Defending champion Rohan Bopanna went down fighting in the thrilling doubles opening round game at the third edition of Tata Open Maharashtra, in Pune, on Wednesday. Playing alongside local boy Arjun Kadhe, the ace Indian player Bopanna dominated the game initially. However, after winning the first set convincingly, the Indian duo couldn't manage to continue the momentum further in the games against French pair of Benoit Paire and Antoine Hoang as they lost the match 3-6, 7-5, 10-7.
On Thursday, Bhambri will look to secure a berth in the singles quarter-finals as takes on eight-seed Stefano Travaglia in a second-round match.
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.
Divij Sharan and Purav Raja will make their first ever appearance at a Grand Slam as the Indian duo qualified for the Wimbledon men's doubles event.
Third seeds Raja and Sharan got the better of second seeds Paes and Lipsky 6-2, 6-3 in a lop-sided semi-final.
Unseeded Indians Purav Raja and Divij Sharan entered the second round of the men's doubles event at Wimbledon with a hard-earned four-set victory over British-Portuguese pair of Kyle Edmund and Joao Sousa in London.
Another Indian pair of N Sriram Balaji and Vishnu Vardhan will also be seen in the semi-finals after their opponents, Gianluca Mager and Emil Ruusuvuori withdrew from the last-eight match due to an injury to the former.
Divij Sharan kept Indian interest alive at the Wimbledon Championships by reaching the men's doubles pre-quarter-finals with partner Marcelo Demoliner.
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.
The fast rising Indian pair of Divij Sharan and Purav Raja clinched its first ever ATP tour level title with a hard-fought win over Edouard Roger-Vasselin and Igor Sijsling in the summit clash of the Claro Open, in Bogota.
Ramkumar-Balaji win Cassis Challenger title.
The fast rising Indian pair of Divij Sharan and Purav Raja came from a set down to win their first title ATP Challenger title of the season as the top seeded Indians tamed Miachel Venus and Sanchai Ratiwatana via Super tie-breaker in the summit clash of the All Japan Indoor Championships, in Kyoto on Saturday.
Ramkumar Ramanthan played his heart out before losing a tight second round singles match while Purav Raja and Divij Sharan bowed out of the men's doubles in the first round of the qualifiers at Wimbledon on Thursday.
The Indian pair of Yuki Bhambri and Divij Sharan advanced to the men's doubles second round of the French Open after blunting the challenge of Fabrice Martin and Purav Raja.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday.
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.
The 44-year-old veteran says he has not lost hope and by his own admission, he is still playing the game for the love of it.
Czech player Vesely scored a sensational 2-6, 6-1, 7-6(11) victory over Ilya Ivashka of Belarus, while Berankis of Lithuania recovered well after the first set setback to register a 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-2 victory over Japan's Yuichi Sugita in another hard-fought quarter-final.
India's top singles player Prajnesh Gunnesaran drew world number 17 Milos Raonic of Canada as his first round opponent at the Wimbledon Championships, starting Monday.
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.
Fourth seeds Leander Paes and Andre Sa progressed to the Estoril Open quarter-finals and also joining them in the last-eight pairs were Divij Sharan and Purav Raja.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Friday
Leander Paes and Matthew Ebden continued their winning streak, beating Jonathan Erlich and Andrei Vasilevski 6-4, 3-6, 10-7 to enter the doubles final at the $1,62,000 Bengaluru Open ATP Tennis Challenger, in Bengaluru, on Friday.
India's Rohan Bopanna and his Hungarian partner Timea Babos entered the quarter-finals of the Australian Open mixed doubles event with a comfortable victory in Melbourne.
India's second seeds Purav Raja and Divij Sharan were upset in straight sets in the final of the Tashkent Challenger by the unseeded Russian pairing of Mikhail Elgin and Teymuraz Gabashvili, in Tashkent, on Saturday.
Career best rank of 168 in singles for Ramkumar
In doubles, probably for first time, six players are featuring in the men's draw.
Top seed Prajnesh Gunneswaran booked a singles quarter-final berth at the Jinan Open with a hard-fought win over Chinese Taipei's Tung-Lin Wu.
Reaping rewards of his consistent performance, Prajnesh Gunneswaran, on Monday, broke into men's singles top-100 for the first time in his career with a jump of six places that took him to 97.
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.
Sania Mirza stormed into the quarter-finals of mixed doubles event as she and her partner Ivan Dodig of Croatia notched up a commanding win over their opponents at the French Open on Sunday.
Miffed at not getting a 'specialist' men's doubles partner, veteran tennis star Leander Paes, on Thursday, pulled out of the 18th Asian Games starting on Saturday.
Indian players made a positive start at the ATP Nottingham Challenger event as Somdev Devvarman recorded victory in singles while Divij Sharan and Purav Raja advanced to the doubles quarter-finals in Nottingham.
For veteran Leander Paes, the team of rookies fighting it out against South Korea are already 'winners', simply because they resisted the 'temptation' of joining the rebels.
According to the latest rankings issued on Monday, the left-handed Sharan is ranked 50th after gaining a place. He had reached the final of the last three tournaments he participated in, winning the ATP 250 European Open, while ending runner-up at Challenger events in Brest and Tashkent with different partners.
India's Rohan Bopanna and his Hungarian partner Timea Babos entered the semi-finals of the Australian Open mixed doubles event with a comfortable victory in Melbourne, on Wednesday.
India's Leander Paes and Brazil's Andre Sa crashed out in the men's doubles event of the Australian Open after losing 6-4, 6-7, 4-6 to Max Mirnyi and Treat Huey in the first round on Thursday.
Jeevan, 24, who came into the tournament ranked 400th in the world and soon after becoming the national men's singles champion, outlasted compatriot Purav Raja in straight sets 6-3, 6-4 in 90 minutes at the Cricket Club of India.
