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Davis Cup Norway vs. India: Norway in the Lead after Day 1

Florian Buechting Sports Reports No Comments

Crunch time on day 1. Some of the hosts felt very sure that Casper Ruud’s appearance in Lillehammer might be like a living wildcard for an easy cruise to beat India. However, the guests were known as a big upset nation. The first day was already expected to give a hint about what will be going on in Norway in September 2022. The US Open finalist was under pressure to make his countrymen happy in the first rubber against Prajnesh Gunneswaran.

Norway India
Fr 18:00 Casper Ruud Prajnesh Gunneswaran 6-1 6-4
thereafter Viktor Durasovic Ramkumar Ramathan 6-1 6-4

This posting comes with an overall of 514 major size pictures in a dedicated picture gallery for this Davis Cup tie. Also see links below.

 

The Tennis Davis Cup coverage from Lilliehammer is done in collaboration with

The match reports are taken 1:1 from my coverage there and might thus be biased towards the Indian team.

 

Opening Ceremony

The opening ceremony took place before the first singles match. Here are some impressions

 

1st Singles: Casper Ruud – Prajnesh Gunneswaran 6-1 6-4

The first set score reads like the Nordic rolling over Prajnesh, but our guy gave the hosts actually a good fight. The most characteristic game of the match was likely the fourth one, when Prajnesh was 30-15 in the lead at own serve, but three close calls (two times close shots by him which just did not touch the line in contrast to the final Ruud shot) gave three straight points for Ruud in a row. The first set had some nice rallyes, especially in the beginning, when Prajnesh felt even to be able to cause some trouble at Ruud’s serve. Finally, two aces at the score of 5-0 for Casper Ruud prevented to start the tie with a bagel score – which would have been absolutely undeserved after a not that bad set anyway.

Prajnesh started to serve in the second set – and that felt to work out much better. At Ruud’s first serve of the second, a high but sufficiently precise volley stop saved the Norwegian from an uncomfortable situation. Furthermore, Casper took advantage of a short weak point in the Indian’s game the serve thereafter. Again, the close calls were significantly in favor of the host nation – maybe one of these things which just happen when you are world #2. Prajnesh gave a great fight. There was absolutely no trouble at own serve. However, the some 2,000 people home crowd did not have too many reasons to become nervous as well. Being at serve at the second set score of 5-4, Casper Ruud converted his first match point to give the lead for Norway.

 

2nd Singles: Viktor Durasovic – Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-1 6-4

When our player takes the pee break after a rather short first set, that just can mean that India was in trouble in this one. The match started rather well for Ramkumar, who even lead 0-30 in the first game at Durasovic’s serve. The Trondheim-born Norwegian was finally perfectly prepared for the offensive style of Ramkumar. Hardly any serve and volley attack gave a happy ending for the Indian team. The fourth game, in which Ramkumar had several chances to tie the score to 2-2, was finally the one which made the crowd cheer loudly for the very first time on this evening. Durasovic took the break and dominated the match thereafter. Just after 30 minutes, Norway took the first set in this second rubber.

The second set was a very balanced set with versatile tennis strategies. From serve and volley to slice rallyes- Ramkumar and Durasovic gave the fans an enjoyable time. Durasovic made the Norwegians smile in the third game of the match, when he finally broke Ramkumar after a long game. The circumstances were weird with people shouting during a long point and the venue host suddenly crossing the court when India faced the deciding break point. Ramkumar just struggled with this situation more than needed. Especially in the fifth game, India had the chance to come back, but Durasovic had the answer to any critical situation this evening. The last games of the match went straight for the respective server, so that the Norwegians finished the day in happiness. For the tennis miracle, India first of all has to take its role as favorites in doubles tomorrow, before Rohit Rajpal’s team has to win both singles thereafter to avoid loosing the tie.

 

Norway vs. India Davis Cup 2022 – Galleries

All Flyctory.com pictures from Lillehammer will be gathered in a dedicated gallery group in the sports galleries. I will add links here once I started to put (match and practice) pictures to galleries:

 

Flyctory.com about Indian Tennis

Here are all postings related to Indian Tennis:

 

Spotlight – Flyctory.com Interviews

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