Top seed Somdev Devvarman struggled past Ramkumar Ramanathan, who was troubled by cramps, but Yuki Bhambri made a fluent start with a straight sets victory in the US$ 50,000 ATP Challenger event, in Chennai.
Ramkumar Ramanathan proved his ascendancy in Indian tennis yet again as he knocked out Yuki Bhambri from the ATP Indore Open even as India's top player Somdev Devvarman also made an early exit, in Indore, on Thursday.
Ace Indian tennis player Sumit Nagal was off to a winning start in Monte Carlo Masters as he defeated world number 63 Flavio Cobolli of Italy in straight sets in the qualifiers in Monte Carlo on Saturday.
The win at the Chennai Open challenger event on Sunday pushed Nagal to 98th in the latest singles rankings.
World No.4 Stan Wawrinka will look to win his third successive Chennai Open title, while the Indian challenge will be spearheaded by rising star Yuki Bhambri
Sounding warning bells for South Africa ahead of the upcoming Davis Cup tie, Somdev Devvarman beat Izak Van der Merwe in straight sets to storm into the semi-finals of the US $75,000 ATP Challenger event in Aptos. The Indian beat the South African Davis Cupper 6-4, 6-2 in the quarter-final of the hard court event on Friday.
The Paris Games will be his second stint in the Olympics, having also qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Games, where he made it to the second round.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Monday
Sumit Nagal got the big break as he was the highest ranked player in that draw.
India's Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and Matt Reid on Monday knocked out reigning French Open champions Ryan Harrison and Michael Venus in the opening round of the ATP250 Aegon International, in Eastbourne, on Monday.
His dream of being inside the global top-100 has been realised but Sumit Nagal is nowhere close to being a content man as the Indian tennis ace says he now faces the challenge of improving or holding on to his standing for direct entry into Grand Slams and the Paris Olympics.
Second seed David Nalbandian of Argentina will play Kristian Piess of Denmark in the first round of the Chennai Open.
It was a memorable day for Indian tennis as Rohan Bopanna won the Erste Open in Vienna, partnering Pablo Cuevas, while the team of Saketh Myneni and Vijay Sundar Prashanth clinched the Vietnam Open in Ho Chi Minh City.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Saturday
Rohan Bopanna and Pablo Cuevas yet again failed to click as a team, losing the closely-fought opening round of the ATP Indian Wells Masters to Novak Djokovic and Viktor Troicki, in Indian Wells
Bhambri, ranked 116 in the world, had reached the second round when the ATP 250 event was played in Chennai in January 2017.
Sharapova was broken in the first game but fought back to draw level before going on to take the first set with a hold to love.
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.
Divij Sharan and Purav Raja won their first title of the 2017 season and maiden on the clay courts by lifting the Bordeaux Challenger trophy.
Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-haq Qureshi scored their first victory since reuniting as a team, overcoming a spirited challenge from Jean-Julien Roger and Horia Tecau in the first round of the ATP Apia International, in Sydney on Tuesday.
Ruthless Ruud topples Shapovalov to win Geneva Open.
The defending champion beat Russian Igor Andreev in straight sets at the Tata Open tennis championship.
With the Australian Open currently on, defending champion Novak Djokovic has once again been dubbed as a favourite to retain the title, and former world No. 17 Bernard Tomic of Australia firmly believes there will be no one to challenge the great Serbian.
Rohan Bopanna and Pablo Cuevas shocked top seeds Marcelo Melo and Lukas Kubot to storm into the semi-finals of the Erste Bank Open
Third seed Rainer Schuettler of Germany was the first casualty at the ATP Chennai Open.
India will host its first WTA tournament in five years when the city of Mumbai stages a $ 125,000 event in November, giving home players an opportunity to compete with the world's top-50.
The 36-year-old Swiss master needs only to reach the semi-finals at the ABN Amro tennis event to overtake Rafael Nadal at the top of the ATP rankings and become world number one for the first time since November 2012.
Indian tennis star Mahesh Bhupathi insists that his consistent presence on the pro circuit should not be considered preparations for the Rio Olympics.
Continuing his giant-killing spree, Slovenian qualifier Aljaz Bedene knocked out third seed and world number 15 Roberto Bautista Agut to set up the Chennai Open summit clash with top seed and defending champion Stanislas Wawrinka on Saturday.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Monday
India ended its campaign at the Fed Cup with a fourth place finish after losing the classification tie 1-2 to Korea as the team badly missed injured Karman Kaur Thandi, who did not play on Saturday, in Astana, Kazakhstan.
Nagal said he would look to play more ATP Tour events this year but for that he would have to first improve his rankings.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Tuesday
Ramkumar became the first Indian in seven years to advance to the singles final of an ATP World Tour event but missed out on ending India's 20-year title drought when he lost the Hall of Fame final to Steven Johnson on Sunday night.
Somdev Devvarman recovered from his shock Chennai Open defeat against little-known compatriot Ramkumar Ramanathan to edge past Belgium's Niel Desein in a tight opening round of the ATP Apia International qualifiers in Sydney on Saturday.
India's top two singles players, Somdev Devvarman and Yuki Bhambri headed towards a possible semi-final clash in the $50,000 ATP Challenger event after beating their respective rivals in contrasting fashion in Chennai.
Steve Johnson beat first-time ATP finalist Indian Ramkumar Ramanathan 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 at the Hall of Fame Open in Newport, Rhode Island on Sunday for his fourth career title and second of 2018.
Sania, the country's finest woman doubles player, who began the year with the number one ranking, closed it at number 9.
'Goran had quite a big influence on me to change my mentality and focus on my game. He changed my serve, I started to get aggressive and that is what I needed in my career'
Defending champions Rohan Bopanna and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan were ousted from the Tata Open Maharashtra but Yuki Bhambri and Divij Sharan combined to shock the top seeds, keeping the Indian hopes alive, in Pune, on Thursday.
