Prajnesh Gunneswaran emerged as the only Indian to manage a win in the singles main draw of the Bengaluru Open as Ramkumar Ramanathan and Arjun Kadhe made first-round exits.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Sunday
Wrestler Kadian Satywart won a bronze in 100kg freestyle event, while shuttler H S Pronnoy and tennis star Yuki Bhambri kept their medal hopes alive as Indians had a good day in office in the inaugural Youth Olympic Games in Singapore on Tuesday.
Somdev Devvarman, who became the first Indian to qualify for the French Open main draw in 13 years, rose to a career-best 104th in the ATP rankings issued on Monday.
Sasikumar Mukund, who was banned by AITA on disciplinary grounds, is back as India's best-ranked player for the World Group I Play-off tie against Togo, starting on Saturday.
Leander Paes made a return while Yuki Bhambri was left out of a five-member Indian squad picked for the Davis Cup World Group first round tie against Russia in Moscow from March 5-7.
Somdev Devvarman kept the Indian hopes alive and is now just one step away from the Australian Open singles main draw after his three-set win against Germany's Tobias Kamke at Melbourne on Friday.
The early exit from Chennai Open cost Somdev Devvarman 35 places as the wiry Indian dropped to 161 in the latest ATP singles ranking issued on Monday.
Three Indians, including top seed Rohan Bopanna, stormed into the singles semifinals of the $ 10,000 India F5 Futures ITF Men's Circuit being played at the CLTA Stadium in Chandigarh on Thursday.
India's new hero Somdev Devvarman climbed up two places to 131 in the latest ATP rankings while Sania Mirza dropped two spots to 65 in the WTA list.
Rohan Gajjar and Purav Raja advanced to the doubles second round of the USD 10,000 ITF tennis event after registering a comfortable straight sets victory at the CLTA stadium on Monday. The third-seeded pair beat Vijayant Malik and Yannick Nelord 6-4, 6-2 in the first round match.
Prakash Amritraj and national champion Vishnu Vardhan were awarded wildcards for the 2008 Chennai Open.
Balaji also showed that he can quickly adapt to conditions when he was asked to do the singles duty during the Davis Cup tie against Pakistan on grass. The rival was not of the highest quality but Balaji showed that he was willing to come out of his comfort zone if the team demands.
Karan Rastogi was 6-5, 5-7, 1-3 down against Purav Raja when he suffered cramps and had to quit in the qualifying round at the ATP Mumbai Open.
Former Davis Cup captain Anand Amritraj is baffled that India's best singles players are not able to win close matches on the ATP World Tour despite having a decent game to back them.
Top seed Somdev Devvarman struggled past Ramkumar Ramanathan, who was troubled by cramps, but Yuki Bhambri made a fluent start with a straight sets victory in the US$ 50,000 ATP Challenger event, in Chennai.
Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi rallied to beat the Canadian duo of Aleksandra Wozniak and Daniel Nestor and seal a semi-final berth in the mixed doubles event at the Australian Open in Melbourne on Wednesday. The unseeded Indian pair overcame a first-set lapse to carve out a 3-6, 6-4, 10-5 win in one hour and 15 minutes.
Home sensation and wild card entrant Yuki Bhambri sprung a surprise by upsetting higher-rated Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain to enter the second round even as compatriot Somdev Devvarman made a shocking first round exit at the ATP Chennai Open.
It was a bad day for Indians at the $ 10,000 ITF men's event as all of them bowed out of the singles event after losing their second round matches.
Shifting of India's only ATP event from Chennai to Pune after 21 years has disappointed the Amritraj brothers.
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.
The Indian challenge at the $2.2 million Dubai Tennis Championships ended with Rohan Bopanna and his partner suffering a shock first round exit in the men's doubles in Dubai on Wednesday.
Yuki Bhambri recovered from cramps just in time to down Tsung Hua Yang but Somdev Devvarman's fate was hanging in balance in the marathon unfinished second singles, suspended due to fading light, as India lead 1-0 in the Asia/Oceania Group I Davis Cup tie in Indore.
Indian Davis Cupper Prajnesh Gunnewaran, on Wednesday, earned the biggest win of his career by stunning world number 23 Denis Shapovalov in the opening round of the ATP Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart.
India's Prajnesh Gunnesweran won his encounter while Ramkumar Ramanathan and Sumit Nagal lost their respective men's singles opening round matches at the French Open Qualifiers.
India were handed a tough Davis Cup draw, being pitted against top seeds Czech Republic in the World Group Play-offs, to be held from September 18-20 either in New Delhi or Pune.
India's Davis Cup captain Mahesh Bhupathi on Thursday defended the selection of N Sriram Balaji ahead of higher-ranked Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and Purav Raja for the tie against Serbia.
The freezing cold made the conditions challenging for the players.
Davis Cup: Strong Indian team is firm favourite against Pakistan in historic clash
Career best rank of 168 in singles for Ramkumar
Reaping rewards of his consistent performance, Prajnesh Gunneswaran, on Monday, broke into men's singles top-100 for the first time in his career with a jump of six places that took him to 97.
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 made the world take note of him with his shock win over Rafael Nadal at the Montreal Masters. He then became the youngest player to reach the fourth round of the US Open, only his second Grand Slam, last week.
Rohan Bopanna gained three places to be world number 21, and is now country's top ranked player in the ATP doubles chart.
Ramkumar to play opening singles tie against Schnur, Yuki takes on Shapovalov on day 1
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.
Indian Davis Cup team sweats it out at 'mini cauldron', match timings revised due to tough conditions
Rohan Bopanna returned to the country's Davis Cup squad after a two-year gap as AITA named a six-member team on Saturday, for the Asia/Oceania Group I contest against Chinese Taipei, starting January 31 in Indore.
Ramkumar Ramanthan played his heart out before losing a tight second round singles match while Purav Raja and Divij Sharan bowed out of the men's doubles in the first round of the qualifiers at Wimbledon on Thursday.
