Leander Paes and Purav Raja, who are trying to establish as a pair on the ATP World Tour, progressed to the quarterfinals of the St Petersburg Open with a straight-set win over Fabio Fognini and James Cerretani.
Mahesh Bhupathi, who is making a comeback to competitive tennis after an injury lay-off, won his first title in three years as he combined with Yuki Bhambri to clinch the Delhi Open while Saketh Myneni reached the singles final, in New Delhi, on Saturday.
Marin Cilic completed a dream week by steering Croatia into the Davis Cup World Group on Sunday but Spain found themselves out in the wilderness after crashing to defeat in Brazil.
The All India Tennis Association may be backing Leander Paes to the hilt in him making the squad for the Rio Olympics, but the veteran star will not be picked in the Davis Cup team despite showing late interest in competing in the Asia/Oceania Group I tie against Korea Republic next month.
Team India lauds Yuki Bhambri, hero of match against New Zealand.
India's top singles player Somdev Devvarman returned to top-100 after nearly two years as he jumped three places to 98 in the latest ATP singles rankings, issued on Monday.
The All India Tennis Association claimed that Sumit Nagal demanded an annual fee of $50,000 to play Davis Cup ties for India.
India's Sania Mirza continued to stay on top of the WTA women's doubles ranking following her recent victory in the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo.
Senior pro Leander Paes's place in the Indian Davis Cup team will be up for discussion when the AITA Selection Committee meets on Monday to pick the squad for the upcoming Asia/Oceania Zone tie against Uzbekistan.
On Thursday, Bhambri will look to secure a berth in the singles quarter-finals as takes on eight-seed Stefano Travaglia in a second-round match.
Somdev Devvarman extended his excellent run at the ATP Shanghai Challenger by reaching the singles finals with a hard-fought win over Italy's Luca Vanni.
Counter-puncher Sumit Nagal blunted the challenge of big-serving Beibit Zhukayev with his perseverance while Ankita Raina outgunned Adithya P Karunaratne without fuss as the two Indians inched closer to singles medals.
Canada named rising star and world number 69 Denis Shapovalov in its squad to take on India in the upcoming Davis Cup World Group Play-off tie, scheduled in Edmonton from September 15.
Djere is ranked higher than Ramkumar at number 86 but is yet to win a match in Davis Cup. On the other side, Ramkumar is placed 135 in the world but is far more experienced, having played six ties with a 7-5 Win-Loss record.
Sumit Nagal entered the history books as only sixth Indian to win a Grand Slam junior title after winning the boys doubles trophy at the Wimbledon Championships with partner Nam Hoang Ly on Sunday.
India face one of the most ferocious Davis Cup challenges at home as nothing less than their best would be required to challenge world number two Serbia, who will test skill and strength of the hosts even without world number one Novak Djokovic in Bangalore from Friday.
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.
Being the top seeds, the Indian Davis Cup team received a bye for the first round of the Asia/Oeceania Group I 2016 competition.
Ramkumar Ramanathan fetched the crucial win but Yuki Bhambri made the day memorable even in defeat as India and Canada shared the honours on day one of the Davis Cup World Group Play-off tie, in Edmonton.
The All India Tennis Association's selection committee retained all four playing members of the squad that beat Korea Korea 4-1 last month, for the Davis Cup World Group play-off tie against Spain, scheduled for September 16-18.
The Indian team is staring at a heavy defeat in its Davis Cup World Group first round tie after conceding a 0-2 lead to hosts Norway following Ramkumar Ramnathan's loss to Viktor Durasovic in the second singles in Lillehammer, Norway.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Tuesday
With Yuki Bhambri and Somdev Devvarman still recovering from their respective injuries, India is set to field same set to players in the upcoming Davis Cup World Group Play-off against Spain, that beat South Korea 4-1 in July.
India's Sania Mirza continues to top the women's double chart while her partner Martina Hingis of Switzerland maintained her second spot in the latest tennis WTA rankings issued on Monday. Sania is atop the list with 11395 points while Hingis has 11355 points in her kitty. Sania and Martina, the world number one women's doubles team, have stitched a 26-match winning streak together, which has brought them six titles in a row at the US Open, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Beijing, WTA Finals and Brisbane. It is the longest winning streak since Italians Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci's 25 in a row in 2012.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Wednesday
India will host Denmark on the lush green grass court of Delhi Gymkahna Club for the World Group I tie.
India's Saketh Myneni literally beat Serbian Pedja Kristin 6-3, 6-0 in only 56 minutes to earn his maiden entrance into the men's singles event of the upcoming US Open.
In singles, out of action Yuki Bhambri dropped seven places to 129 while Myneni lost three and is ranked 141.
The Indian pair of Sania Mirza and Prarthana Thombare settled for a bronze after losing their women's doubles semi-final to Chinese Taipei's Chin Wei Chan and Su Wei Hsiehin in the Asian Games, in Incheon on Sunday.
India blunted Pakistan's challenge on the opening day to take a 2-0 lead in the Davis Cup World Group I play-off tie with Ramkumar Ramanathan and N Sriram Balaji rising to the occasion in the high-pressure contest, in Islamabad on Saturday.
American qualifier Sachia Vickery completed an astonishing comeback to stun third seed Garbine Muguruza 2-6, 7-5, 6-1 in a second-round win at the BNP Paribas Open in California on Friday.
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.
After being left out of the Davis Cup for the first time in 27 years, an angry Paes had on Thursday lashed out at Bhupathi, accusing his former partner of flouting selection criteria.
India's No 1 singles player Somdev Devvarman on Monday jumped 18 places to become World No 78 in the latest ATP rankings. The tennis star had his Delhi Open triumph to thank.
Rohan Bopanna, recuperating from a shoulder injury, will skip the ATP Rogers Cup beginning in Toronto, on Monday, and will reach Palembang on August 14 to get acclimatised to the conditions ahead of the Asian Games.
Sania Mirza savoured a historic 2015 as she became the first female player from India to win a women's doubles Grand Slam title on way to becoming World No 1 even as Yuki Bhambri presented himself in a new 'avtar', raising hopes on the otherwise barren singles circuit.
Tamil Nadu Tennis Association Vice President Karti Chidambaram says the top 5-6 players such as Yuki Bhambri, Ramkumar Ramanathan, Sumit Nagal, Dhakshineshwar Suresh and Nitin Sinha should be supported to travel with a common coach and trainer, play 26 tournaments, out of which at least 18 are abroad, train for 20 weeks and have six weeks of rest in a year.
Agreeing to the popular demand from players, the All Indian Tennis Association on Wednesday selected Delhi as venue for the Davis Cup World Group Play-off tie against top seeds Czech Republic, to be held from September 18-20.
Prajnesh is now ranked 102 in the men's singles rankings with a jump of seven places while Ankita leapfrogged 35 places to a career-high 168 in the women's singles.
In the ATP doubles, Leander Paes slid to 25, a loss of four places.
