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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
India were on Thursday drawn to meet Sweden in an away Davis Cup World Group I tie in September.
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 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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The top Indian singles player, ranked 95, struggled to match the power and range of his fancied rival
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.
India's campaign ended at the $125000 Tashkent ATP Challenger after Davis Cuppers, Yuki Bhambri, Vishnu Vardhan and Sanam Singh got beaten in their respective first round matches.
India's Davis Cup Captain Mahesh Bhupathi picked Rohan Bopanna for the Davis Cup match against Uzbekistan in Bengaluru.
Rohan Bopanna and Saketh Myneni were done in by some 'flawless' tennis played by the Kiwi players according to India coach Zeeshan Ali.
India's singles challenge came to a tame end after Yuki Bhambri lost 3-6, 3-6 to fifth seeded Canadian Vasek Pospisil, in the quarter-final of the ATP Chennai Open on Friday.
Ramkumar Ramanthan scored a fluent win after Yuki Bhambri eked out a straight set victory to hand India a commanding 2-0 lead against New Zealand on the opening day of the Asia/Oceania Group I Davis Cup tie, in Pune, on Friday.
The Indian challenge in the men's singles at the Chennai Open came to an end on Tuesday when home favourite Somdev Devvarman was beaten 6-2, 6-4 by Belgian qualifier David Goffin. Earlier in the day, India's two other entries in the singles -- Rohan Bopanna and Yuki Bhambri (both wild cards) suffered similar fate.
India's Divij Sharan broke into the top-100 in the ATP doubles ranking as he jumped 15 places to a career best 94th spot, while Yuki Bhambri also achieved his career-best singles rank with a nine-place jump to 179 in the latest list released on Tuesday.
The left-handed Prajnesh, ranked 183, lost 3-6, 4-6 in the third and final round against the Swede, ranked 122 in the world.
A profligate Yuki Bhambri missed chances galore in a tame defeat against world number 40 Jiri Vesley as India lost the Davis Cup World Group Play-off tie against top seeds Czech Republic 1-3.
Agnel Gladwin, Yuki Bhambri, G K Shwetha and Nandita Krishnan will represent India at the tournament in South Africa.
Somdev Devvarman would be India's while Yuki Bhambri is expected to carry his good from into the new season which is full of new challenges for the Indian players as ATP Aircel Chennai Open begins on Monday.
Indian junior team finished fourth in the Junior Davis Cup competition after losing 1-2 to Russia in the World Finals in Mexico.
Indian team's hopes of annexing its first junior Davis Cup title win went up in smoke after it was blanked 0-3 by the United States in the semifinals.
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.
Apollo Tyres Ltd on Tuesday signed up the doubles team of India's Mahesh Bhupathi and Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic for the ATP and Gland Slam tours of 2007.
India stormed into the final of Junior Davis Cup's World Group playoff after stunning top seeds Australia 3-0 in New Delhi on Friday.
World No.4 Stan Wawrinka will look to win his third successive Chennai Open title, while the Indian challenge will be spearheaded by rising star Yuki Bhambri
In a big setback to the Indian Davis Cup team, country's leading singles player Yuki Bhambri was, on Sunday, ruled out of the upcoming tie against Uzbekistan due to a knee injury.
India's number one singles player will open the country's campaign against Wisnu Adi Nugroho in the Asia/Oceania Group I first round relegation play-off against Indonesia, beginning in Bangalore on Friday. No 2 Yuki Bhambri will lock horns with Indonesia No 1 Christopher Rungkat in the second singles.
Early morning heavy showers delayed the start of the Davis Cup tie between India and New Zealand in Chandigarh on Friday.
