Tennis News

At the Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Group I - 2019, Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan

India bt Pakistan 4-0
[R1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,176) bt Muhammad Shoaib (PAK,UNR) 60 60
[R2] Sumit Nagal (IND,131) bt Huzaifa Abdul Rehman (PAK,UNR) 60 62

[R3] Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt Huzaifa Abdul Rehman (PAK)/ Muhammad Shoaib (PAK) 61 63

[R4] Sumit Nagal (IND,131) bt Yousaf Khalil (PAK,1680) 61 60

On the second day, we completed the tie win in 53 minutes when Jeevan and Lee expectedly won their match comfortably ... A better performance by these Pakistani kids as they won 4 games in this match ... This was Jeevan's first win in his debut Davis Cup tie ... In the fourth match, Jeevan scored the fastest win of this tie in 32 minutes losing a single game against Khalil ... With this win, the Indians completed a victory and they will face a 2-times Davis cup winner Croatia in away match in the qualifier in March 2020.

Tennis News

At the Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Group I - 2019, Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan

India vs Pakistan 2-0
[R1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,176) bt Muhammad Shoaib (PAK,UNR) 60 60
[R2] Sumit Nagal (IND,131) bt Huzaifa Abdul Rehman (PAK,UNR) 60 62

It is painful to post a score of this tie as these Pakistani teenagers r no match to our players ... A 42 mins annihilation by Ram of his opponent Muhammad Shoaib ... Sumit scored his first Davis Cup win in 64 minutes losing 2 games.

Tennis News

At Group 1 Asia/ Oceania - 1st Round 2019,

Indian Team: Sumit Nagal, Ramkumar Ramanathan, Saketh Myneni, Rohan Bopanna and Leander Paes
Reserves: Sasikumar Mukund, Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and Siddharth Rawat
Non-playing Captain: Rohit Rajpal

The team is announced for the Pakistan tie ... Leander is back in the team with Rohan and in the singles, Saki joins Ram and Sumit.

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At $125K ITF Women's Tournament 2019, Taipei, Chinese Taipei

[QF] (3) Ankita Raina (IND)/ Bibiane Schoofs (NED) l Ya-Hsuan Lee (TPE)/ Fang-Hsien Wu (TPE) 63 36 9-11
[QF] Isabella Shinikova (BUL)/ Prarthana Thombare (IND) l I-Hsuan Cho (TPE)/ Yi-Tsen Cho (TPE) 36 46

Prarthana and Isabella lost in straight-sets against a local pair ... Ankita and Schoofs also failed to overcome a Taipei pair after winning the first set.

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At $54K+H Pune Challenger 2019, India

[R3] (1) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,95) vs (14) Tim Van Rijthoven (NED,324) 64 57 36
[R3] (6) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,199) bt (12) Cem Ilkel (TUR,273) 63 64
[R3] (3) Sumit Nagal (IND,127) bt (13) Ivan Nedelko (RUS,323) 2-0 retd.
[R3] (8) Sasikumar Mukund (IND,250) bt Ergi Kirkin (TUR,545) 60 62
[R3] Manish Sureshkumar (IND,748) l (2) James Duckworth (AUS,111) 16 26

[QF] (3) Sumit Nagal (IND,127) vs (6) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,199)
[QF] (8) Sasikumar Mukund (IND,250) vs (2) James Duckworth (AUS,111)

Doubles
[R1] (1) Purav Raja (IND)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) bt (WC) Anvit Bendre (IND)/ Parikshit Somani (IND) 62 64

[QF] (1) Purav Raja (IND)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) vs Aziz Dougaz (TUN)/ Calvin Hemery (FRA)
[QF] (3) Arjun Kadhe (IND)/ Saketh Myneni (IND) bt Bogdan Bobrov (RUS)/ Ivan Nedelko (RUS) 64 46 16-14
[QF] (2) Toshihide Matsui (JPN)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) bt Steven Diez (CAN)/ Roberto Ortega-Olmedo (ESP) 36 62 10-4

[SF] (2) Toshihide Matsui (JPN)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) vs (3) Arjun Kadhe (IND)/ Saketh Myneni (IND)
PRajnesh lost after winning the first set against a Dutch guy Van Rijthoven and frankly speaking result doesn't matter ... I really salute his willpower to come here and play after his father demised only 4 days back ... Salute you Prajnesh for your grittiness for showing here despite a tragedy at home.
Ram scored a confident win over Ilkel ... In the quarters, he is facing Sumit, who received a walkover as his Russian opponent retired in the 3rd game.
Mukund also scored a comfortable win over Kirkin ... Next, he is facing the 2nd seed Duckworth, who comfortably defeated Manish.

In the doubles, Arjun and Saki scored a hard-fought win in the match tie-break which was 26 pts. long ... Next, they r facing the 2nd seed Vishnu and Matsui, who dominated the match after losing the first set against Diez and Ortega-Olmedo.
Purav and Ram started with a comfortable win ... Next, they r facing VSP and Klein.

Tennis News

At 2019 Davis Cup - Group I, Asia/ Oceania 1st Round, Islamabad, Pakistan

Indian Squad
Prajnesh Gunneswaran, Ramkumar Ramanathan, Saketh Myneni, Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan
Reserved Member: Sasikumar Mukund
Captain: Mahesh Bhupathi
Coach: Zeeshan Ali.

The Indians announced a strong team for Pakistan tie ... Saki returns to the team on the grass-court with Prajnesh and Ram ... Rohan and Divij r other members of the team ... Sumit Nagal has made himself unavailable citing an injury ... Sasi Kumar Mukund was selected as a reserve member ... The winner of the tie will qualify for the next year’s World Group Qualifiers.

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At $81K+H Aptos Challenger 2019, California, USA

[R1] Leander Paes (IND)/ Max Purcell (AUS) vs Hans Hach Verdugo (MEX)/ Sem Verbeek (NED)

Lee is playing in the Aptos Challenger with Max Purcell ... They r facing Hach Verdugo and Verbeek in the first round.

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At €46K+H Augsburg Challenger 2019, Germany

[FQ] (2) N. Sriram Balaji (IND,1139) bt N Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND,1028) 62 63

[R1] (LL) N Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND,1028) bye
[R1] (Q) N. Sriram Balaji (IND,1139) vs (WC) Robert Strombachs (GER,535)
Doubles
[R1] N Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND)/ Scott Puodziunas (AUS) vs Tomislav Draganja (CRO)/ Mark Vervoort (NED)
[R1] (2) N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Jamie Cerretani (USA) vs (PR) Aleksandre Metreveli (GEO)/ Mario Vilella Martinez (ESP)

Bala and VSP faced each other for a place in the main draw ... He defeated VSP easily, next, he is facing a local wild-card ... VSP also playing as a lucky-loser and receives a bye in the first round.
In the doubles, Bala and Vishnu r the 2nd seeds and they r facing pairing of Metreveli and Vilella Martinez ... VSP is playing with an Aussie partner, Scott Puodziunas ... They r facing Draganja and Vervoort.

Tennis News

At The Fed Cup - the Asia-Oceania Group-1 2019, Astana, Kazakhstan

India bt Thailand 2-1

[S1] Karman Kaur Thandi (IND,211) l Nundnida Luangnam (THA,712) 26 63 36
[S2] Ankita Raina (IND,165) bt Peangtarn Plipuech (THA,297) 67(4) 62 64
[D] Ankita Raina (IND)/ Karman Kaur Thandi (IND) bt Peangtarn Plipuech (THA)/ Nundnida Luangnam (THA) 64 67(6) 75

A surprisingly tough match for our girls ... The former top-200 Thai girls stretched us to fullest ... Luangnam defeated Karman in three sets ... Ankita also lost the first set in the tie-break against Plipuech ... After that, she made an excellent comeback to win the next 2 sets ... In the doubles, Ankita and Karman started well and won the first set ... In the second set tie-break, they had 2 tie points in the tie-break at 6-4 but our pair lost next 4 points to lose the set ... In the final set, they broke down at 3-5 but they dig deep and made an excellent comeback ... They won the last 4 games to complete the memorable victory.

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At the 2019 World Group Qualifier Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Zone Group 1,

India has been awarded an away tie against Pakistan, which will be held in September ... The winner will move to the 2020 World Cup Qualifiers ... In our last meeting in 2006, we defeated them 3-2 in Mumbai when Lee won the final rubber against Aqueel Khan.

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At € 586K Sofia Open 2019, Bulgaria

[QF] Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt (4) Robin Haase (NED)/ Matwe Middelkoop (NED) 76(6) 76(10)

[SF] Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Nikola Mektic (CRO)/ Jurgen Melzer (AUT)

A super win for Jeevan and Purav against the 4th seed Dutch pair ... Our pair won both sets in the long tie-breaks ... In the semis, they r facing Melzer and Mektic.

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At $54K+H Chennai Challenger 2019, India

[R3] (1) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,102) bt Arjun Kadhe (IND,390) 64 62
[R3] (11) Saketh Myneni (IND,260) l (5) Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (ESP,236) 36 67(3)
[R3] (16) Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,292) bt (3) Mohamed Safwat (EGY,198) 63 64

[QF] (1) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,102) vs (7) James Duckworth (AUS,241)
[QF] (16) Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,292) vs Brydan Klein (GBR,395)

Doubles
[QF] (WC) Sidharth Rawat (IND)/ Manish Sureshkumar (IND) l (1) Matt Reid (AUS)/ Luke Saville (AUS) 26 26
[QF] N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND)/ Rubin Statham (NZL) l Glanluca Mager (ITA)/ Andrea Pellegrino (ITA) 36 16
[QF] (WC) Nam Hoang Ly (VIE)/ Sumit Nagal (IND) l (2) Tomislav Draganja (CRO)/ Tsung-Hua Yang (TPE) w/o

Prajnesh scored straight sets win over Arjun ... In the quarters, he is facing Aussie James Duckworth
Mukund continues with his good run and scored a comfortable win over the top-200 Safwat ... Next, he is facing an experienced Brydan Klein.
Saki lost in straight sets against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.

In the doubles, our all pairs lost in the quarters.

Tennis News

At the World Group Qualifier 2019, Kolkata, India

India l Italy 1-3

Day One
[R1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,133) l Andreas Seppi (ITA,37) 46 26
[R2] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,102) l Matteo Berrettini (ITA,53) 46 36

Day Two
[R3] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) bt Matteo Berrettini (ITA)/ Simone Bolelli (ITA) 46 63 64
[R4] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,102) l Andreas Seppi (ITA,37) 16 46
[R5] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,133) vs Matteo Berrettini (ITA,53)

After 0-2 down on the first day, the Indians started on the backfoot on the second day ... They managed to win the doubles in a comeback victory, but Seppi proved a too strong our singles players and Italy won the tie 3-1.

The Italian captain kept surprising and fielded Matteo in the doubles, after his excellent debut on the first day, with Bolelli ... His introduction paid off as the Italian pair started well ... They broke Rohan in the 9th game and then held their service game for winning the first set ... In the second set, our pair took a crucial break on the Matteo’s serve in the 4th game to lead 4-1 ... After that both pairs held their respective service games, Divij saved a couple of break point before holding his serve and won the second set ... In the third set, the Italians were in the driving seat when they broke Divij in the 4th game to lead 1-3 ... But from here the Indians made a comeback in the match ... They immediately broke Bolelli in the 5th game, 2-3, and then again broke Bolelli in the 9th game to lead the first time in the set, 5-4 ... Rohan held his serve to give a first point of the tie for the Indians.
In the reverse singles, Prajnesh faced an old cookie Seppi ... Considering Seppi's experience this was a tough match for Prajnesh ... In the first set, Prajnesh tried to outplay Seppi from the baseline and that backfired ... Seppi won the set comfortably ... In the second, Prajnesh ran close with Seppi but Seppi used his experience to finish this match in two sets ... With this win, the Italian qualify for the World Group.

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Tennis News

At the World Group Qualifier 2019, Kolkata, India

India vs Italy 0-2

Day One
[R1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,133) l Andreas Seppi (ITA,37) 46 26
[R2] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,102) l Matteo Berrettini (ITA,53) 46 36

Andreas Seppi outperformed Ram in the first match ... In the first set, both were 4-all and Ram made few double faults to lose his serve in the 9th ... Seppi held to win the first set ... Ram struggled continues in the second as he made unforced errors and double faults ... Seppi took advantage to win the set and match comfortably.
Prajnesh also failed to raise his game against the young Italian debutant, Matteo Berrettiniis ... In both sets, Prajnesh lost his serve in the opening game and failed to challenge Matteo's serve ... So after the first day we r 0-2 down and considering our players' performance it would be Hercules task for our team to fight back.

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At $81K+H Cleveland Challenger 2019, Ohio, United States

[QF] (4) N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Hans Hach Verdugo (MEX) l Evan King (USA)/ Hunter Reese (USA) 16 76(4) 4-10

Bala's partnership with his new partner is not clicking ... He and Hach Verdugo lost in the quarters against the American pair.

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At $25K ITF Women's Tournament 2019, Jodhpur, India

[R2] (WC) Riya BHATIA (IND,555) l (6) Miyabi INOUE (JPN,362) 57 26

Overall, a disappointing performance from the Indians ... Riya also lost in the second round against the 6th seed Inoue.

Tennis News

At the World Group Qualifier 2019, Kolkata, India

India vs Italy

Day One
[R1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,133) vs Andreas Seppi (ITA,37)
[R2] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,102) vs Matteo Berrettini (ITA,53)

Day Two
[R3] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) vs Marco Cecchinato (ITA)/ Simone Bolelli (ITA)
[R4] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,102) vs Andreas Seppi (ITA,37)
[R5] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,133) vs Matteo Berrettini (ITA,53)

Ram is playing the first match against Andreas Seppi ... The Italian captain surprised naming a debutant Matteo Berrettini for the singles, he will face Prajnesh in the second rubber.

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At $81K+H Cleveland Challenger 2019, Ohio, United States

[R1] (4) N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Hans Hach Verdugo (MEX) bt Gonzalo Escobar (ECU)/Roberto Maytin (VEN) 75 61

Bala with his new Mexican partner, Hans Hach Verdugo, started with straight sets win over the South American pair.

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At $25K ITF Women's Tournament 2019, Jodhpur, India

[R1] (WC) Sowjanya BAVISETTI (IND,743) l Paige HOURIGAN (NZL,544) 57 36
[R1] (Q) Vaidehi CHAUDHARI (IND,UNR) l (Q) Mihaela DJAKOVIC (SRB,766) 36 36
[R1] (WC) Mahak JAIN (IND,518) l Fatma AL NABHANI (OMA,439) 46 46
[R1] (WC) Riya BHATIA (IND,555) bt (WC) Zeel DESAI (IND,770) 62 75
[R1] (Q) Sai Samhitha CHAMARTHI (IND,796) l (3) Valeriya STRAKHOVA (UKR,287) 46 16

[R2] (WC) Riya BHATIA (IND,555) vs (6) Miyabi INOUE (JPN,362)

A poor outing for Indian women ... Only Riya managed to win against Zeel but our all other players lost against the foreign players ... Riya is facing the 6th seed Inoue.

Tennis News

At the World Group Qualifier 2019, Kolkata, India

Italian Team: Marco Cecchinato (S #18), Andreas Seppi (S #35, D #224), Matteo Berrettini (S #54, D #131), Thomas Fabbiano (S #102, D #334 , Simone Bolelli (S #134, D #88)

The Italian #1 Fabio Fognini is skipping the Davis cup tie but still a strong Italian team ... I think Andreas Seppi will be a key player for them with his experience in the singles.

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At $162K+H Newport Beach Challenger 2019, United States

[R1] N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Jason Jung (TPE) bt (WC) Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (USA)/ Noah Rubin (USA) 63 62

[QF] N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Jason Jung (TPE) vs (3) Romain Arneodo (MON)/ Andrei Vasilevski (BLR)

Bala and Jason started with a comfortable win over the wild-card pair ... Next, they r facing the 3rd seed pair.

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At $69K+H Rennes Challenger 2019, France

[R1] (4) Fabricio Neis (BRA)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt (ITF) Javier Barranco Cosano (ESP)/ Raul Brancaccio (ESP) 64 75

[QF] (4) Fabricio Neis (BRA)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs (ITF) Gregoire Jacq (FRA)/ Hugo Voljacques (FRA)

Purav and Neis started with straight sets win over the Spanish pair ... In the quarters, they r facing a local ITF pair.

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At $25K ITF Germany-01 2019, Nussloch

[R1] (6) Arjun Kadhe (IND,390) l (LL) Kai Wehnelt (GER,UNR) 67(3) 67(6)

Doubles
[R1] (1) Liam Broady (GBR)/ Arjun Kadhe (IND) bt Niklas Albuszies (GER)/ Robin Lang (GER) 61 63

A bad loss for Arjun as he lost in the two tie-breaks against the lucky loser local player ... But an expected winning start in the doubles with Broady.

Tennis News

At the World Group Qualifier 2019, Kolkata, India

The Indian Davis Cup Team
Prajnesh Gunneswaran, Ramkumar Ramanathan, Divij Sharan, Rohan Bopanna, Saketh Myneni and Sasi Kumar Mukund
Non-playing Captain: Mahesh Bhupathi
Coach: Zeeshan Ali

The Indian Fed Cup Team
Ankita Raina, Karman Thandi, Pranjala Yadlapalli, Rutuja Bhosale and Prarthana Thombare
Non-playing Captain: Vishaal Uppal
Coach: Ankita Bhambri

The new AITA selection committee has announced the team for the World Group Qualifier tie against Italy ... The announcement is more than a month before the tie and the selection was as per current rankings of the players ... As expected, Divij Sharan makes a return in place of Balaji, also Mukund is included in place of Arjun as a reserve player ... Yuki doesn't consider for the tie due to his on-going recovery from the knee injury ... Sumit Nagal, Arjun Kadhe, and Siddharth Vishwakarma will train with the team at a preparatory camp from January 22 to 30, 2019.

The Fed Cup team has also announced for the Asia-Oceania Group-1, which will be played in Astana, Kazakhstan, in the first week of February ... No surprises, as our top four singles players get selected for the tournament with our top doubles player, Prarthana Thombare.

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ATP Singles Rankings with the new formula on 31st Dec 2018, (Old formula rankings r in the bracket)

110 Gunneswaran, Prajnesh (107)
133 Ramkumar Ramanathan (132)
137 Bhambri, Yuki (137)
259 Saketh Myneni (259)
295 Sasi Kumar Mukund (338)
340 Sumit Nagal (477)
392 Arjun Kadhe (389)
401 N.Sriram Balaji (726)
432 Siddharth Rawat (693)
511T Abhinav Sanjeev Shanmugam (847)
574T Vishnu Vardhan (1205T)
581T Manish Sureshkumar (523)
608T Niki Kalouanda Poonacha (645)
650T Suraj R Prabodh (876)

2018 year-end WTA Singles Rankings, (The last year's rankings in brackets)
205 Ankita Raina (276)
207 Karman Thandi (288)
288 Pranjala Yadlapalli (482)
344 Rutuja Bhosale (558)
521 Mahak Jain (750)
555 Riya Bhatia (577)
746 Sowjanya Bavisetti (1099)
769 Zeel Desai (632)
794 Sai Samhitha Chamarthi (865)
809 Jennifer Luikham (1099)

Our 14 players make a cut in newly introduced the top-650 ATP rankings ... So few surprising entries into the list ... Bala, Vishnu, Niki, Suraj, and Abhinav sneaked in with their challenger level points ... Sumit has jumped to the top-350 but he will slide down outside top-350 as next week his last year's Tata Open qualifying points will be removed ... Yuki will also fall outside the top-150 as he is also going to lose 20 ranking points in the next week.
In the doubles, Rohan remains our top player but slide down to the #37 ... Divij showed promising performance and he is in the top-40, #39 ... This year, we will see Divij and Rohan r partnering on the tour so we can experience an interesting ride from the Indian duo ... Leander is showing the age is the only number and he is our the 3ranked player, #63 ... Jeevan is in the top-75, #74, and Purav is also in the top-100, #90 ... Bala and Vishnu failed to capitalize and remain outside the top-100 rankings, Bala is on the #110 and Vishnu is on the #124.

In 2018, we experienced significant improvement in our women tennis ... Our top five players show a really good jump in their rankings ... Ankita and Karman were in the top-200 and they will return there in the early part of the year ... Pranjala has broken into the top-300 and Rutuja is also showing spark to be there ... Mahak is very near to break in into the top-500 after her an excellent run in the $25K Navi Mumbai tournament ... In the doubles, everything depends upon Sania Mirza's comeback after pregnancy ... Prarthana Thombare is stagnant with her ranking ... Karman and Ankita showing promises as a pair, but it will be early to judge.

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At $590K Tata Open Maharashtra 2019, Pune, India

[R1] (WC) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,110) l Michael Mmoh (USA,103) 57 36

Doubles
[R1] Nicholas Monroe (USA)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) l (4) Gerard Granollers (ESP)/ Marcel Granollers (ESP) 46 46
[R1] (WC) Purav Raja (IND)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) l Luke Bambridge (GBR)/ Jonny O'Mara (GBR) 67(4) 36
[R1] (WC) N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Arjun Kadhe (IND) bt (2) Philipp Oswald (AUT)/ Tim Puetz (GER) 76(1) 46 10-8

[QF] (WC) N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Arjun Kadhe (IND) vs Luke Bambridge (GBR)/ Jonny O'Mara (GBR)

I was hoping a winning start for Prajnesh against similar ranked Mmoh ... But Mmoh completed the win in straight sets ... Prajnesh struggled with his game and was looking rusty on the court.

In the doubles, the only win for Indians came from Arjun and Bala ... They defeated the 2nd seeds Oswald and Puetz in the match tie-break ... Next, they r facing the British pairing of Bambridge and O'Mara, who defeated Purav and Ram in the first round ... Jeevan and Monroe lost in straight sets against the 4th seeds Granollers brothers.

Tennis News

At Davis Cup 2019 - Qualifiers 1st Round, Kolkata, India

The AITA announced the venue for our tie against the Italian team ... The tie will be played on the grass at South Club in Kolkata ... Kolkata was chosen as the venue only after the AITA secured two key exemptions from the ITF ... The rules require that World Group and Play-off ties be played at a venue where the space behind the baseline is 27 feet and there is a seating capacity of 4000 ... Only DLTA and the center court at MSLTA (Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, Pune) fulfill both requirements but they don't have the grass courts.

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At $150K+H Bangalore Challenger 2018, India

[R2] (WC) Saketh Myneni (IND,315) bt (Q) Youssef Hossam (EGY,483) 61 36 61
[R2] (WC) Sumit Nagal (IND,309) bt James Ward (GBR,199) 63 76(4)
[R2] (Q) Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,418) bt Blaz Kavcic (SLO,196) 76(2) 3-1 retd.
[R2] (4) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,141) bt (Q) Sebastin Fanselow (GER,431) 46 64 75

[QF] (WC) Sumit Nagal (IND,309) vs (WC) Saketh Myneni (IND,315)
[QF] (4) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,141) vs (Q) Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,418)

Doubles
[QF] (3) N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) l Max Purcell (AUS)/ Luke Saville (AUS) 67(3) 36
[QF] Arjun Kadhe (IND)/ Saketh Myneni (IND) bt (WC) S.D. Prajwal Dev (IND)/ Niki Kaliyanda Poonacha (IND) 63 76(5)
[QF] (2) Purav Raja (IND)/ Antonio Sancic (CRO) bt Blaz Kavcic (SLO)/ Tristan-Samuel Weissborn (AUT) w/o

[SF] (2) Purav Raja (IND)/ Antonio Sancic (CRO) vs Arjun Kadhe (IND)/ Saketh Myneni (IND)

Mukund enters into the quarters after his opponent the top-200 Slovak, Blaz Kavcic retired in the second set ... Mukund was down in the first set but he broke Kavcic when he was serving for the set at 4-5 ... Mukund won the tie-break comfortably and when he was a break up in the second Kavcic conceded the match.
Saki stretched to three sets by the Egyptian qualifier, Youssef Hossam ... After winning the first set comfortably Saki lost focus in the second, he recovered and won the third set convincingly ... Next, he is facing Sumit.
Sumit scored another good win over the British experienced player, James Ward ... After winning the first set Sumit faced resistance from James Ward in the second but he completed the win in two sets after winning this set in the tie-break.
Prajnesh made a tough match as he started slowly and a German qualifier Fanselow took advantage of it to win the first set ... Prajnesh fought back and won the second set ... Fanselow started well and broke Prajnesh in the 6th game to lead 2-4 in the final set, which he increased after holding his serve 2-5 ... From here, Prajnesh made an excellent comeback, he won next 5 games breaking Fanselow twice for completing the win ... In the quarters, Prajnesh is facing Mukund.

Purav and Sancic receive a walkover from Kavcic and Weissborn ... They r meeting Saki and Arjun in the semis, who defeated Prajwal and Niki in straight sets ... But Vishnu and Bala had a disappointing loss in straight sets against the Aussie pair.

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At $150K+H Houston Challenger 2018, Texas, USA

[R1] (2) Leander Paes (IND)/ Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela (MEX) bt Luca Margaroli (SUI)/ David Vega Hernandez (ESP) 46 75 10-6

[QF] (2) Leander Paes (IND)/ Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela (MEX) vs Luke Bambridge (GBR)/ Tennys Sandgren (USA)

Lee-Miguel scored a comeback win over Margaroli and Vega Hernandez after losing the first set ... Next, they r facing Bambridge and Sandgren.

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At $125K Taipei OEC Open 2018, Taipei City, Chinese Taipei

[R1] Ankita Raina (IND)/ Karman Kaur Thandi (IND) bt (Alt) Joanna Garland (TPE)/ Hua Chen Lee (TPE) 63 63
[R1] Ji-Hee Choi (KOR)/ Prarthana Thombare (IND) l Junri Namigata (JPN)/ Peangtarn Plipuech (THA) 46 57

[QF] Ankita Raina (IND)/ Karman Kaur Thandi (IND) vs (WC) Ya-Hseun Lee (TPE)/ En Liang (TPE)

Ankita and Karman started with a comfortable win against the alternate pair ... Next, they r facing the local wildcard pair, they defeated the top-seeds in the first round.
Prarthana and her Korean partner lost in the first round.

Tennis News

At Davis Cup 2019 - Qualifiers 1st Round,

The Indian team having a home tie against the seeded Italian team in the first round qualifiers ... The matches will be played on the 1st and 2nd February 2019 ... The Italian team is talented, we need to surprise them with hosting this tie on the Indian grass courts.

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At $1M Chengdu Open 2018, China

[R1] (Q) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,164) l Matteo Berrettini (ITA,60) 36 46

Doubles
[R1] (Alt) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND)/ Ruben Bemelmans (BEL) bt Radu Albot (MDA)/ Malek Jaziri (TUN) 62 63

[QF] Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Austin Krajicek (USA) vs (Alt) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND)/ Ruben Bemelmans (BEL)
[QF] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ N. Sriram Balaji (IND) l Guido Pella (ARG)/ Joao Sousa (POR) 67(1) 36

Prajnesh lost in straight sets against Berrettini ... In the first set, Prajnesh failed to recover from 0-4 down ... He tried fightback after breaking Berrettini but it was a huge task.

In the doubles, Prajnesh played as an alternate pair with Bemelman ... They started with a comfortable win over Albot and Jaziri ... Next, they r facing Jeevan and Austin.
Rohan and Bala lost in straight sets against Sousa and Pella in the quarters.

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At $60K ITF Women's Tournament 2018, Darwin, Australia

[R1] (4) Rutuja Bhosale (IND)/ Hiroko Kuwata (JPN) bt Gabriella Da Silva Fick (AUS)/ Sara Tomic (AUS) 64 16 10-7
[QF] (4) Rutuja Bhosale (IND)/ Hiroko Kuwata (JPN) bt Jodie Anna Burrage (GBR)/ Freya Christie (GBR) 16 62 10-7

[SF] (4) Rutuja Bhosale (IND)/ Hiroko Kuwata (JPN) vs Aldila Sutjiadi (INA)/ Olivia Tjandramulia (AUS)

Rutuja lost in the singles final qualifying round ... In the doubles with Hiroko Kuwata, she scored back to back the match tie-breaks win against good pairs ... In the semis, they r facing Sutjiadi and Tjandramulia.

Tennis News

At Davis Cup - World Group Play-Offs 2018, Kraljevo, Serbia

India l Serbia 0-4

Day 1
[R1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,135) l Laslo Djere (SRB,86) 63 46 67(2) 26
[R2] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,162) l Dusan Lajovic (SRB,56) 46 36 46

Day 2
[R3] Saketh Myneni (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) l Nikola Milojevic (SRB)/ Danilo Petrovic (SRB) 67(5) 26 67(4)

Day 3
[R4] N. Sriram Balaji (IND,665) l Pedja Krstin (SRB,174) 36 16

India lost against Serbia 0-4 ... On the last day, India picked up Bala and Serbian played Pedja Krstin ... Pedja won comfortably and completed dominating win for Serbia.

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At $80K ITF Women's Tournament 2018, Biarritz, France

[R1] Tereza Smitkova (CZE)/ Prarthana Thombare (IND) bt (2) An-Sophie Mestach (BEL)/ Alexandra Panova (RUS) 61 26 10-8

[QF] Tereza Smitkova (CZE)/ Prarthana Thombare (IND) l Jessika Ponchet (FRA)/ Kimberley Zimmermann (BEL) 67(4) 26

Prarthana with Tereza scored an upset win over the 2nd seeds Mestach and Panova in the match tie-break, but they lost in the quarters against Ponchet and Zimmermann.

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At $150K+H Kaohsiung Challenger 2018, Chinese Taipei

[R1] (6) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,135) vs Maximilian Neuchrist (AUT,257)
[R1] (8) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,162) vs Jurij Rodionov (AUT,258)

Doubles
[R1] (1) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Austin Krajicek (USA) vs Tristan Lamasine (FRA)/ Hiroki Moriya (JPN)
[R1] N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND) vs Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) vs Cheng-Peng Hsieh (TPE)/ Tsung-Hua Yang (TPE)
[R1] (2) N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) vs Yuichi Sugita (JPN)/ Chu-Huan Yi (TPE)

RamK and Prajnesh r the seeded in the singles of the Kaohsiung Challenger ... Both r facing similar ranked Austrian players in the first round.

In the doubles, Jeevan and Krajicek r the top-seeds ... They r facing Lamasine and Moriya ... VSP is playing with RamK and they r facing the Taipei pair ... Bala and Vishu r the 2nd seeds and facing Sugita and Yi in the first round.

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At $50K+H Sibiu Challenger 2018, Romania

[R1] Sumit Nagal (IND,295) vs (3) Pedro Sousa (POR,144)

Another tough first round for Sumit against top-150 Portuguese player, Pedro Sousa.

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At $50K+H Biella Challenger 2018, Italy

[R1] (4) Rameez Junaid (AUS)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Ivan Gakhov (RUS)/ Alexander Pavlioutchenkov (RUS)

The last week's Istanbul Challenger winners Purav and Rameez r the 4th seeds and facing Russian pair in the first round.