Rain stalled India's march towards a commanding 2-0 lead on the opening day of the Davis Cup Asia Oceania Group I match against China after Harsh Mankad easily won the opening rubber in Delhi on Friday.

Unseasonal rains played spoilsport at the R K Khanna stadium and the second match between Prakash Amritraj and Wang Yu had to be called off for the day following repeated rain interruptions.

The chair umpire decided to call it a day with Amritraj leading 6-3, 2-3 when a steady drizzle disrupted the match for a third time.

The match will now be completed on Saturday before the doubles match between Leander Paes/Mahesh Bhupathi and Yu/Zhu Ben-Qiang.

India captain Leander Paes was looking forward to Prakash clinching the match and when the 22-year-old took the first set in just 32 minutes he looked in real hurry.

But rain came down just two games into the second set and again on resumption, after a 30-minute break. Only two more games were possible before rain again played hide and seek with the players and spectators.

Earlier, Harsh Mankad gave India a flying start when he thrashed top-ranked Chinese player Sun Peng 7-5, 6-3, 6-2, in the opening singles, which was also delayed by 90 minutes due to overnight rain.

Mankad packed off Peng in just under two hours. The 25-year-old, predominantly a hard court player, showed that he had the skill to win matches on grass as he took full advantage of his rival's inexperience at the uneven centre court.