Kolkata: The gamble of playing on grass backfired for hosts India, at least on the opening day, as Italy lived up to their reputation to win both the opening singles in the Davis Cup Qualifiers at the South Club here Friday.
Andreas Seppi experienced some early hiccups before getting past Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-4, 6-2 in the opening rubber, while 22-year-old Matteo Berrettini made a winning Davis Cup debut, cruising past India’s No.1 Prajnesh Gunneswaran 6-4, 6-3.
At 0-2 down, India’s doubles pairing of Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan finds itself in a must-win situation, Saturday. For Italy, top-ranked singles player Marco Cecchinato will take the court with Simone Bolelli, the 2015 Australian Open winner.
“Focus is on tomorrow (Saturday). We know we have a job at hand. It will be a lot harder. No time to give up now,” non-playing captain Mahesh Bhupathi told reporters.
Italy opted to go with Berrettini ahead of top ranked and World No. 19 Cecchinato and the youngster, who made the second round of Wimbledon last year, did not disappoint and broke Prajnesh’s serve in the first set. The Italian hardly faced any problems and it was Prajnesh at times who looked uncomfortable on grass.
Berrettini began the second set exactly the way he started the first, breaking Prajnesh to take a 1-0 lead. He started off with a sublime volley at the net and Prajnesh had no chance as the Italian dished out a couple of superb groundstrokes to make the job tougher for the Indian.
Berrettini effortlessly made it 5-3, racing through his service games before breaking Prajnesh again in the ninth game to close out the match.
“I was dreaming about this (winning debut) as a child. I was really happy and focused on the match. I’m really enjoying the moment and I’m glad it went my way,” said Berrettini after the match.
Earlier, Seppi overcame early jitters to beat Ramkumar Ramanathan in straight sets, giving Italy a 1-0 lead. The World No.37 was slow off the blocks but hit top gear in the second set to win in 71 minutes.
The big-serving Indian fired eight aces but his weak returns meant that he failed to convert two breakpoints in the first set before the Italian won five points in a row to wrap the opening set in 41 minutes.
The second set turned out to be a formality for the Italian as he shifted gears in the third game to give Italy a 1-0 lead in the tie.
Andreas Seppi bt Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-4, 6-2
Matteo Berrettini bt Prajnesh Gunneswaran 6-4, 6-3
PTI