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.
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.
Being the top seeds, the Indian Davis Cup team received a bye for the first round of the Asia/Oeceania Group I 2016 competition.
India will host Denmark on the lush green grass court of Delhi Gymkahna Club for the World Group I tie.
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.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Tuesday
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.
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.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Wednesday
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Rutuja Bhosale and Rohan Bopanna staged a great comeback after losing the first set to beat Chinese Taipei's combo of Tsung-hao Huang and En-shuo Liang in the final.
Tennis ace Rohan Bopanna, hockey great P R Sreejesh and table tennis legend Sharath Kamal, are gearing up for one last hurrah at the Asian Games, starting in Hangzhou, from September 23.
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.
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.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Monday
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.
In the ATP doubles, Leander Paes slid to 25, a loss of four places.
All eyes will be on veteran Leander Paes, who is the on the cusp of a historic world record in perhaps his last appearance in Davis Cup.
India tennis ace, Sania Mirza finds herself at No 6 as the new WTA doubles chart was released on Monday.
IMAGES from the matches played at the PNB Paribas Open at Indian Wells on Sunday
India were today drawn to play New Zealand at home in their next Davis Cup tie in the Asia/Oceania Group I competition, which is scheduled for February 3-5. It was after beating New Zealand 3-2 in an away tie that India qualified for the World Group Play-offs in 2015 season. India are back in the Asia Oceania zone after being whitewashed by five-time champions Spain in the World Group play-off tie.
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Sania Mirza took a giant leap towards becoming the world number one player in the doubles by pocketing 1000 ranking points, following her stupendous title win in the Miami Open with partner Martina Hingis.
Sharapova was broken in the first game but fought back to draw level before going on to take the first set with a hold to love.
AITA pairs him with Bopanna, withdraws Sharan
India have a good chance of winning medals in both, men's doubles and mixed doubles events at next year's Rio Olympics, feels former player Mahesh Bhupathi.
Prajnesh, seeded sixth, got the better of Spain's Enrique Lopez Perez 6-3, 6-3 in the men's singles second round.
Somdev Devvarman, India's No 1 singles player, was knocked out of the ATP Atlanta Open by American qualifier Jared Donaldson on Tuesday. The 30-year-old Davis Cupper, who also entered the main draw of the event through the qualifiers, lost 1-6, 6-3, 4-6.
Somdev Devvarman fought like a true warrior to lock the tie with his stunning victory in the fourth rubber while Yuki Bhambri was locked in an engrossing battle in the decider, halted by rain mid-way, as India's hopes were still hanging by thread in the David Cup World Group play-off tie against Serbia in Bangalore.
A lanky Ramkumar cruised to a 7-5, 6-1, 6-0 win in exactly two hours in windy conditions at the Shiv Chatrapati Sports Complex in Balewadi.
Captain Mahesh Bhupathi, on Wednesday, made it clear that India won't miss veteran Leander Paes during their upcoming Davis Cup Qualifier against fancied Italy at Calcutta South Club on Friday-Saturday.
'If it is a World Cup then yes, doing away with home and away format, is okay'
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