'Drawing Canada is golden chance for India to get into World Group'
Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi took India to the World Group play-offs as they won the doubles encounter against Japan and clinch the Asia Oceania round II tie 3-0 in New Delhi on Saturday. India's top singles players Rohan Bopanna and Prakash Amritraj had come through tough five-setters on Friday.
Shunning all the injury worries, India's Rohan Bopanna will play the opening match against Japan's No 1 player Kei Nishikori in the Asia-Oceania Davis Cup tie, in New Delhi, from April 11 to 13. India's top player Prakash Amritraj will take on Go Soeda in the second singles, after the visitors went with the rankings and left out their most experienced Davis Cupper Takao Suzuki from the singles line-up.
Country's highest ranked singles player Rohan Bopanna trails his Japanese counterpart Kei Nishikori by more than 200 rungs but India's Davis Cup captain Leander Paes is confident the hosts will put up a brave fight in the upcoming Asia-Oceania Group-I tie starting in New Delhi on April 11.
Rohan Bopanna of IOCL defeated teammate Sunil Kumar Sipaya in straight sets to win the men's singles title of the PSPB Inter-unit tennis tournament in Chennai on Friday.
Rohan Bopanna and his Pakistani partner Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi crashed out of the euro 42,500 ATP Challenger series tournament in Aachen, Germany, after losing a tough quarter-final to the German pair of Andreas Beck and Philipp Petzschner. The Indo-Pakistani duo won the first set but then lost their way as the Germans won 5-7, 6-4, 13-11 to advance to the semi-finals of the tournament.
Rohan Bopanna and his Belarussian partner Max Mirnyi overcame a second-set lapse to advance to the semifinals of $ 1,049,000 St Petersburg Open.
Leander Paes, named a reserve in India's Davis Cup team for the Uzbekistan tie, is in line to win his first title of the season, albeit on the Challenger Tour, with Canadian partner Adil Shamasdin.
Four members of the Davis Cup team have written to the AITA saying they will not play under captain Leander Paes.
Rohan Bopanna set up a second round clash with top seed Lu Yen-Hsun after winning a tough first round of the $ 1,25,000 ATP Challenger tournament in Tashkent at Olympic Tennis School on Tuesday.
Top seeds Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy began their campaign for back-to-back titles with a straight-set win against Spanish pair of Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and Ivan Navarro in the first round of the US $ 869,000 Japan Open in Tokyo on Thursday. The Indo-Czech pair, who won the Thailand Open last week, beat the unseeded Spanish duo 6-4, 7-5 in one hour and 13 minutes to advance to the quarter-finals of the hard court event.
Rohan Bopanna's fine showing in the opening singles could see him partner Mahesh Bhupathi in Saturday's crucial doubles, in the Davis Cup tie against Uzbekistan.
Top seeds Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy survived a scare from Rohan Bopanna and Aisam Qureshi to advance into the second round of the US $576,000 Bangkok Open on Thursday. Paes-Dlouhy beat the unseeded Indo-Pak combine 7-6, 4-6, 10-7 in an hour and 40 minutes. They will take on Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic and Simone Bolelli of Italy, who overcame the Australian pair of Jordan Kerr and Todd Perry 6-3, 6-3.
Somdev Devvarman expresses confidence of a good showing ahead of India's Davis Cup match against Romania.
British No 1 Cameron Norrie overcame a slow start to beat Frenchman Hugo Gaston 6-3, 7-5.
Indian ace Leander Paes returned to top 10 in the men's doubles after winning the mixed doubles and finishing runner-up in the doubles at the US Open.
Roger Federer shone brightly on his first appearance on Indian soil as he fired the Indian Aces to a convincing 26-16 victory over Singapore Slammers in the Delhi leg of the International Premier Tennis League in Delhi.
India's Rohan Bopanna and Prakash Amritraj won their respective first round Australian Open qualifying matches.
Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles defeated the Swedish pair of Johan Brunstrom and Thomas Johansson 6-3, 6-4 in their first match at t he US Open while India's Rohan Bopanna and Aisan-ul-Haq Quershi lost 5-7, 3-6 to the French Pair of Marc Gicquel and Sebastien Grosjean in their opening match of the tournament.
Indian Davis Cupper Rohan Bopanna and his Pakistani partner Aisam-ul-Haq-Qureshi crashed out of the $ 508,000 Legg Mason Tennis Classic tournament after suffering a sets first round defeat in Washington.
Rohan Bopanna and Eric Butorac claimed the doubles title in Los Angeles with a 7-6, 7-6 win over Travis Parrott and Dusan Vemic.
The only Indian survivors in the Delhi Challenger will face off for a quarter-final place on Wednesday.
Nagal, who has played his best tennis this season, sent a confirmation to the All India Tennis Association (AITA) on Thursday night while Ramkumar had conveyed his availability a few days ago.
The Indian challenge ended at the Roger Cup after Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek suffered a second-round defeat at the hands of Andy Murray and Colin Fleming in Montreal.
The Indo-Pak pair entered their sixth straight semi-final when they beat Sander Groen and Florian Mayer at the Malaysia ATP Challenger.
Rohan Bopanna and Aisam Qureshi rallied from a set down to topple fourth seeded Russian duo of Dmitry Tursunov and Igor Kunitsyn in the first round in Indianapolis.
Bhupathi said as per AITA's last communication to him, he was replaced as the non-playing captain for making himself unavailable to travel to Pakistan.
Rohan Bopanna and Aisam Qureshi went down 6-4, 7-6(1) to unseeded American duo of Mardy Fish and John Isner in the doubles final.
Rohan Bopanna's dream run at the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships came to an end after he was handed a straight-set defeat by Prakash Amritraj in an all-Indian quarter-final of the USD 385,000 event in Newport, United States.
Qualifier Rohan Bopanna beat top seed Mardy Fish 7-6 (8-6), 7-5 to set up a quarter-final clash with Prakash Amritraj.
Indian Davis Cupper Rohan Bopanna set up a second round clash with top seed Mardy Fish after defeating Kim Kevin on Monday in straight sets at the US $385,000 Campbell's Hall of Fame Tennis Championships in Newport, United States. Bopanna beat his American opponent 6-3, 6-4 in an hour and 11 minutes.
India's Yuki Bhambri produced one of the biggest wins of his career as he shocked World No. 22 Gael Monfils in the second round of the Citi Open.
Yashwant Sinha expressed displeasure over Rohan Bopanna's decision to opt out of the upcoming Davis Cup tie.
Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi kept Indian hopes alive in the Ordina Open by advancing to the doubles semi-finals, even as Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna bowed out of the singles in the US $175,000 tournament in s'Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands. The second seeded Indian pair produced glimpses of their old magic as they sailed past Spaniards David Ferrer and Marcel Granollers 6-2, 6-1 in 48 minutes to advance to the last four.
The Indian challenge in singles at the US $175,000 Ordina Open ended on Wednesday with the disappointing twin loss of Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna in the second round of the women's and men's category respectively. While Sania lost 2-6, 2-6 loss to Dutchwoman Michaella Krajicek, Bopanna was beaten 2-6, 4-6 by Argentine Guillermo Canas.
It was a good day at office for India's mixed doubles pairs as both Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna advanced to the second round of the event with their respective partners at the Australian Open, in Melbourne, on Sunday.
The Indo-Belgian pair beat Thomas Johansson and Todd Perry 6-2, 6-7(4), 10-8 in the first round in Stockholm.
Indian Davis Cupper Rohan Bopanna scored a valiant straight-set victory over Simon Stadler of Germany to advance to the second round of the euro 42,500 ATP Challenger series tournament for the Surbiton Trophy in Great Britain on Thursday.
Indian Aces continued their winning run as they beat Manila Mavericks 24-15 on the second day of the International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) in Manila, on Saturday.
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.