Indian tennis players enjoyed an all-win day at the US Open as three of them reached the men's doubles third round with their respective partners, while Sania Mirza entered the women's doubles pre-quarters.
It was end of US Open campaign for Somdev Devvarman and Mahesh Bhupathi after they lost their respective hard-fought matches even as Rohan Bopanna had a mixed day.
Iran ended seven-time champions India's unchallenged kabaddi domination in the Asian Games since the sport was first introduced in 1990.
Divij Sharan recorded his first ever ATP Tour level win when he, along with partner Ivo Karlovic, saved five match points to advance to the second round of the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships even as Prakash Amritraj crashed out of the singles event, in Newport.
Rohan Bopanna's stupendous run at Wimbledon earned him a career-best No 5 ranking in the ATP doubles chart and made him the top-ranked Indian in the game.
India's top singles players, led by Somdev Devvarman, easily advanced to the second round of ATP Pune Challenger on Tuesday, but rising star Ramkumar Ramanathan made a shock first-round exit. Third seed Somdev proved too good for local wild card Arjun Kadhe, scoring a 6-1, 6-3 victory in 60 minutes. Seventh seed Yuki Bhambri disposed of the challenge of Chinese Taipei's Liang-Chi Huang 6-3, 6-0.
Defending champion Rohan Bopanna went down fighting in the thrilling doubles opening round game at the third edition of Tata Open Maharashtra, in Pune, on Wednesday. Playing alongside local boy Arjun Kadhe, the ace Indian player Bopanna dominated the game initially. However, after winning the first set convincingly, the Indian duo couldn't manage to continue the momentum further in the games against French pair of Benoit Paire and Antoine Hoang as they lost the match 3-6, 7-5, 10-7.
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.
Bopanna being the highest-ranked doubles player in the country is automatic choice for the doubles rubber.
AITA on sticky wicket after shift in venue
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday.
'I still have the exact budget which I had in 2018 when I was ranked 350. It's that when I needed the most which is right now, I see people turning around and walking away.'
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Sunday
India's schedule for Thursday, the sixth day of competition at the Asian Games, in Incheon.
Yuki Bhambri breezed past Italy's Marco Cecchinato in the opening round of the qualifiers in the Chennai Open on Saturday.
India's top singles player Yuki Bhambri and Asian Games gold-medallist Divij Sharan have pulled out of the Davis Cup World Group Play-off tie against Serbia due to injuries while Sumit Nagal has refused to join the team as a stand-by.
The Indian selectors reposed faith in Leander Paes as the 40-year-old veteran was on Saturday included in the Asian Games squad along with established stars Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna.
Sumit Nagal lived a dream when he took on one of the greatest players of all time at a packed Arthur Ashe stadium in a US Open first-rounder.
Miffed at not getting a 'specialist' men's doubles partner, veteran tennis star Leander Paes, on Thursday, pulled out of the 18th Asian Games starting on Saturday.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Monday.
This was due to the fact that they had already won the Khel Ratna, the country's highest sporting honour.
'We did not want India to either default or forfeit this tie'
World No. 16 Marco Cecchinato will spearhead Italy's challenge, while they also have the experienced world No. 37 Andreas Seppi as they look to continue their good record against India.
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.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday
The Games' Sport-Specific Regulations (SSR) has been developed jointly by IOC and the IFs to determine the impact of a confirmed positive COVID-19 case and its management in competition formats and structures.
At one stage Yuki was a break up, serving for the opening set but lost his serve and eventually the set. After drawing parity, Yuki twice lost his serve to fall behind 0-3 in the decisive set and never recovered.
In the absence of an injured Yuki, a lot would depend on how the left-handed Prajnesh, who won a singles bronze medal at the Asian Games, performs.
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.
'The only thing I am feeling bad right now is, if he had decided earlier to not come even two weeks or 10 days ago, we would have got a specialist doubles team in place'
Andreas Seppi experienced some early hiccups before getting past Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-4, 6-2 in the opening rubber, while 22-year-old Matteo Berrettini made a winning Davis Cup debut, cruising past India number one Prajnesh Gunneswaran 6-4, 6-3.
Veteran Indian tennis star Leander Paes began the 2017 season and his partnership with Andre Sa on a disappointing note as they crashed out of the Chennai Open with a straight sets defeat against rising stars Divij Sharan and Purav Raja in Chennai. Paes and his 111th partner were sent packing 4-6 4-6 in 67 minutes by Sharan and Raja, who enjoyed a successful 2016 season with four Challenger level titles and silently broke into top-70. Both Raja and Sharan are establishing themselves as force to reckon with as they look for their third ATP World Tour title at a home event.
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.
Nagal said he would look to play more ATP Tour events this year but for that he would have to first improve his rankings.
Flavia Pennetta, Italy's newly-crowned US Open women's singles champion, will represent Mumbai Masters in this year's Champions Tennis League along with 1996 Wimbledon men's champion Richard Krajicek of the Netherlands following the players' draft, in Mumbai, on Wednesday. The second edition of the Champions Tennis League, the brainchild of former India Davis Cup captain Vijay Amritraj, will be played from November 23 to December 6, an increase of four days from last year's ten-day duration, announced Amritraj at a media conference after the players' draft.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday
World number 30 Berrettini saved five points in the marathon second set tiebreak and held on to win it 13-11 for his third ATP crown in last 11 months.
Keeping the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in mind, the sports ministry has included the doubles duo of Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan, who won the Asian Games gold last year, have been kept in TOPS scheme.
AITA brought back old warhorse Leander Paes in the Davis Cup team despite 'reservations' from seasoned campaigner Rohan Bopanna.
Vishnu Vardhan won his second Challenger level title of the season with Japanese partner Toshihide Matsui but four other Indians, including Leander Paes, tumbled out of various ATP events across the globe.
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