World No 1 Sania Mirza was, on Monday, named captain of the Indian team for next year's Fed Cup while two six-member squads were announced by the AITA selection panel for the South Asian Games.
Doubles exponent Rohan Bopanna retained his place in India's Davis Cup team despite his recent run-in with the national federation, which named a five-member squad for the upcoming World Group I away tie against Finland.
Andreas Seppi experienced some early hiccups before getting past Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-4, 6-2 in the opening rubber, while 22-year-old Matteo Berrettini made a winning Davis Cup debut, cruising past India number one Prajnesh Gunneswaran 6-4, 6-3.
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.
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.
Somdev Devvarman, India's No 1 singles player, was knocked out of the ATP Atlanta Open by American qualifier Jared Donaldson on Tuesday. The 30-year-old Davis Cupper, who also entered the main draw of the event through the qualifiers, lost 1-6, 6-3, 4-6.
India's top ranked men's singles player Prajnesh Gunneswaran crashed out in the pre-quarterfinals of the Tata Open Maharashtra after suffering a straight-sets defeat against fourth seed Kwan Soon-woo of Korea, on Thursday. Prajnesh lost 3-6, 6-7(5-7) against the Korean at Pune's Mhalunge Balewadi Stadium.
In singles, out of action Yuki Bhambri dropped seven places to 129 while Myneni lost three and is ranked 141.
It will be Prajnesh's fifth straight appearance in the main draw of a Grand Slam.
India tennis ace, Sania Mirza finds herself at No 6 as the new WTA doubles chart was released on Monday.
Mahesh Bhupathi rued that his men failed to seize the opportunities against a much higher-ranked Italy
After being left out of the Davis Cup for the first time in 27 years, an angry Paes had on Thursday lashed out at Bhupathi, accusing his former partner of flouting selection criteria.
Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) had filed an appeal contesting the ITF Davis Cup Committee's November 4 decision to shift the November 29-30 tie to a neutral venue.
Not used to playing singles anymore, India's Rohan Bopanna found rhythm in nick of time to edge past Hong Chung before Yong-Kyu Lim prevented a Korean whitewash with a gritty win over Ramkumar Ramanathan in the Davis Cup Asia Oceania Group I tie, in Chandigarh, on Sunday.
In keeping with the main theme of 'Tides Surging in Asia', the ceremony was about the intermingling of China, Asia and the world in the new era
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.
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.
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.
Somdev Devvarman joined compatriot Ramkumar Ramanathan in the singles main draw of the ATP Chennai Open with a come-from-behind victory over Briton James Ward in the final qualifying round in Chennai on Sunday.
'The only thing I am feeling bad right now is, if he had decided earlier to not come even two weeks or 10 days ago, we would have got a specialist doubles team in place'
Rutuja Bhosale and Rohan Bopanna staged a great comeback after losing the first set to beat Chinese Taipei's combo of Tsung-hao Huang and En-shuo Liang in the final.
India woman's tennis ace, Sania Mirza continues to hold on to her be world number one ranking in doubles, thanks to her consistent performance.
Former Davis Cup captain Anand Amritraj is baffled that India's best singles players are not able to win close matches on the ATP World Tour despite having a decent game to back them.
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.
In the ATP doubles, Leander Paes slid to 25, a loss of four places.
Long-serving Leander Paes was, on Thursday, dropped for the first time in 27 years from India's Davis Cup squad as non-playing captain Mahesh Bhupathi picked Rohan Bopanna instead for the tie against Uzbekistan.
All eyes will be on veteran Leander Paes, who is the on the cusp of a historic world record in perhaps his last appearance in Davis Cup.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday
With Yuki Bhambri and Somdev Devvarman still recovering from their respective injuries, India is set to field same set to players in the upcoming Davis Cup World Group Play-off against Spain, that beat South Korea 4-1 in July.
.jpg)
Sania Mirza took a giant leap towards becoming the world number one player in the doubles by pocketing 1000 ranking points, following her stupendous title win in the Miami Open with partner Martina Hingis.
'Rafa is okay, nothing serious. He did not have any stomach upset. He was playing in the US Open with the same wrist issue. It is getting better and better but still it is sometimes painful. We still have two days of competition. So he might play one of these days'
Punjab Marshalls swept the first home tie 23-15 against Raipur Rangers in possibly the most exciting tie of the Champions Tennis League so far in Chandigarh on Friday.
'The quality of tennis is better playing indoors because factors like sun and wind do not affect the matches.'
Following is the schedule of Indian contingent on day six of the Asian Games:
Leander Paes is set to return to the Indian Davis Cup squad after making himself available for the upcoming tie against Pakistan as the country's top players and non-playing captain Mahesh Bhupathi have refused to travel to the neighbouring nation, citing security concerns.
The All India Tennis Association has decided to invite India's top players for a training camp at the Delhi Lawn Tennis Association in New Delhi with an aim to provide a platform for their return to competitive action from next year.
Halep sustained the injury last month while training for the Wuhan Open, where she lost in the second round. She then retired midway through her opener in Shanghai.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Saturday
India's struggling singles star Somdev Devvarman was handed a tough opener in the ATP Chennai Open as he is pitted against sixth seed and world number 38 Yen-Hsun Lu.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances