanathan dedicated his win to the teams senior-most player Rohan Bopanna who turned 42 on Friday.
World No. 170 Ramkumar gave India a perfect start after defeating Sigsgaard in the first singles 6-3, 6-2 in just 59 minutes. After winning the match an elated Ramkumar said, "Today is Bops' (Rohan Bopanna) birthday so this win is for him. And hopefully, he will win the doubles match tomorrow."
India got off to a strong start against Denmark in the Davis Cup World Group Playoff 1 tie with Ramkumar and Yuki Bhambri setting contrasting wins against Christian Sigsgaard and Mikael Torpegaard respectively to give India a 2-0 lead at the Delhi Gymkhana Club here on Friday.
"Over the years, playing all around the world has made me more competent. Being on the tour for the last 10 years makes me grow as a player. So I am really happy to give my country the first point," he said.
India's non-playing captain Rohit Rajpal praised Ramkumar, saying it was good to see the way The 27-year-old notched up the win in quick time.
"We were looking for the first break and Ram gave us. It was quite a satisfactory display from him. I am happy that the team took the lead in the first match. The whole idea was to stick to the strategies. And the win in the first match takes a lot of pressure off from the team. It's always important to win the first match. Ram did it in a wonderful way," he said.