India's Somdev Devvarman lost the first singles of the Davis Cup World Group play-off on the opening day in Tokyo today. He went down 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 to Yuichi Sugita which gave Japan a 1-0 lead at the Ariake Coliseum.India No.2 Rohan Bopanna will now play Japan's No.1 Kei Nishikori in the second singles.