Ramkumar Ramanathan proved his ascendancy in Indian tennis yet again as he knocked out Yuki Bhambri from the ATP Indore Open even as India's top player Somdev Devvarman also made an early exit, in Indore, on Thursday.
Prajnesh Gunneswaran and Ramkumar Ramanathan will lead the singles challenge, while Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan will make the doubles pair for the grass court tie.
Surprisingly, Yuki Bhambri has preferred a smaller $50,000 Challenger tournament in Kobe, Japan, while Ramkumar Ramanathan has to attend a mandatory ATP educative programme in London.
The Indian Davis Cup team was staring at defeat at the zonal level for the first time in five years following shock defeats of Ramkumar Ramanathan and Sumit Nagal on the opening day of the second round tie against China, in Tianjin, on Friday.
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.
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.
Veteran Indian tennis star Leander Paes won his second Challenger-level title of the season but Ramkumar Ramanathan had to be content with a runner-up finish at the $ 75000 clay-court event, in Florida.
Yuki Bhambri beat Croatia's Matija Ecotic in straight sets to advance to the second round in the US $50,000 ATP Lexington Challenger on Wednesday. Returning to complete Tuesday's unfinished rain-hit match, the Indian youngster conceded only two games, after the match resumed at 4-4, to win 7-5, 6-1.
Canada named rising star and world number 69 Denis Shapovalov in its squad to take on India in the upcoming Davis Cup World Group Play-off tie, scheduled in Edmonton from September 15.
Career best rank of 168 in singles for Ramkumar
India won the opening singles to take a 2-0 lead over South Korea on Day 1 of the Asia/Oceania Group-I tie against South Korea, in Chandigarh, on Friday. After young Ramkumar Ramanathan made a winning Davis Cup debut, scoring a hard-fought 6-3, 2-6, 6-3, 6-5 (15-15) victory over Seong Chan Hong in the first singles, Saketh Myneni got the better of Yong-Kyu Lim 6-1, 3-6, 6-4, 3-6, 5-2.
Paes said he was pleased to see the manner in which Nagal handled himself against a great like Federer.
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.
Keeping in mind Italians' weakness on grass, India have opted for grass courts in South Club here for the February 1-2 fixtures which will be played in new format with the winners making a cut to the 18-nation finals in Madrid next year.
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.
Ramkumar to play opening singles tie against Schnur, Yuki takes on Shapovalov on day 1
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.
Sahara Force India enjoyed a double points finish at the 'home' British Grand Prix with Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez finishing eight and ninth to collect six points for the team, in Silverstone, on Sunday.
While Somdev was beaten 7-5, 5-7, 1-6 by Slovakian 20th seed Nerbert Gombos, Saketh frittered a one-set lead while going down 6-4, 4-6, 1-6 to Germany's Jan-Lennard Struff.
Bhambri, ranked 116 in the world, had reached the second round when the ATP 250 event was played in Chennai in January 2017.
Sumit Nagal, seeded 21st in the qualifiers, was shown the door by Mohamed Safwat of Egypt
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.
'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'
'The quality of tennis is better playing indoors because factors like sun and wind do not affect the matches.'
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 22-year-old from Haryana ended runners up in the Banja Luka ATP Challenger event on Sunday following a first round appearance at the US Open last month.
According to sources in the Dhanbad court, Anand, known to be strict judge, had recently declined bail pleas of some gangsters, and the incident could be a fallout of this decision.
The public discourse surrounding the murder of Infosys techie Swathi begs for sanity. Sadly, there are no takers for it in Tamil Nadu as conspiracy theories -- some communally explosive -- keep cropping up. R Ramasubramanian reports.
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.
An independent tribunal of the ITF will now deliberate upon the appeal and make a final decision by November 18.
The All India Tennis Association's selection committee retained all four playing members of the squad that beat Korea Korea 4-1 last month, for the Davis Cup World Group play-off tie against Spain, scheduled for September 16-18.
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.
Top singles player Yuki Bhambri on Monday returned to the Indian Davis Cup team along with Saketh Myneni even as veteran Leander Paes was expectedly dropped from the squad for the tie against Canada next month.
Prajnesh Gunneswaran, who was the lone Indian left in the Australian Open qualifiers, lost in the final of the qualifying event on Friday.
It took 110 days for the COVID-19 cases in the country to reach one lakh while it had taken 59 days more to go past the 10-lakh post.
Following is India's schedule on Day 2 of competitions at the 18th Asian Games on Monday.
Yuki Bhambri opted out of the upcoming Davis Cup match against Korea Republic after failing to recover from an elbow injury. His withdrawal will hand Ramkumar Ramanathan his debut in men's tennis' premier international team event.
Veteran Leander Paes and his partner Samantha Stosur suffered a second round defeat in the mixed doubles event, ending India's campaign at the Australian Open.
Ramkumar, who ended a runner-up at the Newport event last week, lost 4-6, 4-6 to American Taylor Fritz.
Captain Mahesh Bhupathi, on Wednesday, made it clear that India won't miss veteran Leander Paes during their upcoming Davis Cup Qualifier against fancied Italy at Calcutta South Club on Friday-Saturday.
