A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Saturday
Veteran Leander Paes was, on Tuesday, dropped from the Indian Davis Cup squad for the World Group away tie against Serbia scheduled from September 14 to 16.
AITA pairs him with Bopanna, withdraws Sharan
India's top tennis players Yuki Bhambri, Prajnesh Gunneswaran and Divij Sharan returned to the courts after over two-and-a-half months.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Thursday
Purav Raja and Divij Sharan turned it around amazingly after losing the first two sets but eventually fell short in an energy-sapping five setter, shortly after Rohan Bopanna also lost his men's doubles second round at the Wimbledon championships, in London on Friday.
Famous sports personalities who wed in 2019.
The Indian pair of Purav Raja and Divij Sharan upstaged the 15th-seeded Austrian-Croat combo of Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic to enter the men's doubles pre- quarterfinals of the French Open.
Competing in his 24th Australian Open, veteran Leander Paes and his partner Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela saved a few match points but eventually fell 5-7, 6-7(4) to American-Kiwi combo of Austin Krajicek and Artem Sitak.
India's top singles player Yuki Bhambri and Asian Games gold-medallist Divij Sharan have pulled out of the Davis Cup World Group Play-off tie against Serbia due to injuries while Sumit Nagal has refused to join the team as a stand-by.
'The most confusing part as a player is even though the entry deadline has passed for Olympics, we have no idea on what the exact cut off of rankings are.'
Men's doubles top seeds Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan played their semi-final in taped shorts on Thursday.
Indian tennis legend Leander Paes is set to play his last tournament on home soil as he was on Saturday handed a wild card entry in doubles for the third edition of Tata Open Maharashtra, beginning in Pune from February 3. The 46-year-old Paes and his partner Australian Mathew Ebden will face the pair of Divij Sharan and New Zealand's Artem Sitak in the first round.
The unseeded Indo-Croat pairing had received a walkover in the pre-quarters on Sunday against Netherlands' Matwe Middelkoop and Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador.
Indian tennis legend Leander Paes and American Scott Lipsky beat French pair of Laurent Lokoli and Maxime Janvier in straight sets to sail into the semi-finals of the Bordeaux Challenger, in Bordeaux, France, on Wednesday.
Ankita Raina's maiden appearance in Wimbledon's main draw ended in disappointment as the Indian and her American partner Lauren Davis lost in straight sets to the US pair of Asia Muhammad and Jessica Pegula.
Rohan Bopanna, recuperating from a shoulder injury, will skip the ATP Rogers Cup beginning in Toronto, on Monday, and will reach Palembang on August 14 to get acclimatised to the conditions ahead of the Asian Games.
Experienced Indian Rohan Bopanna and his Canadian partner Denis Shapovalo advanced to the second round of the US Open men's doubles event after a straight-set win in New York.
Vishnu Vardhan joined the Indian Davis Cup team in Chandigarh on Sunday and said the hosts are familiar with the playing style of the New Zealand squad that touched down for the Asia-Oceania tie starting September 14.
Tennis ace Rohan Bopanna, hockey great P R Sreejesh and table tennis legend Sharath Kamal, are gearing up for one last hurrah at the Asian Games, starting in Hangzhou, from September 23.
Veteran Indian tennis player Rohan Bopanna and his Croatian partner Franko Skugor advanced to the third round of the French Open with a straight sets win over Americans Frances Tiafo and Nicholas Monroe.
Rohit Rajpal will continue as India's non-playing captain. He took over as captain last year after the country's top players and then captain Mahesh Bhupathi refused to travel to Pakistan in November. India is scheduled to travel to Croatia for their next tie on March 6 and 7.
If Nagal, a wild card entrant and world number 139, can cross the first hurdle, he will run into either 19th seed Russian Karen Khachanov or local wild card Aleksandar Vukic.
India's challenge in mixed doubles at the Wimbledon Championships ended with second round defeats of Divij Sharan and Rohan Bopanna, on Saturday.
Leander Paes might team up with Ramkumar Ramnathan instead of Sumit Nagal in this month's Asian Games after captain Zeeshan Ali said he will consider the ATP World Tour finalist's request to pair up with the senior pro.
Both Balaji and Bhambri have got some decent results on clay in lead up to the Roland Garros, where the action will unfold during the Summer Olympics from July 27.
The Indian challenge came to an end at the US Open with the quarter-final loss of Rohan Bopanna and his Canadian partner Denis Shapovalov in the men's doubles event.
Bopanna and Shapovalov will take on Dutch-Romanian combination of Jeal-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau in the quarterfinals.
Ankita's defeat means that no Indian will compete in the singles main draw of the clay court Grand Slam.
Third seed Karan Rastogi dropped a set before overcoming lower-ranked Huai-En Chang of Chienese Taipei in the first round of the Oil India ITF Futures tournament.
Indian tennis ace Leander Paes and his German partner Andre Begemann have stormed into the semi-finals of the St. Petersburg Open after clinching a straight-sets victory in the men's doubles event on Friday.
Playing alongside Australian partner Matthew Ebden, the eight-time doubles Grand Slam champion Leander Paes showed his class during a clinical victory over defending champion and second seed Sharan, who was playing alongside New Zealand's Artem Sitak.
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.
Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek, seeded fourth, are drawn against Daniele Bracciali of Italy and Jonathan Erlich of Israel in the first round of the men's doubles at Wimbledon, starting Monday.
India had mixed fortunes at the US Open on Friday. Rohan Bopanna advanced to the men's doubles second round partnering Denis Shapovalov, but Leander Paes, teaming with Guillermo Duran, made a first-round exit.
Prajnesh Gunneswaran emerged as the only Indian to manage a win in the singles main draw of the Bengaluru Open as Ramkumar Ramanathan and Arjun Kadhe made first-round exits.
Vishnu Vardhan scripted a clinical singles victory and then combined with Divij Sharan to win the heart-stopping doubles rubber as India's young guns lived up to the expectations by winning the Davis Cup Group 1 relegation play-off tie against New Zealand in Chandigarh on Saturday.
Harsh Mankad beat Sri Lanka's Harshana Goddamane 6-1, 6-4 in the quarterfinals of the ITF Futures in Mumbai.
The Wimbledon girls' doubles champion was beaten by Stephanie Dubois at the Canada Open.
India's campaign at the US Open came to an end after Rohan Bopanna lost in the men's and mixed doubles, in New York, on Sunday. India's top-ranked men's doubles player and his Canadian partner Denis Shapovalov lost 3-6, 4-6 to 15th seeds Neal Skupski and Jamie Murray of Great Britain in a second round match that lasted 75 minutes.
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