Ramkumar Ramanathan proved his ascendancy in Indian tennis yet again as he knocked out Yuki Bhambri from the ATP Indore Open even as India's top player Somdev Devvarman also made an early exit, in Indore, on Thursday.
India's Davis Cup captain S P Misra on Wednesday questioned the logic behind the demand for his ouster from the Davis Cup team by Somdev Devvarman, asking why the young player did not speak up when he played some of his best matches under him.
High on confidence, Indian tennis' poster boy Somdev Devvarman has set himself the immediate target of breaking into the top 100 in singles rankings, while remaining consistent throughout the new year.
Somdev Devvarman joined compatriot Ramkumar Ramanathan in the singles main draw of the ATP Chennai Open with a come-from-behind victory over Briton James Ward in the final qualifying round in Chennai on Sunday.
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.
Images from day 11 of the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, on Tuesday.
Somdev Devvarman was off to a winning start at the $75,000 ATP Challenger tournament in Aptos, USA as he beat Japanese Yuichi Sugita in three-sets.
Somdev Devvarman and Yuki Bhambri posted straight-set wins in their respective reverse singles as India completed a 5-0 whitewash of Indonesia in the Asia-Oceania Group I Davis Cup relegation play-off tie, in Bangalore on Sunday.
Continuing to reclaim lost ground in the ATP rankings, Somdev Devvarman jumped 65 places to 250th to be India's best-placed singles player in the list issued on Monday.
Somdev Devvarman has been seeded sixth in the French Open qualifying event and has got an easy opener against Jiri Vanek of Czech Republic.
Somdev Devverman rallied to record a brilliant victory over Pavol Cervenak and storm into the quarter-finals of the $125,000 ATP Challenger event in Seoul, Korea, on Wednesday. However, Prakash Amritraj's campaign ended with a loss in the second round.
Somdev Devvarman gave a huge scare to world number 29 Jergen Melzer before bowing out in the second round of the ATP Zagreb Indoor championships on Thursday.
The Indian ace registered a 7-6(4), 2-6, 6-2 second round win over Robby Ginepri of the United States in the qualifiers n Friday to keep his hopes alive.
Aiming to make the main draw of Australian Open, Somdev Devavrman will on Wednesday clash with compatriot Prakash Amritraj in the first round of the qualifying event of the first Grand Slam of the year.
Somdev Devvarman's good run at the ATP Challenger event in Aptos, USA, came to an end after a semi-final defeat against American Donald Young.
India's Somdev Devvarman went down to third seed Ukrainian Illya Marchenko 4-6, 3-6 in the second round of the qualifiers as India's campaign ended at the US $3,645,000 Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, on Tuesday. Somdev, who overcame David Guez of France in the first round of the qualifying stage, put up a spirited fight against Marchenko but the Ukrainian managed to get better of him.
Rising Indian tennis star Somdev Devvarman could not repeat his French Open success and crashed out of the Wimbledon singles qualifiers after losing to lower ranked American Ryler Deheart.
The third seeded Indian was beaten by New Zealand qualifier Finn Tearney 6-1, 6-7(4), 4-6 in two hours and 27 minutes.
The seventh seed Indian overcame stiff resistance from American Daniel Nguyen before prevailing 7-5, 4-6, 7-6(5) in the rain-hit final that lasted three hours and 31 minutes, turning out to be the longest summit clash in the ATP Challenger Tour history.
Somdev Devvarman overcame an indifferent start to beat Jiri Vanek in a fierce three-set battle and progress to the second round of the French Open qualifying event in Paris on Tuesday.
Somdev Devvarman's fans may still be relishing his stunning victories over Carlos Moya and Ivo Karlovic but the new Indian tennis star has left behind those wins and is completely focussed on the title clash of the Chennai Open against third seed Marin Cilic on Sunday.
India's Somdev Devvarman and Prakash Amritraj crashed out of the Australian Open with a disappointing 6-1, 6-3 loss to Simon Aspelin of Sweden and Australian Paul Hanley at Melbourne Park on Friday.
While Somdev was beaten 7-5, 5-7, 1-6 by Slovakian 20th seed Nerbert Gombos, Saketh frittered a one-set lead while going down 6-4, 4-6, 1-6 to Germany's Jan-Lennard Struff.
With Somdev Devvarman qualifying for the singles event, all the members of the Indian Davis Cup team are now set to compete in the $1,619,500 Dubai Tennis Championships, beginning in Dubai on Monday.
Ramkumar Ramanathan recorded the second-biggest win of his career by shocking world number 98 Daniel Gimeno-Traver in the opening round of the ATP Chennai Open but there was no end to Somdev Devvarman's struggle as he was knocked out of the singles event, in Chennai on Tuesday.
India's hopes in the men's singles at the Australian Open were shattered when Somdev Devvarman was knocked out in the first round by Spaniard Feliciano Lopez on Monday.
Somdev Devvraman earned a hard-fought straight-set win over qualifier Mikhail Ledovskikh to advance to the second round of the $ 850,00 ATP Malaysian Open, in Kuala Lumpur, on Tuesday.
Courtesy his semi-final appearance at the Aptos Challenger, Somdev Devvarman jumped eight rungs to achieve a career-best singles ranking of 127 on Monday.
Somdev Devvarman missed out on a chance of featuring in his second successive Grand Slam singles main draw after losing the third and final round of the Australian Open qualifying event in straight sets to 12th seed Blaz Kavcic.
Somdev Devvarman's hopes of entering the singles main draw in Australian Open went up in smoke after the lanky Indian lost his second round qualifying match to Lukasz Kubot of Poland in Melbourne on Friday. Seeded 28th, Somdev began in the right earnest to go one up before his opponent staged a brilliant comeback to pip him 4-6,6-4,7-5 after nearly three hours.
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.
Spain's veteran Carlos Moya, who was stunned by Somdev Devvarman in the Chennai Open on Thursday, says India's rising star is armed with a strong game and predicted that he will soon break into the top 100. Somdev defeated the two-time champion in the second round to set up a quarter-final clash against big serving Croat Ivo Karlovic.
Rain played havoc with the tennis schedule at the Olympic Games, prompting the organisersto postpone many matches, including the men's doubles fixtures involving Indian players Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi.
India challenge ended in the singles event of the Tashkent ATP Challenger with the straight set defeat of Somdev Devvarman even as Rohan Bopanna advanced to the doubles semi-finals along with partner Yen Hsun Lu.
In a new twist to the crisis in Indian tennis, Somdev Devvarman, who is recovering from a shoulder injury, has said he is fit to partner Leander Paes in the Olympics if asked by the All India Tennis Association (AITA).
India's Davis Cup coach Nandan Bal says despite losing in both his matches, Somdev Devvarman was the find of the tie against Romania.
Somdev Devvarman fought an intense battle against Australian qualifier Samuel Groth but eventually lost 6-7(4), 7-6(10), 4-6 in the first round of the Nottingham Challenger. Rohan Bopanna, who entered the main draw via the qualifying event, beat Russian Alexandre Kudryavtsev 2-6, 6-3, 7-5.
India's Somdev Devvarman beat Poland's Jerzy Janowicz 6-3, 6-2 in his third and final round of the qualifiers to enter the US Open main draw at Flushing Meadows on Saturday.
Somdev Devvarman and Yuki Bhambri scored straight-set victories to put India 2-0 ahead in the Asia-Oceanic Davis Cup Group I first-round relegation play-off tie against Indonesia in Bangalore on Friday. Somdev defeated Wisnu Adi Nugroho 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 before Yuki saw off Christopher Rungkat 6-3, 6-2, 6-3, at the Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association stadium.
Somdev Devvarman has asserted that their collective refusal to play in Davis Cup does not potray India and its tennis players in bad light and the "revolt is one of the most remarkable things" that has happened in Indian sport.
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