Busan: South Korea and India took an opening singles match each in their Davis Cup second-round tie on Friday in the southern South Korean port city of Busan.

Somdev Devvarman defeated Chung Hyeon in straight sets, 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (7/3), 6-4, in the first match on the hard court.

But Lim Yong-kyu turned the tables for the home side, defeating Sanam Singh 7-6(7/5), 6-4, 6-4, to level the tie.

After a doubles showdown on Saturday, there will be two more singles matches on Sunday, with the eventual winner moving on to the World Group playoffs.

Devvarman, ranked 88th in the singles, was pushed to tiebreaks in the first two sets against the 377th-ranked Chung. In the first set tiebreak, Devvarman led 6-1 and held off the 17-year-old South Korean to win 7-4.

Chung led 4-1 in the second set, but Devvarman stormed back to force another tiebreak and took advantage of Chung’s sloppy play to win 7-3.

At 4-4 in the third set, Devvarman broke Chung’s serve and held his opponent back to complete the straight-set victory.

Lim, ranked 300th, edged out the 371st-ranked Singh in the tiebreak of their opening set, and then won the second set comfortably, with a series of backhand and volley winners.

The third set went to 4-4 before Lim secured the crucial break and then served out for the set and the match.

Meanwhile, rain in Naples delayed the start of the Davis Cup quarter-final between hosts Italy and Britain, organisers announced on Friday.

The weather conditions in the normally balmy southern city meant the opening ceremony was cancelled and the opening rubber between Italian number one Fabio Fognini and Britain’s James Ward was postponed until further notice.

The developments, however, should play into the hands of Britain.

British number one and two-time Grand Slam winner Andy Murray has been suffering from sickness and is due to play world number 34 Andreas Seppi on Friday afternoon.

Both Italy and Britain are hoping this weekend to end their long absence from the final four of the World Group.

Italy last advanced to the semi-finals in 1998 when they went on to finish runners-up to Sweden, while the last final-four appearance of Britain — nine-time winners but who last triumphed in 1936 — came in 1981.

The winner of this weekend’s semi-final will face either Switzerland or Kazakhstan in September for a place in the final.