Japanese qualifier Go Soeda shocked Croatia's fifth seed Ivan Dodig 7-6(6), 6-3 in the men's singles second round of the Aircel Chennai Open 2012 on Wednesday.
Rafa Nadal overpowered qualifier Go Soeda 6-3, 6-2 as he began the defence of his Japan Open title in a blur of swashbuckling winners on Tuesday.
India's Somdev Devvarman qualified for the Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington DC with a straight sets victory over Japan's Go Soeda on Sunday. The 23-year-old beat second seed Soeda 7-5, 7-5 in the final qualifying round to set up a first round clash with American wildcard Taylor Dent.
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.
Indian qualifier Prakash Amritraj's good run at the ATP Chennai Open ended today when he lost 6-7 (2), 6-3, 4-6 to eighth seed Japanese Go Soeda in the hard-fought second round match.
Defending champion Andy Murray blew out the cobwebs with a 7-6, 6-4 win over towering Croat Ivo Karlovic on Tuesday in his first match since winning last month's U.S. Open.
Croatia, Serbia and Austria sealed places in the Davis Cup quarter-finals on Sunday after converting 2-1 overnight leads into winning margins.
None of the remaining three Indians, including Rohan Bopanna, could make the main singles draw of the Aircel Chennai Open. All of them suffered defeats in the second round of the qualifying event, on Sunday.
Vishnu Vardhan made an impressive Davis Cup debut but lost the must-win first reverse singles of the play-off tie to Kei Nishikori in Tokyo on Sunday. The result relegated India to Asia/Oceania Zone Group I and catapulted Japan to World Group for the first time since 1985.
Somdev Devvarman's quest to win back to back ATP Challenger tournaments remained unfulfilled as he crashed out of the Vancouver Open with a straight sets defeat in the quarter-finals. Somdev went down fighting 4-6, 6-7 (6) against sixth seed Japanese Go Soeda in the last-eight clash in the US $ 1,00,000 hard-court event.
Italy's Fabio Fognini said it was a 'strange feeling' playing a Davis Cup tie with no fans. Japan were also playing their tie against Ecuador in an empty stadium in Miki because of the coronavirus spread, which has played havoc with sporting fixtures across the world.
Shunning all the injury worries, India's Rohan Bopanna will play the opening match against Japan's No 1 player Kei Nishikori in the Asia-Oceania Davis Cup tie, in New Delhi, from April 11 to 13. India's top player Prakash Amritraj will take on Go Soeda in the second singles, after the visitors went with the rankings and left out their most experienced Davis Cupper Takao Suzuki from the singles line-up.
National champion Ashutosh Singh and compatriot Vishnu Vardhan took different exit routes as India's challenge in men's singles of the $ 50,000 ATP Challenger tennis tournament came to a screeching end in New Delhi on Wednesday.
The tournament that calls itself the grand slam of Asia Pacific was left without an Asian representative in the men's singles following Danai Udomchoke's defeat by Novak Djokovic on Friday.
Rafael Nadal overcame a temporary blip on his way to victory at the ATP Cup on Saturday
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.
Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic won their matches for their respective countries on Day 4 of the ATP Cup on Monday.
World number one Novak Djokovic blasted past qualifier Alexei Popyrin 6-4, 6-2 to reach the second round of the Japan Open Tennis Championships in Tokyo.
Novak Djokovic spurred Serbia to a 3-0 win over neighbours Croatia in the first round of the Davis Cup on Saturday and they will be joined in the quarter-finals by an equally rampant France.
World number one Rafael Nadal won a battle of attrition against fellow left-hander Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan 7-6(4), 6-4 to seal Spain's spot in the final eight of the inaugural ATP Cup in Perth on Wednesday. Meanwhile his long-time rival, world number two Novak Djokovic, had an easier outing in Brisbane, strolling past Chile's Cristian Garin 6-3, 6-3 to stay undefeated in the new year.
India's big hope Yuki Bhambri crashed out of the US Open men's singles qualifiers with a three-set defeat to Japanese Go Soeda while Prajnesh Gunneswaran also suffered a tame defeat in New York.
Novak Djokovic praised American Tim Smyczek's act of sportsmanship in his second round marathon against Rafa Nadal as "greater than sport itself" at the Australian Open on Thursday.
Serena Williams weathered an early challenge from Russian Vera Zvonareva before the former World No 2 crumbled to lose 7-5, 6-0 in the second round of the Australian Open on Thursday.
Four months after back surgery, Wimbledon champion Andy Murray was understandably cautious on Saturday about his chances of reaching a fourth Australian Open final in five years.
India's Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna crashed out of the Japan Open following a straight set defeat against Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo, in Tokyo on Thursday.