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.
But the big question that keeps striking the mind is, if Indian tennis system can actually claim this win as its own. The answer is: partially.
India's top two singles players, Somdev Devvarman and Yuki Bhambri headed towards a possible semi-final clash in the $50,000 ATP Challenger event after beating their respective rivals in contrasting fashion in Chennai.
Former Indian tennis captain Anand Amritraj has criticized top players Sumit Nagal and Yuki Bhambri for not playing in the Davis Cup, stating that money should not be a factor when representing the country.
Young Yuki Bhambri brought India back in the Davis Cup match against New Zealand after Somdev Devvarman was beaten in the opening singles.
Yuki Bhambri advanced to the singles second round of the ATP Tashkent Open and reached the doubles quarter-finals, partnering compatriot Divij Sharan, following an upset victory over the top seeds on Tuesday.
Rohan Bopanna and Shuai Zhang suffered a narrow defeat against local wild cards John Peers and Olivia Gadecki in a thrilling contest at the Australian Open on Tuesday.
Yuki Bhambri, Divij Sharan and Rohan Bopanna bowed out of different events on an all-defeat day for the country
Having lost both the singles on the opening day, the Yuki-Saketh pair did put up a fight before losing to the fancied Norwegian duo in an hour and 50 minutes.
The All India Tennis Association (AITA) selection panel picked a five-member squad in which Mukund will be the highest-ranked singles player at number 368.
Following his title win at the Traralgon Challenger event, Indian tennis player Yuki Bhambri leapfrogged 73 places to 204 in the singles rankings on Monday even as Rohan Bopanna dropped out of the top-10 in the doubles chart.
AITA names five-member Indian team for Davis Cup World Group 1 play-off away tie against Denmark
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.
Another Indian pair of N Sriram Balaji and Vishnu Vardhan will also be seen in the semi-finals after their opponents, Gianluca Mager and Emil Ruusuvuori withdrew from the last-eight match due to an injury to the former.
India's top singles player Somdev Devvarman was on Saturday drawn to a play a qualifier while wild cards Yuki Bhambri and Jeeven Nedunchehziyan will have to fight it out with top-100 players in their first rounds at the Aircel Chennai Open.
The 43-year-old remains the only Indian in the fray in the men's doubles event after Yuki Bhambri and Saketh Myneni made first round exits.
India's best player Yuki Bhambri is back in the squad and that changes the dynamics for the three-day rubber.
Ramkumar Ramanathan enhanced his reputation of being a passionate fighter even in defeat against a much superior Marin Cilic while Yuki Bhambri squandered six break chances to crash out of the Tata Open Maharashtra in Pune on Wednesday.
India were on Thursday drawn to meet Sweden in an away Davis Cup World Group I tie in September.
Sania Mirza and her doubles partner Martina Hingis were ousted from the Rogers Cup after the top seeds suffered a straight sets loss to Caroline Garcia and Katarina Srebotnik in Toronto on Saturday.
India's top singles players, led by Somdev Devvarman, easily advanced to the second round of ATP Pune Challenger on Tuesday, but rising star Ramkumar Ramanathan made a shock first-round exit. Third seed Somdev proved too good for local wild card Arjun Kadhe, scoring a 6-1, 6-3 victory in 60 minutes. Seventh seed Yuki Bhambri disposed of the challenge of Chinese Taipei's Liang-Chi Huang 6-3, 6-0.
The 534th ranked Yuki, who missed out on half the season in 2016 due to a tennis elbow injury, conjured up a 6-1, 6-4 win against his 116th-ranked American opponent.
Cilic's booming serve lacked its usual accuracy and Germany's Kohlschreiber was able to control long rallies, pushing the towering Croatian around the court with pinpoint groundstrokes en route to a quick victory.
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.
Fresh from winning the Chennai leg, Yuki Bhambri advanced to the second round, even as the other two Indians Saketh Myneni and Vishnu Vardhan made quiet exits in the $50,000 ATP Challenger at BTA Courts in Kolkata.
Bhambri, ranked 200th, recovered from a set down and registered what turned to be an emphatic 6-7, 6-3, 6-1 win over Pella in a match that lasted for two hours and 10 minutes.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Thursday.
A fired up Yuki Bhambri recorded his first ever victory in a live fifth rubber after Somdev Devvarman levelled the scores as India advanced to World Group Play-offs.
Yuki, ranked 93, has told AITA that if he gets direct entry into the last Grand Slam of the season, he won't be available.
The top Indian singles player, ranked 95, struggled to match the power and range of his fancied rival
The 43-year-old Bopanna and 35-year-old Ebden, who claimed two doubles titles on the ATP Tour earlier this year, will next face the unseeded British pair of Jacob Fearnley and Johannus Monday on Sunday.
Indian Davis Cup team capped its historic visit to Pakistan after 60 years by sealing its place in World Group I as it blanked Pakistan 4-0 with Yuki Bhambri and Saketh Myneni recording a comfortable victory and Niki Poonacha making a winning debut, in Islamabad on Sunday.
Wrapping up the first set in less than 25 minutes, the pair led 4-1 in the second when they were made to work a bit as Galfi and Pera won four games on the trot to make it five-all.
The Indian qualifier, who savoured his best ever performance on the ATP World Tour, went down fighting 4-6, 6-4, 3-6 against the world number 45 from South Africa in the quarter-finals played on Friday.
The sixth seeds needed a little over an hour to overcome the unseeded pairing of Roman Safiullin of Russia and Kazakhstan's Andrey Golubev 6-3, 6-3 in a second round match.
Sumit Nagal fought fire with fire to bring India back in the Davis Cup World Group Play-off tie against Denmark, winning the second singles.
Vishnu Vardhan joined the Indian Davis Cup team in Chandigarh on Sunday and said the hosts are familiar with the playing style of the New Zealand squad that touched down for the Asia-Oceania tie starting September 14.
India salvaged some pride by winning the two inconsequential reverse singles to reduce their margin of defeat against Uzbekistan to 2-3 in the Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Group I second round tie in Namangan (Uzbekistan) on Sunday.
Outgoing Davis Cup captain S P Misra has said with quality players such as Somdev Devvarman and Yuki Bhambri in the team, India have a good chance to qualify for the World Group next year.
India's non-playing captain Anand Amritraj said that the doubles team's "shock" defeat on day two resulted in the hosts ultimately losing the Davis Cup World Group Play-off tie against Czech Republic.
