Leander Paes has vowed to show his rookie teammates the way in order to help them make a worthy debut for India in the upcoming Davis Cup tie against South Korea, but acknowledged the task ahead is 'tough'.
Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna have reached the quarter-finals of their respective events at the US Open but the fledgling partnership of Leander Paes and Purav Raja has fallen flat yet again.
Divij Sharan and Purav Raja frittered away a two-set lead to spoil their Grand Slam debut as they bowed out of men's doubles event of the Wimbledon after losing a marathon opening round match.
Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna, who will represent India at the Rio Olympics as a team, may clash against each other at the Wimbledon pre-quarterfinals as they have been drawn in the top half of the draw at the men's doubles event. Bopanna and his Romanian partner Florin Mergea, seeded sixth, open their campaign against Croatian pair of Marin Draganja and Nikola Mektic.
Prajnesh is now ranked 102 in the men's singles rankings with a jump of seven places while Ankita leapfrogged 35 places to a career-high 168 in the women's singles.
Divij Sharan and Purav Raja had to be content with a runners-up finish at the ATP Challenger event in Loughborough, UK, after losing the title clash in straight sets to James Cerretani of the USA and Adil Shamasdin of Canada.
India's fast growing doubles player Divij Sharan earned himself a chance to win his third title of the year by reaching the summit clash of the ATP Challenger event in Loughborough, UK, with compatriot Purav Raja.
The Indian pair of Divij Sharan and Purav Raja entered the semi-finals of the ATP Challenger event in Loughborough (UK) with a convincing straight sets win over Niels Desein of Belgium and Peter Torebko of Germany. The fourth seeded Indians broke early in both the sets for a 6-3, 6-3 quarter-finals win in the Euro 42,500 hard-court tournament.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Sunday.
Bringing in his wealth of experience, Leander Paes combined with debutant Purav Raja to keep India afloat by winning the do-or-die doubles rubber against Korea on Saturday, but it will take a super heroic effort to save the hosts from a defeat in the Davis Cup tie.
V M Ranjeet will open India's Davis Cup campaign against an unranked but talented Min Hyeok Cho of Korea in the Asia/Oceania Group I tie, beginning in New Delhi on Friday.
Thrust into action courtesy a controversy, it will be a test of nerves and skill for the Indian rookies when they take on South Korea in the Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Group I tie, beginning in New Delhi on Wednesday.
Paes and Raja dispatched the pair of Nikoloz Basilashvili and Andreas Haider-Maurer 6-2, 6-3 in their opening round.
Leander Paes and his new partner Andre Sa shocked the top-seeded pair of Treat Huey and Max Mirnyi in the ASB Classic in Auckland, to commence their partnership on a successful note on Wednesday.
India's leading players Prajnesh Gunneswaran and Sumit Nagal lost in the pre-quarter-finals, ending India's challenge in the men's singles, of the Bengaluru Open, in Bengaluru, on Thursday.
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.
India's top singles player Yuki Bhambri regained his place in top-100 as he jumped 16 places to touch a career-best rank of 89, which now ensures him a direct entry into the main draw of Australian Open.
Divij Sharan and Purav Raja shocked top seeded Colombians Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah to breeze into the summit clash of the ATP Claro Open, in Bogota, Colombia.
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A second title of the season eluded Divij Sharan and Purav Raja yet again as they ended runners-up at the Nottingham Challenger after losing the tough summit clash to formidable Thai twin brothers Sanchai and Sonchat Ratiwatana.
Mahesh Bhupathi returned to Grand Slam action with a first-round win at the Australian Open but Leander Paes' bid fell flat at the first hurdle, in Melbourne, on Wednesday.
The top seeded Indian pair of Divij Sharan and Purav Raja reached their first final of the season together after overcoming a fighting combo of Toshihide Matsui and Danai Udomchoke in straight sets in the ATP Kyoto Challenger event on Friday.
India's Rohan Bopanna on Monday jumped four places to 12th in the latest doubles ranking chart. The soar in rankings was courtesy his title victory at the ATP Dubai 500 event.
Mukund is now the second Indian player to pull out of the tie after Rohan Bopanna had withdrawn due to a shoulder injury.
Sania Mirza has enjoyed a dream run in the history Indian tennis this year. With two Grand Slam titles, 10 ATP crowns, in the WTA rankings, the Hyderabadi star continues to be World No 1.
Following his maiden appearance at the US Open, Saketh Myneni achieved a career-high rank of 137 in singles in the latest list, issued by the ATP.
India's Leander Paes and Purav Raja sailed into the men's doubles second round in the duo's first outing at a Grand Slam but Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna crashed out of their respective events in the US Open.
Divij Sharan and Purav Raja moved within a victory from qualifying for the Wimbledon men's doubles event after recording a comfortable straight sets win in London.
India's Sanam Singh lost to Peter Polanski for the second time in two months and crashed out of the ATP Knoxville Challenger event in the United States.
Rohan Bopanna's campaign at the last Grand Slam of the season ended with defeat in the mixed doubles along with Canadian partner Gabriela Dabrwoski while India's juniors also fizzled out in the singles in the US Open in New York.
Ramkumar to play opening singles tie against Schnur, Yuki takes on Shapovalov on day 1
Rohan Bopanna's campaign in the ATP Challenger series tournament in Tashkent ended with a quarter-final defeat in the doubles, at the US $125,000 event, at the Olympic Tennis School. Bopanna and his partner Purav Raja put up a brave fight before losing 6-7(4) 6-3 to the top seeded pair of Oliver Marach of Austria and Lukasz Kubot of Poland.
Indian Davis Cupper Rohan Bopanna and Frank Moser cruised into the doubles semi-finals of the Italy ATP Challenger event while Purav Raja and Sadi Kadir progressed to the quarter-finals of the Almaty Cup in Kazakhstan. The third seeded pair of Bopanna and Moser of Germany beat British duo of Jamie Delgado and Jamie Murray 6-3, 6-3 in the second round of the euro 64,000 clay-court event.
The Tamil Nadu-based Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan, who recently made his Davis Cup debut and is expected to lead India's doubles challenge in coming years, is spending time hitting at private courts and handling the marketing of their family resort in Pondicherry.
Yuki Bhambri saved a match point in a gruelling battle against Peter Polansky before securing a place in the second round of the Aegon Challenger event, in Ilkley.
India's top singles player Somdev Devvarman returned to top-100 after nearly two years as he jumped three places to 98 in the latest ATP singles rankings, issued on Monday.
Santosh Sivan makes the whole film look so bloody enchanting that you have no room to complain about the slightest possible niggles.
Divij Sharan and Purav Raja suffered their second successive first round defeat as they bowed out of the St. Petersburg Open after a 6-7(6), 4-6 defeat against Russians Victor Baluda and Konstantin Kravchuk.
Top seeds Leander Paes and Raven Klaasen eased into the men's doubles final with a clinical win over Spain's Pablo Carreno Busta and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez at the Chennai Open tennis tournament.
