India was left to battle it out in the Asian zone yet again after Ramkumar Ramanathan's defeat in the must-win fourth rubber of the Davis Cup match against Canada's Denis Shapovalov in Edmonton, on Sunday.
India got off to a worst possible start in their Asia Ocenia Group I Davis Cup tie losing both the singles matches against Uzbekistan who took a 2-0 lead in Namangan.
India's top singles players, led by Somdev Devvarman, easily advanced to the second round of ATP Pune Challenger on Tuesday, but rising star Ramkumar Ramanathan made a shock first-round exit. Third seed Somdev proved too good for local wild card Arjun Kadhe, scoring a 6-1, 6-3 victory in 60 minutes. Seventh seed Yuki Bhambri disposed of the challenge of Chinese Taipei's Liang-Chi Huang 6-3, 6-0.
The fourth Indian to win a junior Grand Slam title and the first to do it at the Australian Open, Yuki Bhambri on Saturday said he would now focus on graduating to the men's circuit. The triumph put the Delhi-lad in a long list of former Australian Open junior champions who have made it big in the men's circuit including Andy Roddick, Marcos Baghdatis and Gael Monfils.
The freezing cold made the conditions challenging for the players.
Davis Cup: Strong Indian team is firm favourite against Pakistan in historic clash
Red Bull's triple World champion Max Verstappen wrapped up a year of unprecedented dominance with his record-extending 19th win in 22 races at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Sunday.
Somdev Devvarman would be India's while Yuki Bhambri is expected to carry his good from into the new season which is full of new challenges for the Indian players as ATP Aircel Chennai Open begins on Monday.
The 43-year-old remains the only Indian in the fray in the men's doubles event after Yuki Bhambri and Saketh Myneni made first round exits.
On day two, Vishnu will combine with Divij Sharan against the Kiwi pair of Michael Venus and Artem Sitak in the Asia Oceania Group I relegation play-off tie.
Indian Davis Cup team capped its historic visit to Pakistan after 60 years by sealing its place in World Group I as it blanked Pakistan 4-0 with Yuki Bhambri and Saketh Myneni recording a comfortable victory and Niki Poonacha making a winning debut, in Islamabad on Sunday.
The Indian team had been relegated to the World Group II after losing 2-3 to Denmark in the World Group Play-Off earlier this year.
Indian Davis Cup team sweats it out at 'mini cauldron', match timings revised due to tough conditions
Sumit Nagal fought fire with fire to bring India back in the Davis Cup World Group Play-off tie against Denmark, winning the second singles.
India's big hope Yuki Bhambri crashed out of the US Open men's singles qualifiers with a three-set defeat to Japanese Go Soeda while Prajnesh Gunneswaran also suffered a tame defeat in New York.
Davis Cup: Ramkumar to lead Indian challenge against Pakistan on grass courts
The ITF tribunal has rejected AITA's contention that its Davis Cup team could face security concerns during the World Group I Play-off tie in Islamabad, paving the way for an Indian tennis team's visit to Pakistan for the first time in 60 years.
Yuki Bhambri fought back from the brink of defeat to script a stunning five-set victory over Daniel King Turner and give India a 1-0 lead in the Davis Cup Asia Oceania Group I relegation play-off against New Zealand in Chandigarh on Friday. Vishnu Vardhan, ranked 262, was leading 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-4 in the second singles against Kiwi No 1 Jose Statham when the latter raised concerns about fading light and play was halted for the day.
India blunted Pakistan's challenge on the opening day to take a 2-0 lead in the Davis Cup World Group I play-off tie with Ramkumar Ramanathan and N Sriram Balaji rising to the occasion in the high-pressure contest, in Islamabad on Saturday.
The Indian Davis Cup team was relegated to the World Group II for the first time since the new format was launched in 2019 after losing the play-off tie 2-3 to Denmark.
Somdev Devvarman was the main protagonist in a stunning tale of success as Indian tennis savoured some great and rare moments in 2009, a year which promised to change the face of the game in the country. From junior stage to the highest level of the game, India had its moments of ecstasy and exultation as as Somdev, Sania Mirza, Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi and teenager Yuki Bhambri all contributed to the success story.
Last year's finalist Somdev Devvarman and Rohan Bopanna have got wild cards for the singles main draw of the Chennai Open next month, the organisers announced on Monday.
Priyanshu toiled hard for one hour 14 minutes before losing 21-18, 14-21, 17-21.
Yuki Bhambri struggled to rein in his unforced errors and played well only in patches as his third Australian Open appearance ended with a straight-set first-round defeat at the hands of a seasoned Marcos Baghdatis, in Melbourne on Monday.
Formula One will have a record 24 races in the season that starts in Bahrain on Saturday.
Top seed Yuki Bhambri's title hopes went up in smoke after a stunning straight-set defeat to unseeded local favourite Chase Buchanan in the boys' singles quarterfinal of the US Open.
2023 was marked by outstanding sporting achievements, shattered records, and the crowning of new champions, all captured by photographers documenting every significant twist and turn.
There will be no Indian in the singles event of the U.S. Open this year with all three players losing their qualifying matches, following second round defeats of Yuki Bhambri and Sanam Singh.
Sumit Nagal made a comeback to the Indian Davis Cup team for the away World Group I tie against Norway while doubles specialist Divij Sharan was dropped after falling behind in the pecking order, on Thursday.
Former Davis Cup captain Anand Amritraj is baffled that India's best singles players are not able to win close matches on the ATP World Tour despite having a decent game to back them.
The 43-year-old Bopanna and 35-year-old Ebden, who claimed two doubles titles on the ATP Tour earlier this year, will next face the unseeded British pair of Jacob Fearnley and Johannus Monday on Sunday.
The sixth seeds needed a little over an hour to overcome the unseeded pairing of Roman Safiullin of Russia and Kazakhstan's Andrey Golubev 6-3, 6-3 in a second round match.
Neeraj claimed victory in the men's javelin event with a remarkable throw of 87.66m
Ramkumar Ramanathan enhanced his reputation of being a passionate fighter even in defeat against a much superior Marin Cilic while Yuki Bhambri squandered six break chances to crash out of the Tata Open Maharashtra in Pune on Wednesday.
Following his title win at the Traralgon Challenger event, Indian tennis player Yuki Bhambri leapfrogged 73 places to 204 in the singles rankings on Monday even as Rohan Bopanna dropped out of the top-10 in the doubles chart.
India's Rohan Bopanna on Monday jumped four places to 12th in the latest doubles ranking chart. The soar in rankings was courtesy his title victory at the ATP Dubai 500 event.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Monday
Cilic's booming serve lacked its usual accuracy and Germany's Kohlschreiber was able to control long rallies, pushing the towering Croatian around the court with pinpoint groundstrokes en route to a quick victory.
Hauling itself up from World Group II should not be a complicated task for India when it takes on an unostentatious Morocco in the home tie, which will be more of a celebration of Rohan Bopanna's Davis Cup career.
Charles Leclerc swept to pole position for the Mexico City Formula One Grand Prix on Saturday with Carlos Sainz qualifying second in a surprise Ferrari front-row lockout.
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