Mahindra Scorpio TOISA 2018 Nominees: Tennis

NEW DELHI: The third Mahindra Scorpio Times of India Sports Awards (TOISA) powered by All-Out, is India’s first and largest multi discipline people’s choice sports awards. TOISA is a platform created by the Times Group to recognise and reward Indian sporting talent and achievements on a global scale and will be held soon to honour the lion hearts who have done the country proud.
Ahead of the 2018 TOISA to be held on February 26, here’s a recap of the Indian tennis players that left an impression in 2017.
ROHAN BOPANNA

Lifted his first Grand Slam title by winning the French Open mixed doubles trophy with Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski, becoming the fourth Indian tennis player to clinch a major. In just his second Grand Slam final, Bopanna teamed with Dabrowski to beat Germany’s Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Colombia’s Robert Farah 2-6, 6-2, 12-10.
Won the season opening Chennai Open with Jeeven Nedunchezhiyan. Won the Monte Carlo Masters with his Uruguayan partner Pablo Cuevas after a three-set win over Spain’s Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez. Won the Erste Bank Open in Vienna with Cuevas, beating Sam Querrey and Marcelo Demoliner 7-6 (7), 6-7 (4), 11-9.
Also reached the quarter-finals of the China Open with Cuevas.
YUKI BHAMBRI

Won the $50,000 KPIT ATP Challenger Crown, beating Ramkumar Ramanathan 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 for his six Challenger triumph. Beat the world No 22 and defending champion Gail Monfils in the second round of the ATP Citi Open in Washington, DC. Having qualified for the main draw of the ATP 500 tournament, Bhambri upset the Frenchman 6-3, 4-6, 7-5.
In the third round, he rallied to beat Argentinian Guido Pella 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-1 before losing to Kevin Anderson in the quarter-finals. This performance saw Bhambri move 41 spots in the ATP rankings, from 200 to 159.
Runners-up with Divij Sharan at the Tashkent Challenger event after a 4-6, 2-6 loss to the second seeded pair of Hans Podlipnik-Castillo an Andrei Vasilevski.
SANIA MIRZA

With Czech partner Barbara Strycova, reached the final of the Sydney International final where the pair lost 4-6, 4-6 to Timea Babos and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Partnered Strycova to the final of the Miami Open, where they were stunned by the unseeded pair of Gabriela Dabrowski and Xu Yifan 4-6, 3-6. Reached the semi-finals of the $2,666,000 Wuhan Open in China with Chinese partner Shuai Peng. Reached the semi-finals of the China Open with Peng.
DIVIJ SHARAN

Won the men’s doubles title with Purav Raja at the Bordeaux Challenger in straight sets over Santiago Gonzalez and Artem Sitak. Won the European Open Trophy in Antwerp with American Scott Lipsky - his first of 2017 on the ATP World Tour, and third overall - with a 6-4, 2-6, 10-5 win over Santiago Gonzalez and Julio Peralta.
Runner-up with Yuki Bhambri at the Tashkent Challenger event after a 4-6, 2-6 loss to the second seeded pair of Hans Podlipnik-Castillo an Andrei Vasilevski. Runner-up with Raja at the season-opening Chennai Open. Runner-up with Scott Clayton at the Brest Challenger event in France. Reached his highest career rank of 51.
PURAV RAJA

Won the men’s doubles title with Divij Sharan at the Bordeaux Challenger in straight sets over Santiago Gonzalez and Artem Sitak. Runner-up with Sharan at the season-opening Chennai Open.
With Leander Paes, reached the quarter-finals of the €106,000 Challenger tennis tournament in France. Teamed up with Paes to win the $75,000 Knoxville Challenge with a 7-6 (4), 7-6 (4) victory over James Cerretani and John-Patrick Smith. Reached his highest career rank of 52.
To vote for your favourite archer and other Indian sports stars of 2017 ahead of this year’s Mahindra Scorpio TOISA, click here