Ramkumar Ramanathan and Mukund Sasikumar won their respective men’s singles matches to drive India to a strong start in the Davis Cup 2025 World Group I play-offs against Togo at the DLTA Complex in New Delhi on Saturday.
Sasikumar beat Liova Ajavon 6-2, 6-1 while Ramkumar got the better off Thomas Setodji 6-0, 6-2 in the second day of the five-match tie on Sunday.
World No.365 Sasikumar began the opening match on a dominating note and maintained the momentum in the second set to clinch a convincing victory.
“It looks easy, but it’s tougher than what it looks. But, glad I stuck to the plan, and I kept it simple. Definitely, I’m happy that the day is over. And finally, I can take a breath. And I’m really confident that Ritwik and Bala will get the job done tomorrow. They’re playing extremely sharp, and I have a lot of confidence in them,” he told ANI.
Ramkumar, meanwhile, brushed aside the only ranked Togo player (1256) without breaking a sweat in 50 minutes to put India in a dominating position.
“It’s been tough to get wins in the last few months, but just happy with all that went today for our team, for our country. We have one more match tomorrow, and I’m sure Bala and Ritwik are ready and get the things done,” Ramkumar told ANI.
“I just went in the court just trying to tell myself to, you know, play the way I play always, stay aggressive on my service games, try to fight on the returns, you know, whenever I have a chance go for it and move to the net whenever I could. And I think, you know, the serves really helped me for my confidence through the match…” he added.
India will need only one win to clinch the tie, with day two beginning with a men’s doubles tie between N Sriram Balaji-Rithvik Bollipalli and Thomas Setodji and Padio Isak.
Sasikumar will face Thomas Setodji while Ramanathan is set to take on Liova Ajavon in the singles.