Davis Cup: Ramkumar to lead Indian challenge against Pakistan on grass courts
The ITF tribunal has rejected AITA's contention that its Davis Cup team could face security concerns during the World Group I Play-off tie in Islamabad, paving the way for an Indian tennis team's visit to Pakistan for the first time in 60 years.
Here's your complete guide to when India's athletes compete at the Paris Olympics, with dates, events, and timings in IST.
India blunted Pakistan's challenge on the opening day to take a 2-0 lead in the Davis Cup World Group I play-off tie with Ramkumar Ramanathan and N Sriram Balaji rising to the occasion in the high-pressure contest, in Islamabad on Saturday.
Sania Mirza and her Kazakh partner Anna Danilina, seeded eighth, lost to Belgium's Alison Van Uytvanck and Ukraine's Anhelina Kalinina in a clash lasting little over two hours.
Nagal got the Chinese engaged in baseline fight from the beginning and drew the first blood in the very first game of the match.
N Sriram Balaji and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan of India, who were entered in the main draw as alternates, were defeated 6-3, 6-4 by Ilya Ivashka and Alexei Popyrin of Australia in the opening round.
Davis Cup: Strong Indian team is firm favourite against Pakistan in historic clash
Saketh Myneni-led Baseline Bombers and Sriram Balaji-inspired Accurate Aces scored contrasting wins on the opening day of the 3rd edition of the Amanora Premier Tennis League at the Deccan Gymkhana courts, in Pune on Friday.
The top-seeded Indian team of Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and Purav Raja moved into the men's doubles quarter-finals of the Bengaluru Open after prevailing over Croatia's Borna Gojo and Bulgaria's Dimitar Kuzmanov, in Bengaluru, on Wednesday.
Top singles player Yuki Bhambri on Monday returned to the Indian Davis Cup team along with Saketh Myneni even as veteran Leander Paes was expectedly dropped from the squad for the tie against Canada next month.
Rohan Bopanna and his French partner Edouard Roger-Vasselin crashed out of Wimbledon men's doubles after they retired mid-way from their second round contest against Frederik Nielsen Joe Salisbury.
Since new Davis Cup reforms have been introduced, India will not have to go back to the Asia/Oceania Group immediately.
On Thursday, Bhambri will look to secure a berth in the singles quarter-finals as takes on eight-seed Stefano Travaglia in a second-round match.
The rebel group, demanding better playing conditions from the All India Tennis Association, said they will continue to remain unavailable for Davis Cup selection until the federation engages with them in 'good faith'.
Another Indian pair of N Sriram Balaji and Vishnu Vardhan will also be seen in the semi-finals after their opponents, Gianluca Mager and Emil Ruusuvuori withdrew from the last-eight match due to an injury to the former.
India's Sumit Nagal gave a mighty scare to three-time Grand Slam winner Stan Wawrinka by taking off the first set but then wilted under pressure to bow out of the Prague Open in the quarter-finals on Thursday.
Davis Cupper Vishnu Vardhan crashed out of the men's singles pre-quarterfinals of the $15,000 CCI-ITF men's Futures Tennis tournament in Mumbai on Wednesday.
Indian tennis players, including Vishnu Vardhan and Sanam Singh, have been granted wild card entries into the doubles draw of the Chennai Open, the organisers announced in Chennai.
Ramkumar-Balaji win Cassis Challenger title.
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.
Third seed N Sriram Balaji overcame early jitters to quell a spirited challenge from compatriot Ramkumar Ramanathan in his opening match at the CCI-ITF men's US $15,000 tournament 2012, at the CCI courts, in Mumbai, on Monday. The Chennai-based lad won 7-5, 6-4 in an hour and 50 minutes.
Sanam Singh qualified for the men's singles main draw of the Asia-Pacific Australian Open wild card play-off tournament after edging past Yuqing Ning in a tough three-setter and entered the doubles quarter-finals with compatriot N Sriram Balaji Nanjing on Wednesday.
India's Davis Cup captain Mahesh Bhupathi on Thursday defended the selection of N Sriram Balaji ahead of higher-ranked Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and Purav Raja for the tie against Serbia.
Rohan Bopanna and debutant N Sriram Balaji were clinical in routing their rivals as India sealed the Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Group I tie against Uzbekistan by taking an unassailable 3-0 lead, in Bengaluru, on Saturday.
Career best rank of 168 in singles for Ramkumar
The young Indian pair of Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and Sriram Balaji went down fighting to the second seeded American pair of Scott Lipsky and Rajeev Ram in the doubles event of the Aircel Chennai Open 2012 on Tuesday night. Nedunchezhiyan and Balaji, aged 23 and 21 respectively, displayed admirable spunk in their 5-7, 4-6 defeat, even breaking their opponents at least twice in the match.
Leander Paes regained his place in the top-50, courtesy a Challenger title win at the Newport Beach event. The triumph took the veteran Indian tennis star 14 places up, to 47 in the latest rankings, issued on Monday.
In doubles, probably for first time, six players are featuring in the men's draw.
Top seed Somdev Devvarman struggled past Ramkumar Ramanathan, who was troubled by cramps, but Yuki Bhambri made a fluent start with a straight sets victory in the US$ 50,000 ATP Challenger event, in Chennai.
Davis Cupper Rohan Bopanna made it to the second round of the qualifying event of the USD 450,000 Chennai Open after a 6-7, 7-6, 7-6 victory over Michel Koning of the Netherlands in Chennai on Saturday.
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.
All the four Indian players were knocked in the first round of the qualifying event at the Chennai Open.
Ramanathan, who is seeded 15th in the Qualifiers, lost 3-6, 4-6 to Italian Simone Bolleli, while 239th ranked Sumit Nagal, who is going through a rough patch, suffered his eighth straight first round defeat when he was thrashed 2-6, 0-6 by Poland's Kamil Majchrzak, ranked 192.
After his match, Majchrzak revealed that he developed the habit of playing drop shots in his early tennis days.
Rohan Bopanna and Saketh Myneni lost the do-or-die doubles rubber against Serbia as India conceded an unassailable 0-3 lead to lose the Davis World Group Play-off tie, in Kraljevo, Serbia on Saturday.
Djere is ranked higher than Ramkumar at number 86 but is yet to win a match in Davis Cup. On the other side, Ramkumar is placed 135 in the world but is far more experienced, having played six ties with a 7-5 Win-Loss record.
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.
Mumbai Tennis Masters overcame Punjab Marshalls 29-20 in the inconsequential final North Zone round robin match of the Champions Tennis League at the Kalina University Sports Complex on Monday.
Delhi Dreams stormed into the final of the inaugural Champions Tennis League by overcoming a spirited Mumbai Tennis Masters by 27-21 in the best-of-five one-set clashes here at the Kalina University sports complex courts on Sunday night.