Yuki Bhambri asserted his class over a promising Arjun Kadhe even as young Sumit Nagal's ATP World Tour debut ended in a tame defeat at the Tata Open Maharashtra in Pune on Tuesday.
Both Balaji and Bhambri have got some decent results on clay in lead up to the Roland Garros, where the action will unfold during the Summer Olympics from July 27.
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 will send 117 athletes to the Paris Olympics, starting July 26 in the French capital. This will be India's second-biggest contingent at an Olympic Games after 121 athletes went to Tokyo in 2021. A total of 47 female and 70 male athletes will be part of the Indian contingent at the Games.
An already depleted India suffered another blow on Saturday with Rohan Bopanna pulling out of the Davis Cup World Group Play-off tie against Spain, claiming that he suffered a knee injury during the US Open.
When contacted, AITA Secretary General Anil Dhupar said he does not have any objection to Bopanna playing with Balaji, ranked 84, at the Paris Olympics.
India's schedule at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, on Tuesday, September 26.
'Right from 2002, making my debut and 22 years later still getting to represent India. I'm extremely proud of that.'
Scripts win with Yuki Bhambri in final tie against Morocco.
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.
Career best rank of 168 in singles for Ramkumar
Davis Cup: Ramkumar to lead Indian challenge against Pakistan on grass courts
India, with players of the caliber of Sumit Nagal, Ramkumar Ramanathan and veteran Leander Paes, were already expected to win easy but pulling out of Pakistan top players Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi and Aqeel Khan has made it a no-contest.
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.
The ITF tribunal has rejected AITA's contention that its Davis Cup team could face security concerns during the World Group I Play-off tie in Islamabad, paving the way for an Indian tennis team's visit to Pakistan for the first time in 60 years.
Shapovalov pulls out of French Open.
Since Yuki Bhambri, ranked 94, is likely to make the cut for the US Open, the AITA selection committee exempted him.
Indian youngster Pranjala Yadlapalli made a confident start to her junior Wimbledon campaign with a straight set win over Colombia's Maria Fernanda Herazo Gonzalez in her girls singles opening round, at Wimbledon on Saturday.
It will be Prajnesh's fifth straight appearance in the main draw of a Grand Slam.
Leander Paes regained his place in the top-50, courtesy a Challenger title win at the Newport Beach event. The triumph took the veteran Indian tennis star 14 places up, to 47 in the latest rankings, issued on Monday.
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.
Seeking to clear the air around the negative perception created following comments of Rohan Bopanna and Sania Mirza, the AITA put on record how it aggressively pursued the case of Bopanna and Divij Sharan for entry into the Tokyo Olympics.
Ramkumar Ramanathan, who will be playing singles alongside Prajnesh Gunneswaran, will form the second men's doubles pairing with Sumit Nagal, who arrived only late on Friday night.
Novak Djokovic also surpassed Rafael Nadal to make a record 77 Masters 1000 semi-final appearances.
Prajnesh Gunneswaran, who was the lone Indian left in the Australian Open qualifiers, lost in the final of the qualifying event on Friday.
India's Nagal draws world No 128 Bradley Klahn in opener.
India endured a second successive disappointing result at the Australian Open with Rohan Bopanna and Ben McLachlan bowing out after a first-round defeat to Ji Sung Nam and Min-Kyu Song in the men's doubles event, in Melbourne.
Bianca Andreescu rolls to first-round win at Strasbourg.
India's Ankita Raina crashed out of the the French Open qualifiers with a 3-6, 6-7 defeat at the hands of Evgeniya Rodina of Russia in the women's singles first round in Paris.
The selection committee has picked World No. 246 Prajnesh as Yuki's replacement as he is the next best singles ranked player.
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.
Following is India's schedule at the Tokyo Olympics on Saturday, July 24.
Top seeds Sania and her Brazilian partner Bruno Soares edged past Abigail Spears and Santiago Gonzalez.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Tuesday
Jamie Murray criticises French Open doubles prize money cut, hotel conditions.
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.
Indian tennis legend Leander Paes is set to play his last tournament on home soil as he was on Saturday handed a wild card entry in doubles for the third edition of Tata Open Maharashtra, beginning in Pune from February 3. The 46-year-old Paes and his partner Australian Mathew Ebden will face the pair of Divij Sharan and New Zealand's Artem Sitak in the first round.
India's top-ranked singles player Ramkumar Ramanathan, of late, has developed a decent serve and volley game and comeback-man Yuki Bhambri is also comfortable playing on grass courts.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday
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.
