A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Monday
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.
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.
.jpg)
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.
IMAGES from the matches played at the PNB Paribas Open at Indian Wells on Sunday
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.
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.
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.
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.
Prajnesh, seeded sixth, got the better of Spain's Enrique Lopez Perez 6-3, 6-3 in the men's singles second round.
Veteran Indian star Leander Paes and his Czech partner Radek Stepanek sailed into the Australian Open quarter-finals after a straight-set win over the unseeded pair of Yuki Bhambri and Michael Venus in the men's doubles competition in Melbourne on Sunday.
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.
India's Davis Cup coach Zeeshan Ali on Sunday said it was good for home team players to have got the chance to test themselves in the tie against Chinese Taipei but felt that Saketh Myneni needs to develop fast as a big player if they are to win matches against tough opponents.
'If it is a World Cup then yes, doing away with home and away format, is okay'
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.
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.
AITA pairs him with Bopanna, withdraws Sharan
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.
Continuing his excellent run at the ATP Indore Open, Indian youngster Ramkumar Ramanathan toppled Chinese Taipei Davis Cupper Ti Chen in a marathon contest to reach his first-ever Challenger-level semi-final in Indore.
Leander Paes might team up with Ramkumar Ramnathan instead of Sumit Nagal in this month's Asian Games after captain Zeeshan Ali said he will consider the ATP World Tour finalist's request to pair up with the senior pro.
Paes was dropped from the tie against Uzbekistan last April. He has been out of favour since the Bengaluru fiasco when he was not included in the starting line-up by captain, Mahesh Bhupathi.
Leander Paes, partnering Rohan Bopanna, suffered a rare doubles defeat in the Davis Cup as Radek Stepanek and Adam Pavlasek gave Czech Republic a 2-1 lead over India in the World Group play-off tie, in New Delhi, on Saturday.
Rohan Bopanna secured a direct entry into the men's doubles at the Rio Olympics after officially returning to the top-10 in the ATP men's doubles rankings on Monday.
In Paes's absence, seasoned Rohan Bopanna and Saketh Myneni will do the doubles duty in the July 17-19 tie, to be held in Christchurch.
The top-ranked Indian will face American World No 39 Frances Tiafoe in the first round of the Australian Open
World No 10 Rohan Bopanna and Saketh Myneni suffered a shock straight set mauling at the hands of Artem Sitak and Marcus Daniell as India were left trailing 1-2 against New Zealand.
Bopanna being the highest-ranked doubles player in the country is automatic choice for the doubles rubber.
Earning a dream Grand Slam debut for himself, Indian tennis player Sumit Nagal set up a US Open first round clash against the legendary Roger Federer, one of the greatest players of all-time, on Monday.
Bopanna also in reserves while four single specialists named in squad
Serbian Djokovic, 31, needed elbow surgery in February to cure a problem that surfaced in 2017, but after some jarring defeats he returned to the kind of domination he achieved in 2015, winning Wimbledon and the US Open.
An already depleted India suffered another blow on Saturday with Rohan Bopanna pulling out of the Davis Cup World Group Play-off tie against Spain, claiming that he suffered a knee injury during the US Open.
India's Saketh Myneni went down fighting to world No. 49 Jiri Vesely of Czech Republic in a five-set thriller in the first round of the men's singles at the 2016 US Open in New York, on Tuesday.
India were on Tuesday pitted against European powerhouse Spain as their Davis Cup World Group play-off opponents for the home tie as the International Tennis Federation announced the draw in London.
Coming into the tournament 21st in the WTA rankings, the Czech won 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in two hours and 16 minutes to add to her triumph in St Petersburg earlier this month.
Tennis ace Sania Mirza expressed happiness over India winning five medals at the recently-concluded Asian Games at Incheon, although she felt many people did not expect them to do well with the team the country had sent.
Playing only his second junior Grand Slam, 17-year-old won 7-5, 6-3
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Wednesday
'The boys have hit a lot of balls and are feeling good, so we are looking forward to the weekend' The Indian team, which had a week-long training camp in New York before reaching Edmonton, is set to make a fourth consecutive attempt to qualify for the elite World Group.
