Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: India made history in the Davis Cup on September 13 by defeating Switzerland 3-1 in a World Group 1 first round match at the Swiss Tennis Arena in Biel, registering their first win over a European country in Europe for the first time since 1993. Top singles player Sumit Nagal defeated Henry Bernet in the reverse singles 6-1, 6-3 to seal victory for India in the World Group 1 stage.
With this, the current Indian team emulated the feat of a team comprising Leander Paes and Ramesh Krishnan, which beat France 3-2 in the quarterfinals. While India has now progressed to the World Group Qualifiers, the result relegated Switzerland to the Davis Cup 2026 World Group I play-offs. The Indian team made further history as it has not won its World Group I ties since the Davis Cup format was revamped in 2019. India has finished runners-up on three occasions – in 1966, 1974, and 1987.
Youngster Dhakshineswar Suresh made a sensational debut by defeating the higher ranked Jerome Kym 7-6(5), 6-3 in the opening match on Friday, and Nagal completed a dominant day for the visitors as he overcame Marc-Andrea Huesler 8-3, 7-6(1) in the second rubber of the day and gave India a 2-0 lead after the opening singles. Though the hosts fought back by winning the men’s doubles clash as Jakub Paul and Dominic Stricker defeated N. Sriram Balaji and Rithvik Choudary Bollipalli in a hard-fought encounter, coming back from a set deficit to win 6-7(3), 6-4, 7-5 to make it 1-2 for the hosts.
