New Delhi, Ramkumar Ramanathan's defeat at the hands of Viktor Durasovic in the second singles match saw India go down 0-2 to Norway in their first round match of the World Group I Davis Cup tennis tournament. Now India is in danger of a big defeat. India's number one singles player Ramkumar failed to live up to the expectations and went down 1-6, 4-6 to his lower-ranked player Durasovic in a match that lasted one hour and 16 minutes on Friday night.

In the first singles match, Prajnesh Gunneswaran lost to US Open runner-up Casper Roode 1-6, 4-6. This result was expected and India's hopes rested on Ramkumar. But Ramanathan, ranked 276 in the world, was in no time in his complexion and lost easily to the 325th ranked player Durasovic. Durasovic broke Ramanathan's serve three times and scored a total of 12 aces. In contrast, the Indian player could hit only three aces.

Durasovic hit five aces in the first set and broke Ramanathan's serve twice. Ramanathan could only save his first serve. Apart from this, he also made two double faults, due to which Durasovic won the set easily. Ramkumar tried to make a comeback in the second set but failed to save his second serve as Durasovic took a 2-1 lead. Even after this, Ramkumar failed to break Durasovich's serve. The Norwegian player won the match by saving his serve at a 5-4 lead.

Earlier in the first singles match, world number two Casper Rood performed exceptionally well to give Norway a 1-0 lead after beating Prajnesh easily in a match that lasted one hour and two minutes. Yuki Bhambri and Saket Myneni will take on Rood and Durasovic in doubles on the second day of the match. Apart from this, Ramkumar will face Rood in the opposite singles while Prajnesh will face Durasovic.