The Indian stormed past his opponent 6-3 6-3 6-1 in the lopsided first rubber in little over an hour on a chilly morning at the DLTA Courts.

Dustov could hardly put up a fight against the rampaging Indian, who broke the Uzbek with ease and was on top from start to finish.

Bopanna stamped his authority with some crisp serve and volley throughout the match. The big-serving Indian also used his booming first serve to good effect, sending four aces in the first set as he went 4-2 up.

Dustov tried to pull things back with some fine serve but it turned out to be a case of too little too late as Bopanna sealed the opener with a fiery ace.

Such was the dominance of Bopanna that he did not concede a single point on his serve in the opening set.

The second set followed a similar script and with Dustov’s unforced errors mounting, Bopanna had no trouble breaking the Uzbek with a brilliant lob in the fifth game.

Dustov, ranked 253, found it tough to adjust to the uneven bounce of the grass court and that also worked to Bopanna’s advantage.

With the sparse crowd getting behind him, the pumped up Indian quite literally thrashed the hapless Uzbek in the final set to earn a standing ovation from his team-mates including non-playing captain Leander Paes.