Victor Hanescu mercilessly crushed India's hopes to make the Davis Cup World Group as he knocked out Prakash Amritraj in the first reverse singles to give Romania an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match playoff tie in Bucharest on Sunday.
India will compete at home against Brazil in the Davis Cup World Group play-off tie from September 17 to 19. After a long time, India have home advantage. They played all their matches outside the country in recent times.
Switzerland face the 2007 winners from March 6 to 8 in a tie that could feature the world's No 1-ranked doubles pair, and the Olympic gold medal winning pair. In another fascinating tie, the 2008 finalists Spain will host Serbia, which could see world number one Rafael Nadal facing No 3 Novak Djokovic.
Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka secured Switzerland a place in the 2009 World Group with a 4-6, 7-6(6), 6-3, 6-3 victory over Belgium's Olivier Rochus and Xavier Malisse.
Ace Indian doubles duo Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi won their doubles rubber against Romania to close the gap to 1-2 in the Davis Cup World Group Play-off.
Somdev Devvarman expresses confidence of a good showing ahead of India's Davis Cup match against Romania.
Argentina named David Nalbandian and teenager Juan Martin del Potro to play in the singles in their Davis Cup world group semi-final against Russia.
World No 1 Roger Federer, playing his first match for six weeks, beat qualifier Olivier Rochus in straight sets on Monday to open his defence of his Swiss Indoors ATP title.
The Spanish world number two pulled out of the opening rubber of his country's Davis Cup World Group first round tie with Switzerland after straining a muscle in training.
Juan Carlos Ferrero and David Ferrer gave champions Spain a 2-0 lead over Israel with crushing singles victories on the opening day of their Davis Cup World Group semi-final on Friday. Roared on by the boisterous home support in Murcia, former world number one Ferrero thumped Dudi Sela 6-4, 6-2, 6-0 after Ferrer had earlier thrashed Harel Levy 6-1, 6-4, 6-3.
India stormed into the final of Junior Davis Cup's World Group playoff after stunning top seeds Australia 3-0 in New Delhi on Friday.
'Drawing Canada is golden chance for India to get into World Group'
Andy Murray's decision to miss the Davis Cup World Group tie against Argentina has been criticised by his brother Jamie.
"He's got a severe strain in the area between the calf and the Achilles' tendon in his left leg," federation doctor Angel Ruiz-Cotorro told the RFET Web site.
Spain's World No 5 Rafael Nadal has been ruled out of opening singles rubber against India in their Davis Cup World Group play-off in New Delhi on Friday.
Karol Beck of Slovakia tested positive for the anabolic agent clenbuterol last September during Slovakia's Davis Cup World Group semi-final against Argentina.
Marin Cilic completed a dream week by steering Croatia into the Davis Cup World Group on Sunday but Spain found themselves out in the wilderness after crashing to defeat in Brazil.
Tim Henman is set to retire from the sport after the Davis Cup world group playoff against Croatia next month.
The world No. 1 made it three out of three wins on Sunday to give the Swiss a decisive 3-1 lead over Serbia.
Australia's Mark Philippoussis will face David Nalbandian in the Davis Cup world group semi-final against Argentina.
Prakash Amritraj will take on Jonas Bjorkman in the opening singles of the Davis Cup World Group play-off.
India's non-playing captain Anand Amritraj may feel otherwise, but Leander Paes defended the decision to conduct this weekend's Davis Cup tie against Spain under floodlights, saying the home players "struggle in hot and humid conditions".
The Australian is still suffering the effects of an injury he picked up during the US Open and had been rested as a precaution.
Andy Roddick and James Blake put US in a commanding 2-0 lead over Spain in the Davis Cup quarterfinals.
Prajnesh is now ranked 102 in the men's singles rankings with a jump of seven places while Ankita leapfrogged 35 places to a career-high 168 in the women's singles.
All the World Group first-round ties are still alive heading into the final day's singles after the underdogs largely prevailed in some lengthy doubles clashes.
Holders Croatia held a 2-0 lead over Austria after the opening singles in the Davis Cup World Group first round.
The Australian Open champion will lead Russia in next month's Davis Cup World Group opening round tie against Chile.
Switzerland and Serbia finished level on the opening Friday of their Davis Cup World Group playoff.
Sweden captain Mats Wilander termed the tie a 'bad propaganda' for the sport because of the surface it was played on
Wimbledon's slowing grass courts are hastening the end of serve-volley in tennis, the former world number one said.
The 2002 Australian Open champion will spearhead the former champions' campaign in the Davis Cup World Group play-off against India.
Zee Sports will also present live and exclusive coverage of the Federation Cup and India's away ties.
Roger Federer suffered a rare defeat when Radek Stepanek and Tomas Berdych won the doubles to give the Czech Republic a 2-1 lead over Switzerland in their Davis Cup World Group playoff tie.
Roger Federer overcame Radek Stepanek in four sets as Switzerland and the Czech Republic battled to 1-1 after the opening singles matches in their Davis Cup World Group playoff on Friday.
Briton Tim Henman bowed out of grand slam tennis with a second-round defeat at the U.S. Open on Friday, but said he would be leaving the sport content that he had made the most of his potential.
The All India Tennis Association's selection committee retained all four playing members of the squad that beat Korea Korea 4-1 last month, for the Davis Cup World Group play-off tie against Spain, scheduled for September 16-18.
Paes-Bhupathi were up a break 3-1 in the second set after the Swedish pair took the first set 6-3 when play was called off for the day
Thomas Johansson beat Rohan Bopanna 7-6, 7-6, 7-6 in the rain-affected tie.
Play was called off on the second day of the Davis Cup World Group play-off between India and Sweden due to rain.
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