Vishnu Vardhan made an impressive Davis Cup debut but lost the must-win first reverse singles of the play-off tie to Kei Nishikori in Tokyo on Sunday. The result relegated India to Asia/Oceania Zone Group I and catapulted Japan to World Group for the first time since 1985.
Davis Cup captain S P Misra says he did not expect India would be trailing 0-2 at the end of the opening day in their World Group play-off tie against Japan, on Friday. India's biggest hope Somdev Devvarman suffered a surprise straight-set defeat to Yuichi Sugita, and then Rohan Bopanna met the same fate at the hands of Kei Nishikori.
Andy Murray reached the final of the Madrid Open for the second year running by beating Rafael Nadal in straight sets 7-5, 6-4 on Saturday.
Rafael Nadal reached the final of the Swiss Indoor tournament when he beat Frenchman Richard Gasquet 6-4, 7-6(7) on Saturday, a result that was good news for fellow Spaniard David Ferrer.
Home hope Bernard Tomic continued his promising form ahead of the Australian Open by overcoming Kei Nishikori to set up a Brisbane International semi-final against big-serving Canadian Milos Raonic.
American wild card Ryan Sweeting completed his unlikely tournament run by capturing the US Clay Court Championship with a 6-4, 7-6 victory over Japan's Kei Nishikori on Sunday.
An All-Asian tie that catches the eye is rarer than a bottle of Australian wine at Roland Garros but Kei Nishikori's clash with Chung Hyeon in the third round of the French Open could be one to savour.
The 32-year-old world number 18 still had a remote chance of qualifying for the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals for an eighth time.
Sixth seed semi-finalist Janko Tipsarevic advanced into the last eight of the Chennai Open with a comfortable 6-2, 7-6 (3) win over Russian Alexandre Kudryavtsev on Thursday.
Roger Federer won the Swiss Indoors title for the fifth time in six years when he demolished unseeded Kei Nishikori in the final on his home town tournament on Sunday.
Making an impressive start at the ATP Malaysian Open, Indian teen Yuki Bhambri demolished fellow wild card Yew-ming SI of Malaysia 6-2, 6-0 in the first round in Kuala Lumpur on Monday.
Fourteen-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal crashed out of the Brisbane International after going down at the hands of top-seed Milos Raonic of Canada in their quarter-final clash here on Friday. World number three Raonic recorded only his second victory over Nadal in eight meetings with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 win in the last-eight contest that lasted two hours and 21 minutes.
Yuichi Sugita and Kei Nishikori helped Japan to a commanding 2-0 lead against India in the Davis Cup World Group Play-Off tie in Tokyo on Friday.
The Spaniard's main rival, Roger Federer, picked the Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship prize for a record fifth successive year.
Venus Williams, Coco Gauff pair up to play doubles at French Open.
"It's been an amazing year so far," said the 25-year-old Nishikori, who will move up to fourth from fifth in the world rankings. "I've had some good Grand Slams, too."
Defending US Open champion Rafael Nadal retired from his semi-final against Argentine third seed Juan Martin del Potro on Friday with right knee issues. The world number one was trailing 7-6(3), 6-2 when he decided to call it a night.
Lleyton Hewitt proved he is not quite ready to hand over the baton in Australian men's tennis as he used all his years of grasscourt know-how to beat 21-year-old Japanese Kei Nishikori in four sets on Tuesday.
Will it be Rafa versus Djoko in Sunday's final?
Kei Nishikori has shrugged off the pressure of being Japan's highest-seeded player at Wimbledon in the Open era and believes he is getting closer to the levels of the world's top players.
Nadal, Djokovic, Murray, Wawrinka all will be in action at Roland Garros on Wednesday
Rafael Nadal struggled past Japanese teenager Kei Nishikori at the Queen's Club, winning 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 to reach the quarter-finals.
Also in action on the first day at Roland Garros is men's second seed Alexander Zverev who meets Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania on Court Suzanne-Lenglen.
Japanese teenager Kei Nishikori reached his first ATP semi-final with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Bobby Reynolds.
Rafael Nadal looked like he had never been away as he made a welcome return to Wimbledon with a ruthless 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 win over Japanese wildcard Kei Nishikori on Tuesday.
Rafael Nadal looked like he had never been away as he made a welcome return to Wimbledon with a ruthless 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 win over Japanese wildcard Kei Nishikori on Tuesday.
Japan's number one Kei Nishikori has been warned not to let his mobile phone go off on court during next week's home Davis Cup clash with China. The 19-year-old has been told to leave his phone in the locker room after it kept bleeping during a first-round defeat to Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis in Memphis last week, Japanese media reported on Wednesday.
Former world number one Novak Djokovic showed signs of a return to form with an impressive 7-5, 6-4 victory over Japan's Kei Nishikori in the opening round of the Madrid Open on Monday.
Shunning all the injury worries, India's Rohan Bopanna will play the opening match against Japan's No 1 player Kei Nishikori in the Asia-Oceania Davis Cup tie, in New Delhi, from April 11 to 13. India's top player Prakash Amritraj will take on Go Soeda in the second singles, after the visitors went with the rankings and left out their most experienced Davis Cupper Takao Suzuki from the singles line-up.
Country's highest ranked singles player Rohan Bopanna trails his Japanese counterpart Kei Nishikori by more than 200 rungs but India's Davis Cup captain Leander Paes is confident the hosts will put up a brave fight in the upcoming Asia-Oceania Group-I tie starting in New Delhi on April 11.
The 18-year-old became the first Japanese player to win an ATP event for nearly 16 years when he won the Delray Beach International.
World number seven David Nalbandian stayed on course for his first Stockholm Open title by crushing Spaniard Albert Montanes 6-4, 6-1 in the quarter-finals on Friday. The top seed from Argentina broke serve once in the opening set and three times in the second to set up a meeting with third-seeded Finn Jarkko Nieminen, who ousted Spain's Oscar Hernandez 6-1, 6-4.
For the fourth time in his career, the eighth-seeded Japanese has dropped one set or less en route to the quarter-finals of a major championship.
Japanese outsider Kei Nishikori stole the spotlight on another day of shocks at the US Open on Saturday, while Venus and Serena Williams rolled towards a quarter-final showdown at Flushing Meadows. Fourth seed David Ferrer was left a punched out wreck as he went down 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 2-6, 7-5 following an inspired performance by Nishikori.
Canada's Milos Raonic has withdrawn from the ATP Tour Finals in London due to injury and been replaced by Spain's David Ferrer.
Rafael Nadal predicted a big future for Japanese teenager Kei Nishikori after surviving a scare at Queen's Club.
Top seed James Blake eased into the US Clay Court Championships second round but fellow American Sam Querrey made an early exit.
Indian captain Leander Paes went down in a close contest against Satoshi Iwabuchi, while Mahesh Bhupathi surrendered tamely against Kei Nishikori as Japan closed the margin to 2-3 in the Asia Oceania Davis Cup round II tie in New Delhi on Sunday. Paes lost 4-6, 6-4, 4-6 to the left-handed Iwabuchi in a dramatic fifth rubber after Bhupathi had folded to a 5-7, 1-6 defeat against Japan's no.1 Nishikori.
The Olympics are set to run from July 23 to Aug. 8 after being postponed in March last year over the coronavirus pandemic.
Andy Roddick beat impressive Japanese teenager Kei Nishikori 6-2, 6-4 in the second round of the San Jose Open.
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