Rohan Bopanna beat Jun Kato 7-6 (7/5), 6-4, 6-4 in the first reverse singles.
Former captain Ramesh Krishnan said the onus was on Prakash Amritraj and Rohan Bopanna to do well in Davis Cup.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Tuesday.
In the second singles at the Jai Club courts, Prakash Amritraj will clash against Denis Istomin.
China beat Australia 2-0 in the Fed Cup tie, while India registered a 2-1 victory over Korea to finish third.
Hence the Fed Cup women's team tennis competition in New Delhi received another blow.
The experts agreed that the lockdown has helped in slowing down spread of the virus but insisted that the situation has not reached a plateau and that there was an urgent need to upgrade healthcare facilities to deal with the crisis.
An Olympic quota place pocketed, Indian boxer Shiva Thapa (56kg) ended his campaign with a silver medal after losing in the final of the Asian/Oceania Qualifying Tournament Qian'an, China on Friday. The 22-year-old Assamese, who is a World Championship bronze-medallist, went down 0-3 to Thailand's Chatchai Butdee in the summit clash. Butdee is the reigning Asian champion. Shiva had booked his ticket to Rio de Janeiro by making the finals yesterday after beating Kazakhstan's Kairat Yeraliyev. Meanwhile, it was a heartbreak once again for L Devendro Singh (49kg), who missed a second opportunity to qualify for the Olympics. The Commonwealth silver-medallist, who lost in the semifinals a day prior, went down in the box-off for the Olympic slot on Friday.
Instead he is fielding youngsters Harsh Mankad and Prakash Amritraj in the Asia-Oceania group I Davis Cup tie against China.
Ankita Bhambri and Rushmi Chakravarthy are the other two members of the team that will be coached by Enrico Piperno.
India's non-playing captain Anand Amritraj was upbeat ahead of the Asia Oceania Group I Davis Cup tie against New Zealand, to be played in Pune from February 3 to 5, but cautioned the Kiwis should not be taken lightly.
'Aggression is very important.' 'In the new scoring system the judges are more impressed if you land more punches and fight more aggressively.'
Harsh Mankad and Prakash Amritraj won the reverse singles to help India beat Uzbekistan 5-0 and qualify for the World Group Playoffs
India took an unassailable 3-0 lead against Uzbekistan by winning the doubles event in the second round of the Davis Cup Asia Oceania Zone Tennis tournament.
Leander Paes and Prakash Amritraj gave India a 2-0 lead in the Davis Cup Asia-Oceania second round tie against Uzbekistan.
India's Davis Cup captain says it will be tough to decide the two slots between Prakash Amritraj, Harsh Mankad and him for the match against Uzbekistan.
The Indian Davis Cupper is high on confidence after reaching the quarter-finals of a Challenger event in Notttingham.
They went down to top seeds Australia 2-1 in the Fed Cup Asia-Oceania zonal final in Korea.
The Indian Davis Cup team was staring at defeat at the zonal level for the first time in five years following shock defeats of Ramkumar Ramanathan and Sumit Nagal on the opening day of the second round tie against China, in Tianjin, on Friday.
Sania will be carrying the leadership mantle for the Fed Cup next week.
He was included in the Davis Cup team for the Asia Oceania Group 1 tie against New Zealand from February 6 to 8.
'In my eight ties as captain we won five and lost three to Serbia, Czech Republic and Spain who were all better teams than us. We should have won against Czech but lost 3-2. Having said that they were top 10 teams and I am not too unhappy losing to them'
A lanky Ramkumar cruised to a 7-5, 6-1, 6-0 win in exactly two hours in windy conditions at the Shiv Chatrapati Sports Complex in Balewadi.
Leander Paes' hopes of creating a world record in Davis Cup were dashed when the veteran Indian and Vishnu Vardhan lost the third rubber to strong rivals Artem Sitak and Michael Venus, who kept the New Zealand alive in the Asia-Oceania Group I Davis Cup tie.
AITA likely to request ITF to consider neutral venue for Davis Cup tie vs Pak
The second singles between Prakash Amritraj and Wang Yu had to be called off for the day following repeated rain interruptions.
India captain Leander Paes and coach Nandan Bal are confident of winning the Davis Cup tie against China beginning on March 4.
The team for the Asia-Oceania round includes Sanam Singh, Rupesh Roy and Sumit Gupta.
Leander Paes is the other singles player and will team up with Mahesh Bhupathi for the doubles in the Davis Cup tie against New Zealand.
Young Yuki Bhambri brought India back in the Davis Cup match against New Zealand after Somdev Devvarman was beaten in the opening singles.
Rohan Bopanna and Prakash Amritraj lost their respective singles matches on the opening day of the Davis Cup tie against Korea
Mahesh Bhupathi, Rohan Bopanna and Harsh Mankad are the other members of the team for the April 4-6 Davis Cup tie in Kolkata.
The AITA has appointed former Davis Cupper Anand Amritraj as the new non-playing captain of the Davis Cup team, which will take on Chinese Taipei in the Asia/Oceania Group I tie next year.
India's junior Davis Cup team coach said the trio of Jeevan Neduncheziyan, Rupesh Roy and Sanam Singh stayed focused right through the Asia Oceania Zone tournament.
'I don't think you can fault us for not trying. We kept giving our best shot because we know how special a relationship it is for not just us but the country as well'
