Davis Cup: Mukund, Ramkumar win, India take 2-0 lead against Togo

NEW DELHI: India managed to solve the Togo puzzle with a clinical display to win both the singles matches with ease on Day One of the Davis Cup World Group 1 Playoff in the Capital on Saturday.
The relatively unknown bunch of Togolese came to the tie as the dark horse, a ring of mystery surrounding them following an unbeaten 10-0 run. They were tamed in front of 1500-odd fans by India's Mukund Sasikumar and Ramkumar Ramanathan in less than two hours of p lay, in just 29 games, on the DLTA hard court.
The contest looked on for the first three games of the first match when Mukund was tested by Liova Ajavon, who even came close to breaking the Indian in the third game. After that, it was a lopsided affair in India's favour.
Mukund broke the fourth game before going on to win the set 6-2 and followed it up with another dominant display to take the second set 6-1. The match lasted 1 hour and 15 minutes.
Then, it was a cakewalk for Ramkumar, who hardly broke a sweat while beating Togo's only ranked player, Thomas Setodji, 6-0, 6 -2 in just 44 minutes. Togo captain Alisama Agnamba later disclosed that Setodji, who played with adhesive tapes on his right hand, competed with an injury. The captain, however, did not reveal the nature of injury and whether the player would be available for his Sunday's doubles and reverse singles matches.
"We played unforced, error-free tennis for the most part," Mukund later said. "I'm happy with myself with the way I handled the whole situation. I think I put up a very mature performance. There was a lot of composure. I stuck to the plan, kept things very simple and did the job that I was supposed to do."
Ramkumar was happy with his service game. "It was a good serving day. I didn't expect it to be," he quipped. Togo's Setodji agreed with his Indian counterpart. "They were serving better than us. And on this kind of courts, you have to serve well. After that you have to do a big return just to enter to the point, not even win it."
Going into the match without much knowledge of the Togo p layers' style of p lay, the hosts decided to stick to a plan. "They (Mukund and Ramkumar) didn't give a chance to the other guys to play their games. And that was the idea - don't give them rhythm, keep them on the move. Don't get into longer rallies. So whatever we planned, these guys executed beautifully. The matches looked easier than they were, because they played to the plan," India captain Rohit Rajpal said.