India, Canada locked 1-1 after Ramkumar win

Yuki turned the match on its head after being down by two sets and a match point in the third set but eventually lost 6-7(2) 4-6 7-6(6) 6-4 1-6 to world No.51 Denis Shapovalov -- an audacious performance in a three hours and 52 minutes battle. It happened after 22-year-old Ramkumar, ranked 154th, tamed debutant Brayden Schnur 5-7 7-6(4) 7-5 7-5 in the first singles, which was also a marathon match lasting three hours and 16 minutes. "Boys played with a lot of heart...the plan was to fight regardless of the score and Ram swung a losing battle and Yuki almost did too," Indian captain Mahesh Bhupathi said. "The pressure remains on them. If we fight like this anything is possible."

This defeat would rankle Yuki for sometime as Shapovalov had started feeling the heat following the Indian's perseverance. The left-handed Shapovalov unleashed his power-packed game from the beginning and Yuki was mostly left to defend but after taking the third set from the home favourite, it was the Indian who dictated the terms. An early break in the fifth set again shifted the momentum in Shapovalov's favour. The Canadian found his mojo after breaking Yuki in the third and broke him again in the sixth game to take a 5-1 cushion and clinched the issue with a crushing forehand winner.