Chandigarh: Vishnu Vardhan registered a comfortable victory over Jose Statham in the second singles match to give India a commanding 2-0 lead in the Davis Cup Asia Oceania relegation play-off tie against New Zealand.
Up by two sets to one in the match, which was stopped yesterday due to fading light, Vishnu dominated the proceedings today as he took just 31 minutes to complete the win.
Vishnu served as well as returned extremely well to beat the Kiwi number one, who is ranked 55 places below him at number 317, 6-2 6-7(5) 6-4 6-2 in a match that lasted for two hours and 57 minutes.
After missing out on a break chance in the very first game of the day, Vishnu hardly gave his opponent any chance.
: India’s Vishnu Vardhan and Jose Statham of New Zealand shake hands after their Davis Cup tennis match in Chandigarh . PTI
The set was locked 2-2 when Vishnu fired a backhand service winner and Statham erred on a backhand return to give the Indian two break points.
The pressure got to the Kiwi and Statham committed another backhand error, putting Vishnu up by a break.
Vishnu then sent down two aces to earn three match points. He sealed the victory with a forehand winner.
He will now team up with Divij Sharan to play the doubles against Michael Venus and Artem Sitak.
PTI
