Prajnesh faces tough Ruud test

Lillehammer (Norway),

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September 15

Prajnesh Gunneswaran will open India’s Davis Cup World Group I tie campaign against the Norway No. 1 and US Open runner-up Casper Ruud, while Ramkumar Ramanathan will be up against the lower-ranked Viktor Durasovic in the singles matches on the first day here tomorrow.

The Indian team, under non-playing captain Rohit Rajpal, has gone by the rankings while choosing the singles players. Yuki Bhambri, who was the country’s top singles player for long but has dropped down in the rankings, will play in the doubles along with Saketh Myneni on Saturday.

Gunneswaran, ranked 335 in the world, faces a tough job against Ruud who has been in red-hot form this season.

But India’s No. 1 player Ramanathan, ranked 276 in the world, can fancy his chances against world No. 325 Durasovic in the second singles.

“Our No. 1 Ramkumar will be playing against their No. 2 player. Our No. 2 singles player I have chosen is Prajnesh and he will be playing against their No. 1 player,” Rajpal said. “So, it is Ramkumar vs Durasovic and Prajnesh against Casper Ruud on first day. Based on that, we will react on the second day in doubles.”