The ever reliable combine of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi ensured India's interest in the Davis Cup World Group play-off in Chennai remained alive with a straight sets win over the Brazilian combine of Bruno Soares and Marcelo Melo on Saturday.
US Open finalist Rohan Bopanna will not figure in doubles in the Davis Cup World Group play-off against Brazil, beginning in Chennai on Friday, as the team has decided to stick with the tried and tested duo of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi.
'We are not interested in forfeiting the tie. We look forward to working with the ITF to find a solution that guarantees the safety of all the players'
Raucous home support for holders Argentina did not make up for the absence of Juan Martin del Potro and Federico Delbonis on Friday as they fell 2-0 behind to Italy in the first round of the Davis Cup.
No Indian Davis Cup squad has travelled to Pakistan since March 1964 and in that tie, held in Lahore, India had won 4-0.
Conchita Martinez will take over as Spain's Davis Cup captain for the Group I tie away to Russia.
Spain shrugged off the absence of Rafa Nadal to take a 2-0 lead over hosts the United States in their Davis Cup World Group quarter-final after gutsy wins by Feliciano Lopez and David Ferrer on Friday.
World number two Novak Djokovic fired Serbia to a 2-0 lead over the United States in Belgrade with a 6-2, 7-6, 2-6, 6-3 victory over Sam Querrey, after compatriot Viktor Troicki's hard-fought win over John Isner, also in four sets.
"I think especially Rafa playing singles and doubles almost every day, he's been our MVP this week," Lopez said.
World No 10 Rohan Bopanna and Saketh Myneni suffered a shock straight set mauling at the hands of Artem Sitak and Marcus Daniell as India were left trailing 1-2 against New Zealand.
Britain reached the Davis Cup quarter-finals in bizarre circumstances on Sunday when Canadian Denis Shapovalov defaulted for inadvertently blasting a ball into the umpire's face.
Proposals to revamp the Davis Cup into a season-ending 18-team event were backed by national federations at the International Tennis Federation annual general meeting in Orlando, Florida, on Thursday.
Harsh Mankad, included as a reserve player in the squad, had earlier demanded a guarantee of him playing in the tie.
champion Lleyton Hewitt and Sam Groth combined to defeat Kazakhstan in their Davis Cup doubles tie on Saturday and keep Australia's semi-final hopes alive.
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.
A confident Rohan Bopanna will take on Thomaz Bellucci in the opening match of the Davis Cup World Group play-off tie between India and Brazil in Chennai on Friday.
Benoit Paire made a remarkable Davis Cup debut for France, outplaying Pablo Carreno-Busta 7-5, 6-1, 6-0 in the opening rubber of the World Group semi-final tie against Spain at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy on Friday.
Goffin's 6-3, 6-3, 6-2 triumph in front of a boisterous home crowd gave Belgium a 3-1 lead and sent them into a home semi-final against Australia who also wrapped up victory over the United States thanks to Nick Kyrgios's defeat of Sam Querrey.
World No 1 Novak Djokovic will miss Serbia's Davis Cup World Group playoff tie against India in Bangalore next weekend, the Balkan nation's coach Bogdan Obradovic said on Monday.
India were today drawn to play New Zealand at home in their next Davis Cup tie in the Asia/Oceania Group I competition, which is scheduled for February 3-5. It was after beating New Zealand 3-2 in an away tie that India qualified for the World Group Play-offs in 2015 season. India are back in the Asia Oceania zone after being whitewashed by five-time champions Spain in the World Group play-off tie.
India, with players of the caliber of Sumit Nagal, Ramkumar Ramanathan and veteran Leander Paes, were already expected to win easy but pulling out of Pakistan top players Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi and Aqeel Khan has made it a no-contest.
In a bold decision, Underdogs India have preferred Ramkumar Ramanathan over No. 1 singles player Sumit Nagal for their Davis Cup qualifier against top seeds Croatia, beginning in Zagreb on Friday.
Images from Day one of the 2019 Davis Cup at La Caja Magica in Madrid on Monday
India's Davis Cup Captain Mahesh Bhupathi picked Rohan Bopanna for the Davis Cup match against Uzbekistan in Bengaluru.
The All India Tennis Association may be backing Leander Paes to the hilt in him making the squad for the Rio Olympics, but the veteran star will not be picked in the Davis Cup team despite showing late interest in competing in the Asia/Oceania Group I tie against Korea Republic next month.
Even a second-string Serbia proved a mighty opponent as Yuki Bhambri and Somdev Devvarman suffered crushing singles defeats to leave India trailing 0-2 on the opening day of the Davis Cup World Group play-off tie in Bangalore.
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.
eander Paes will make yet another attempt to set a Davis Cup record for the most doubles victories when India takes on China in a new two-day format for a place in the World Group Play-offs, in Tianjin, China, on Friday.
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.
Ramkumar to play opening singles tie against Schnur, Yuki takes on Shapovalov on day 1
'The boys have hit a lot of balls and are feeling good, so we are looking forward to the weekend' The Indian team, which had a week-long training camp in New York before reaching Edmonton, is set to make a fourth consecutive attempt to qualify for the elite World Group.
Young Sumit Nagal showed spark in his game on Davis Cup debut before 'breathing problem' scuttled his victory march as India suffered a 5-0 whitewash at the hands of mighty Spain in the World Group Play-off tie, in New Delhi on Sunday. Up against the reigning Olympic and French Open doubles champion Marc Lopez, who does not play singles anymore, the 19-year-old Nagal dominated the proceedings under muggy conditions before losing 3-6 6-1 3-6 in the dead fourth rubber, that lasted more than two hours. It was a mountainous task for Ramkumar Ramanathan to prevent a clean sweep since he had world number 13 David Ferrer as his opponent. The Spaniard cruised to a 6-2 6-2 win to complete a dominating 5-0 win for his side even as Ramkumar fought his heart out, giving his all.
Rafa Nadal has returned to the Spain team as they seek to maintain their Davis Cup World Group status with a playoff tie against Ukraine in Madrid later this month, captain Alex Corretja said on Monday.
Play was called off on the second day of the Davis Cup World Group play-off between India and Sweden due to rain.
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.
Leander Paes, partnering Rohan Bopanna, suffered a rare doubles defeat in the Davis Cup as Radek Stepanek and Adam Pavlasek gave Czech Republic a 2-1 lead over India in the World Group play-off tie, in New Delhi, on Saturday.
Israel reached the Davis Cup semi-finals for the first time on Saturday after Andy Ram and Jonathan Erlich gave them an unbeatable 3-0 lead over Russia in their World Group quarter-final.
According to Davis Cup regulations, the Pakistan Tennis Federation now has five working days to choose and confirm their proposed venue.
Yuki Bhambri returned to India's Davis Cup squad for the World Group play-off tie against world No 2 Serbia, as the selectors named a six-member squad on expected lines. Somdev Devvarman, the country's No 1 singles player, will lead the squad.
Murray, playing in his first Davis Cup tie since 2016 and only five months after returning to the sport following career-saving hip surgery, clawed out a 6-7(7), 6-4, 7-6(5) victory
