The third seeded Indian was beaten by New Zealand qualifier Finn Tearney 6-1, 6-7(4), 4-6 in two hours and 27 minutes.
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.
Ramkumar Ramanthan scored a fluent win after Yuki Bhambri eked out a straight set victory to hand India a commanding 2-0 lead against New Zealand on the opening day of the Asia/Oceania Group I Davis Cup tie, in Pune, on Friday.
All eyes will be on veteran Leander Paes, who is the on the cusp of a historic world record in perhaps his last appearance in Davis Cup.
'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'
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.
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