Sweden made swift work of taking a 2-0 lead over India on the opening day of the Davis Cup World Group-1 tie on the indoor hard courts of the The Royal Tennis Hall in Stockholm on Saturday.
Leo Borg rose to the occasion, and defied his rank of 603 to notch his maiden win in Davis Cup, as he beat India No.1, the 332nd ranked Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-3, 6-4 in the second rubber.
The 238th ranked Elias Ymer had put Sweden ahead earlier as he raced past Sriram Balaji 6-4, 6-2.
Ramkumar did rise hopes of a revival as he won an early break to lead 2-1 in the opening set against Borg, but the 21-year-old Swede, goaded by a packed stadium, stepped it up quickly to swing the match around, in taking a 5-2 lead.
Ramkumar did manage to save two set points on serve to hold for 3-5, but Borg sealed the first rubber at love in the next game.
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In the second set, Borg, son of the legendary 11-time Grand Slam champion Bjorn Borg, took a firm grip over the proceedings with a break in the seventh game. Thereafter, he served strong to close out the rubber.
India will have a mountain to climb on the morrow, with the opening doubles rubber, scheduled to feature Ramkumar and Balaji against Andre Goransson and Filip Bergevi.
Indian could have aspired to win this tie, but the absence of the 73rd ranked Sumit Nagal, nursing a sore back, apart from the best doubles player Yuki Bhambri, after the retirement of Rohan Bopanna, hurt its chances.
Balaji and Ramkumar had played their part well earlier in the play-off tie against Pakistan, but Sweden at home has proved a hard nut to crack for India.
Incidentally, in the history of Davis Cup, Sweden has won all its five ties against India, dropping only two rubbers in all.
The Indian team would look to win its first rubber on Sunday to make a fight of it.
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