Tennis News
At Australian Open 2009, Melbourne

Doubles Final
(3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) l (2) Bob Bryan (USA)/ Mike Bryan (USA) 26 75 60

Today Mahesh failed to add second 2009 Australian Open title for Indians in Mens doubles but tomorrow he and Sania having opportunity to doing that in Mixed doubles title.

Mahesh and Mark started well breaking Bob Bryan's serve in the first game of the final ... They again broke Bob's serve in the fifth game to grabbed first set 6-2 in 27 mins ... Until first set and half Bob Bryan was struggling with his serve and game ... Other hand Mark Knowles was also struggle with his serve from second set ... Bob and Mark saved couple of break-point chances on their respective serves in second set but most crucial and only break came in 12th game when Bryans broke Mark's serve to captured second set ... After that Bryans didn't give any chance to Mark and Mahesh in this final ... They won 8 games on trot to won Australian Open title in the style from 5-all in the second set ... This was Bryans 7th grandslam title.

Mahesh by far was best player on the court in the first 2 sets but Mike Bryan played amazing match from seond set.

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2009, Melbourne
YUKI IS 2009 AUSTRALIAN OPEN JUNIOR BOYS' CHAMPION


Junior Boys' Singles Final
(1) Yuki Bhambri (IND,2) bt Alexandros-Ferdinandos Georgoudas (GER,56) 63 61

Special thanks to Getty Images for these photos.
16 years, 6 months and 27 days old Yuki Bhambri become the first Indian to be Junior Australian Open Champion ... After this win Yuki will become Junior WR No. 1 ... But importantly this title win also gives big perk as he also guarantee the wild-card to the 2010 Australian Open maindraw.

Yuki started well breaking Georgoudas serve in the begining, in 9th game he had 2 break-points and set points on 15-40 but Georgoudas fought back saving them but Yuki won next 2 points to won the first set breaking Georgoudas serve.

Second set also started same way like first, Yuki again broke Georgoudas serve in the begining ... In this set Georgoudas only managed to hold his serve in 4th game and got broken in 2nd and 6th games ... While serving for the match he had 2 match-points at 40-15 ... He double faulted on the first point but converted 2nd point to win Championship in only 57 minutes.

Commentrators were ga-ga over Yuki's game ... His serving, baseline game, net game & volleying skill. Commentrators were special comments on Yuki's ability of hitting delicate drop shot from the baseline.

Complete Match Stats
Yuki Bhambri(IND) Georgoudas(GER)

1st Serve % 23 of 42 = 55 % 26 of 49 = 53 %
Aces 4 1
Double Faults 1 0
Winning % on 1st Serve 19 of 23 = 83 % 15 of 26 = 58 %
Winning % on 2nd Serve 13 of 19 = 68 % 10 of 23 = 43 %
Receiving Points Won 24 of 49 = 49 % 10 of 43 = 23 %
Break Point Conversions 4 of 7 = 57 % 0 of 0 = 0 %
Total Points Won 56 35

Interview from Australian Open
Q. You're the first Indian to win the Australian Open juniors. How does that make you feel?

YUKI BHAMBRI: Winning the Australian Open is obviously a very gig achievement, regardless of being the first Indian. I mean, that's actually news to me. But I dreamed of winning it, and it's come true.


Q. How was it to play on the big court today?

YUKI BHAMBRI: Well, I was actually quite nervous in the beginning. That was the first time actually playing on such a huge stadium. I actually got to thank Craig for it. I mean, you don't get opportunities like this to play.

As the game and match progressed I felt much comfortable over there.


Q. What's the difference playing such a big court as opposed to some other courts?

YUKI BHAMBRI: I think the crowd's always backing you up. You're quite motivated to do well on these courts. You obviously enjoy playing in front of a lot of people.


Q. Sometimes are the dimensions a problem?

YUKI BHAMBRI: Not really, no. Because, I mean, you're kind of used to playing ‑‑ you've played so much tennis. But these small adjustments don't make much of a difference.


Q. What was your plan before you went into the match?

YUKI BHAMBRI: Well, actually I hadn't seen or heard of him before. But, I mean, I knew a little bit about him. I had seen him play yesterday in the semis, so I knew a bit about him.

I just wanted to focus on my game. I knew it was a big match, so whoever probably put more balls in the court would probably win the match. That was my aim, and to try and cut down unforced errors.


Q. You played through some pretty hot conditions here this week. Did that affect you at all in the final?

YUKI BHAMBRI: Actually, no. It affected me more in the semis. I was kind of drained out in the semis match and I had to go and play doubles. Being an Indian, in this way it's kind of helpful. You can't really get used to the heat, but you're playing in similar conditions.


Q. Because you won this now, are you going to switch out of junior tennis? What impact is this going to have on your career?

YUKI BHAMBRI: Even if I wouldn't have won it, I had already planned to focus more on men's tournaments, playing more in the men's circuit. I might still just play the Grand Slams.


Q. You had a tough match in the first round. Can you talk a little bit about this match? Did you serve match point, or do you remember?

YUKI BHAMBRI: The first match?


Q. Yes, the first one against the Mexican player.

YUKI BHAMBRI: No, it was ‑‑ I think I was up a break in the third set. Yeah, I broke him at, I think, 6‑All. It was a tough one. I was very nervous in that match because of all the expectations being the top seed.

I lost the first set, so, I mean, it was getting a bit tough. I'm glad I could pull it off.


Q. Did that result give you confidence going through the tournament that you were able to pull that out?

YUKI BHAMBRI: Oh, definitely. I mean, coming back from a set down, especially in the first and playing 8‑6 in the third. I mean, even if I probably lose in the second it couldn't get worse than that.

I actually felt much more comfortable playing all my other matches. I just went for my shots.


Q. Tell us a bit about how you picked up tennis and what was your motivation.

YUKI BHAMBRI: I have two sisters who play tennis as well. I've got courts right next to my house. I mean, you've got about ten courts there. That's how I started at a young age. Everyone in India plays sport, so that's how I really get into tennis.
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At $50K Carson Challenger, California, USA

[SF] (4) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) l (1) Scott Lipsky (USA)/ David Martin (USA) 16 46

This was expected result against top-50 doubles pair ... But its heratening to see how they played close second set ... Harsh and Purav also pairing in next week's Dallas Challenger.

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2009, Melbourne

Mixed Doubles
[SF] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) bt Iveta Benesova (CZE)/ Lukas Dlouhy (CZE) 64 61

[F] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) vs Nathalie Dechy (FRA)/ Andy Ram (ISR)

Junior Boys' Singles
[SF] (1) Yuki Bhambri (IND,2) bt (7) Adrien Puget (FRA,20) 64 64

[F] (1) Yuki Bhambri (IND,2) vs Alexandros-Ferdinandos Georgoudas (GER,56)

Doubles
[SF] (1) Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Liang-Chi Huang (TPE) l Mikhal Biryukov (RUS)/ Yasutaka Uchiyama (JPN) 36 16

In the first set both pair traded early breaks but important break came in 9th game ... With that break Mahesh and Sania won first set in 32 mins ... In the second set they broke Czech pair's serve in 1st,5th and 7th games to won match in only 54 mins ... In the final they r facing French-Israeli pair.

Yuki started well breaking Puget's serve in the second game and with that single break he won first set in 37 mins ... In the second set Yuki broke Puget's serve in the first game but Puget immediately break back to made it 1-all ... But Puget surged ahead breaking Yuki's serve in 4th game ... But Yuki turned table from 1-4 to won next 5 games ... Yuki came back strongly after slip up in 2nd set from 1-4 down he allowed Puget to win just 3 points of next 23 points (while he won 20 points) ... He broke Puget's serve in 7th and 9th games to won this match in 1 hr 19 mins to move into Australian Open Junior Boys' Singles final ... So with that he became first Indian player after Leander Paes to reach Junior Grandslam final ... But in doubles semi-final, he and his Taipei partner lost in just 42 mins ... I feel playing so many matches in last 2 weeks take toll on Yuki ... May be its good considering now he can concentrate more to his singles final.

I m still impressed with Yuki ... Yuki is showing how much he talented and improved these days from the way he is dominating this junior section ... May be very few junior players can give him trouble .. But what a display of game and mental toughness by him .. Coming back from 1-4 down and in a such dominating way winning next 20 pts of 23 they played .. Simply amazing .. This kid is awesome!!! Truly THE talent which we r searching at junior level for many years.

In the final he is facing German unseeded player, who defeated 2nd seed player in straight sets.
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At $50K Carson Challenger, California, USA

[R2] Prakash Amritraj (IND,209) l Wayne Odesnik (USA,115) 26 46

Doubles
[QF] (4) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Luka Gregorc (SCO)/ Andrea Stoppini (ITA) 63 64

[SF] (4) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs (1) Scott Lipsky (USA)/ David Martin (USA)

Good easy straight sets victory for our pair ... With their performance as per seeding will help Harsh to push his ranking towards 175 in doubles ... In semis they r having very tough opponents, who r regular on tour and r in top-50 doubles ranking.
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At $25K Laguna Nigel Challenger, CA, USA

[R1] (8) Sunitha RAO (IND,196) l Alina JIDKOVA (RUS,237) 46 75 46

Doubles
[R1] Sunitha Rao (IND)/ Alexandra Panova (RUS) l (WC) Anne Yelsey (USA)/ Riza Zalameda (USA) 60 67(3) (4)10

Sunitha's disappointing performance continue at challenger level.

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2009, Melbourne

[SF] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) bt Lukasz Kubot (POL)/ Oliver Marach (AUT) 63 61
[SF] (4) Leander Paes (IND)/ Lukas Dlouhy (CZE) l (2) Bob Bryan (USA)/ Mike Bryan (USA) 36 36

[F] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) vs (2) Bob Bryan (USA)/ Mike Bryan (USA)

Junior Boys' Singles
[QF] (1) Yuki Bhambri (IND,2) bt Richard Becker (GER,55) 61 75

[SF] (1) Yuki Bhambri (IND,2) vs (7) Adrien Puget (FRA,20)

Doubles
[QF] (1) Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Liang-Chi Huang (TPE) bt (5) Julien Obry (FRA)/ Adrien Puget (FRA) 76(4) 64

[SF] (1) Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Liang-Chi Huang (TPE) vs Mikhal Biryukov (RUS)/ Yasutaka Uchiyama (JPN)

Very dominating performance by Mahesh and Mark to finished match inside 1 hr mark ... In complete match they didn't face single break point and they converted 4 of 5 break-point chances.

After winning first set in just 22 mins Yuki stretched in 2nd set by Becker ... Becker converted 1 break-point from 2 chances but Yuki converted 5 break-point chances from 7 he generated, 2 of them in 2nd set ... Yuki finished match in 1 hr and 12 mins to move into semis ... Yuki also reached in doubles semis with fighting win over 5th seed French pair, their he and his Taipei partner will face unseeded pair.

Today again Lee and Lukas struggled against Bryans ... They had very poor record against these twins and today Bryans again showed their mastery over pair of Lee and Lukas in 54 mins ... Lee and Lukas converted both break-point chances in this match but other hand Bryans able to create 8 break-point chances and converted 5 of them ... Disappointing performance by Lee and Lukas.
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At $50K Carson Challenger, California, USA

[R1] (4) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Santiago Gonzalez (MEX)/ Giovanni Lapentti (ECU) 63 36 10(7)
[R1] Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Scoville Jenkins (USA) l (WC) Rylan Rizza (USA)/ Kaes Van't Hof (USA) 46 67(4)

[QF] (4) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Luka Gregorc (SCO)/ Andrea Stoppini (ITA)

Good win by Harsh and Purav against experienced players ... But Kash and his partner lost against collegiate players.

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2009, Melbourne

[QF] (4) Leander Paes (IND)/ Lukas Dlouhy (CZE) bt Simone Bolelli (ITA)/ Andreas Seppi (ITA) 61 76(5)

Mixed Doubles
[QF] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) bt Aleksandra Wozniak (CAN)/ Daniel Nestor (CAN) 36 64 10(5)

[SF] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) vs Iveta Benesova (CZE)/ Lukas Dlouhy (CZE)

Junior Boys' Singles
[R3] (1) Yuki Bhambri (IND,2) bt (13) Dino Marcan (CRO,32) 63 61

Yuki continued with his dominance over other players from second round ... He is looking more and more solid after every match.

Sania and Mahesh scored comeback victory over strong Canadian pair ... Next they r facing Czech pair, who received walkover in quarters.

Leander and Lukas scored straights sets victory against Italians in 1 hr 8 mins ... After losing first set in just 21 mins with 2 breaks Italians produced fighting performance in second set ... Where nobody able to broke opponent's serve, in tie-break both traded few mini-breaks before our pair take decisive break on opponents's serve at 6-5 to won this match.

Tennis News
At $50K Carson Challenger, California, USA

[R1] (8) Somdev Devvarman (IND,155) l Scoville Jenkins (USA,215) 16 46
[R1] Prakash Amritraj (IND,209) bt (WC) Lester Cook (USA,354) 76(3) 63

Doubles
[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Ashutosh Singh (IND) l Brendan Evans (USA)/ Jesse Levine (USA) 36 57

Good win for Kash but very forgettable outing at Carson Challenger for Som ... Who watched match live commented that Somdev simply had a bad day and Scoville was playing unbelievably well ... Somdev comments to one of my friend after missing his match, "Don't feel bad for missing the match; you didn't miss much. I played pretty badly today".

Kash also had patchy match where both players had numerous breaks ... But in end Kash came out as a winner.

 Tennis News
At Australian Open 2009, Melbourne

[QF] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) bt Feliciano Lopez (ESP)/ Fernando Verdasco (ESP) 61 26 64

[SF] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) vs Lukasz Kubot (POL)/ Oliver Marach (AUT)

Mixed Doubles
[R2] (1) Cara Black (ZIM)/ Leander Paes (IND) l Patty Schnyder (SUI)/ Wesley Moodie (RSA) 16 57

Junior Boys' Singles
[R2] (1) Yuki Bhambri (IND,2) bt Stephen Hoh (AUS,98) 76(1) 60
[R2] Kaza Vinayak Sharma (IND,79) l Justin Eleveld (NED,46) 16 16

[R3] (1) Yuki Bhambri (IND,2) vs (13) Dino Marcan (CRO,32)

Doubles
[R2] (1) Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Liang-Chi Huang (TPE) bt Marco Bortolotti (ITA)/ Vladzimir Kruk (BLR) 63 64

Junior Girls' Doubles
[R2] Eugenie Bouchard (CAN)/ Kyra Shroff (IND) l (6) Christina McHale (USA)/ Ajla Tomljanovic (CRO) 46 16

Yuki scored straight sets victory against local player ... In this match Yuki didn't face any break point on his serve, surprisingly both players didn't face any break point in the first set but from tie-break Yuki shifted gear to score easy victory ... In doubles also Yuki moved into quarter-final with his Taipei partner with straight sets victory in 66 mins.

In doubles, Mahesh and Mark won first set comfortably in 26 mins breaking Spanish pairs serve twice ... But in second set Spanish pair turned table on our pair to won it easily in 27 mins this time they broke our pair service games twice ... In third set both pair managed to hold their serve until 4-all but in 9th game Mahesh and Mark take important break and then served for the match to win it in 1 hr 28 mins.

In MXD, Lee and Cara didn't click in this match ... They easily lost first set in just 21 mins where their opponent broke their service games twice ... In second set they tried comeback breaking Schnyder/ Moodie serve but Schnyder/ Moodie broke their service games twice in a row to finished match in1 hr 4 mins.

Tennis News
At $50K Carson Challenger, California, USA

[Q1] Ashutosh Singh (IND,875) l Justin O'Neal (USA,612) 16 36
[Q1] Purav Raja (IND,892) bt Brian Battistone (USA,1052) 76(4) 64

[Q2] Purav Raja (IND,892) l (3) Phillip Simmonds (USA,417) 62 36 16

[R1] (8) Somdev Devvarman (IND,155) vs Scoville Jenkins (USA,215)
[R1] Prakash Amritraj (IND,209) vs (WC) Lester Cook (USA,354)

Doubles
[R1] (4) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Santiago Gonzalez (MEX)/ Giovanni Lapentti (ECU)
[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Ashutosh Singh (IND) vs Brendan Evans (USA)/ Jesse Levine (USA)
[R1] Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Scoville Jenkins (USA) vs (WC) Rylan Rizza (USA)/ Kaes Van't Hof (USA)

Somdev is seeded in this Carson Challenger, our both players having good singles draw ... Also our quite few players participating in doubles.

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2009, Melbourne

[R3] (4) Leander Paes (IND)/ Lukas Dlouhy (CZE) bt Paul Hanley (AUS)/ Jordan Kerr (AUS) 62 75
[R3] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) bt Nicolas Lapentti (ECU)/ Tommy Robredo (ESP) 63 64

[QF] (4) Leander Paes (IND)/ Lukas Dlouhy (CZE) vs Simone Bolelli (ITA)/ Andreas Seppi (ITA)
[QF] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) vs Feliciano Lopez (ESP)/ Fernando Verdasco (ESP)

Junior Boys' Singles
[R1] Kaza Vinayak Sharma (IND,79) bt Patrk Brydolf (SWE,71) 64 62
[R1] Sudarwa Sitaram (IND,86) l Pierre-Hugues Herbert (FRA,54) 36 46

[R2] Kaza Vinayak Sharma (IND,79) vs Justin Eleveld (NED,46)

Doubles
[R1] Ronak Manuja (IND)/ Kaza Vinayak Sharma (IND) l Luke Saville (AUS)/ Jack Schipanski (AUS) 67(1) 06
[R1] (1) Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Liang-Chi Huang (TPE) bt Gabriel Dias (BRA)/ German Sanchez Delfin (MEX) 75 63
[R1] Toni Androic (CRO)/ Sudarwa Sitaram (IND) l (7) Francis Casey Alcantara (PHI)/ Cheng-Peng Hsieh (TPE) 36 46

[R2] (1) Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Liang-Chi Huang (TPE) vs Marco Bortolotti (ITA)/ Vladzimir Kruk (BLR)

Junior Girls' Singles
[R1] Kyra shroff (IND,87) l Monika Tumova (CZE,53) 06 36

Doubles
[R1] Eugenie Bouchard (CAN)/ Kyra Shroff (IND) bt Ema Burgic (BIH)/ Chanel Simmonds (RSA) 61 Retd.
[R1] Tanvi Shah (IND)/ Rashmi Teltumbde (IND) l Ester Goldfeld (USA)/ Hannah James (GBR) 46 67(5)

[R2] Eugenie Bouchard (CAN)/ Kyra Shroff (IND) vs (6) Christina McHale (USA)/ Ajla Tomljanovic (CRO)

Solid wins by Lee and Mahesh with their respective partners to moved into quarter-fionals of AO ... Mahesh and Mark showed their experience while beating singles specialist ... But Lee and Lukas had tricky match against local pair, they won tight second set to broke Kerr's serve in 12th game where crowd was against them.

In Junior, Kaza Vinayak Sharma scored upset win over higher ranked Swedish boy ... In doubles top-seed Yuki with Liang-Chi Huang had winning start ... Kyra and her Canadian partner also won when their opponents conceded match after losing the first set.

Golf News
At Qatar Masters, Doha, Qatar - Final Standing

T16 Jeev Milkha Singh 70 72 70 67 -9 € 24485.86
T50 Jyoti Randhawa 71 70 72 73 -2 € 7545.72

Jeev kept his best performance of Qatar Masters for the last round ... He scored 5 under round to finish inside top-20 ... This good performance helped him to keep his #33 WGR.

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2009, Melbourne

[R3] Rajeev Ram (USA)/ Bobby Reynolds(USA) l (2) Bob Bryan (USA)/ Mike Bryan (USA) 36 76(5) 36

Mixed Doubles
[R1] (1) Cara Black (ZIM)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt Anna-Lena Groenefeld (GER)/ Nenad Zimonjic (SRB) 64 46 10(7)

[R2] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) bt Anastasia Rodionova (AUS)/ Stephen Huss (AUS) 61 62

[R2] (1) Cara Black (ZIM)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Patty Schnyder (SUI)/ Wesley Moodie (RSA)

Junior Boys' Singles
[R1] Ronak Manuja (IND,64) l Jordan Szabo (AUS,181) 67(3) 61 11-13
[R1] (1) Yuki Bhambri (IND,2) bt German Sanchez Delfin (MEX,140) 46 61 8-6

[R2] (1) Yuki Bhambri (IND,2) vs Stephen Hoh (AUS,98)

Junior Girls' Singles
[R1] Rashmi Teltumbde (IND,88) l Nicha Lertpitaksinchai (THA,142) 26 46

Very dominating performance by Sania and Mahesh against local pair to win match in 54 mins to move into quarter-finals ... They faced 7 break point chances but managed to save all of them but converted 4 break points from 7 chances they generated on Aussies serve.

Lee and Cara were facing tricky opponents in the first round ... So match was close as expected ... Lee and Cara mananged to win in super tie-break in 1 hr 25 mins ... In this match Lee/ Cara converted 3 break points from 6 chances and Zimo/ Groenefeld pair converted 3 from 5 chances.

Ronak Manuja had great opportunity to score his first victory at Junior grandslam ... After losing first set in tie-break he tried almost everything but he was unlucky to lose match in 2 hrs 54 mins ... Ronak won more points than his Aussie opponents, 145 pts to 141 pts ... He converted 4 break point chances from 10, other hand his Aussie opponent converted 3 from 9 break point chances ... Their third marathon set was going for 103 mins.

Yuki had suprisingly tough match, which he won in 2 hrs ... Sanchez Delfin converted 4 break-points from 5 chances, other hand Yuki converted 6 from 9 break point chances ... Overall unsatisfying performance from top-seed, he need to improve his performance to go deep in this first grandslam of the year.

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2009, Melbourne

[R2] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Jarkko Nieminen (FIN) l Nicolas Lapentti (ECU)/ Tommy Robredo (ESP) 46 46
[R2] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) bt Igor Kunitsyn (RUS)/ Dmitry Tursunov (RUS) 75 75

Mark and Mahesh moved to third round winning tight sets match in 1 hr and 32 mins ... Mark and Mahesh converted 4 break point chances from 9 ... Other hand Russians only managed to convert 2 from 8 break point chances.

Rohan and Nieminen didn't click in this match ... In the second set they were leadin 4-1 but then lose next 5 games ... In this match they had 16 unforced errrors with 2 double faults ... Rohan and Nieminen only managed to create 2 break-point chances and converted 2, but pair of Lapentti and Robredo created 5 chances and converted 3 in this match over an hour.

Also junior draw is out ... Yuki is top-seed in singles.

Junior Boys' Singles
[R1] Ronak Manuja (IND) vs Jordan Szabo (AUS)
[R1] (1) Yuki Bhambri (IND) vs German Sanchez Delfin (MEX)
[R1] Kaza Vinayak Sharma (IND) vs Patrk Brydolf (SWE)
[R1] Sudarwa Sitaram (IND) vs Pierre-Hugues Herbert (FRA)

Junior Girls' Singles
[R1] Rashmi Teltumbde (IND) vs Nicha Lertpitaksinchai (THA)
[R1] Kyra shroff (IND) vs Monika Tumova (CZE)

Football News
At I-League 2008/09 - 23rd January

JCT bt Dempo SC 2-1

Goal Scored - Baljit Singh (JCT) 1' & 16' and Antony Pareira (DSC) 89'
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Mumbai FC l Mohun Bagan 0-3

Goal Scored - Bhaichung Bhutia (MB) 73', Jose Barreto (MB) 80', Pachau Lalwampuia (MB) 90'

Very dominating performance by Mohun Bagan where their all 3 strikers scored goals ... Now they r 1 pt behind Sporting clube de Goa, but Goan team having 1 more match in their hand ... Other hand Dempo is struggling and still trying to find their missing rhythm.
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24th January
Chirag United dw East Bengal 0-0

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Mahindra United l Churchill Brothers 1-3

Goal Scored - Douhou (MU) 89' and Felix Chimaokwu (CB) 39', Odafa Okolie (CB) 63' & 82'

Churchill was leading match at half time with goal scored from Felix Chimaokwu feeded by Odafa ... Odafa scored 2 more goals for Churchill in the second half to secured full points from this game.
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25th January
Air-India dw Mohammedan Sporting 1-1

Goal Scored - Subhash Singh (AI) 19' and Eugene Gray (MS) 61'

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Sporting Clube De Goa l Vasco SC 0-1

Goal Scored - Lester Fernandes (VSC) 67'

Vasco scored huge upset with win over leader Sporting Clube De Goa ... And this loss of league leader wide open I-League 2008/09 season.

Squash News
At $25K Harrow Greenwich Open 2009, Greenwich, USA

[R1] (Q) Joshna Chinappa (IND,37) l (6) Samantha Teran (MEX,16) 6-11 11-6 10-12 8-11

Joshna produced healthy fight against top-20 Mexican but could,'t produce upset.
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Hockey News
4 Matches Test Series, Argentina

22nd January
India bt Argentina 2-4

Goal scored - Bharat Chikara (IND) 6', Sandeep Singh (IND) 35' PC and Matias Vila (ARG) 31', Juan Gilardi (ARG) 37', Facundo Callioni (ARG) 39', Matias Paredes (ARG) 58'

And we lost final match 2-4 becoz of usual poor defending and a profligate forward line let down us ... At half time we were leading 2-1 and then in second half conceded 3 goals to draw the four-match series ... Disappointing end of series which we were dominating in the start ... Still no improvement in our team's performance .. Still silly defending blunders ... Sandeep Singh's selection again under clouds due to his poor defending and as penalty corner specialist his performance in this series wasn't justifiable for the selection.

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2009, Melbourne

[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Jarkko Nieminen (FIN) bt Marcel Granollers (ESP)/ Santiago Ventura (ESP) 36 64 61
[R1] Rajeev Ram (USA)/ Bobby Reynolds(USA) bt Dusan Vemic(SRB)/ Lovro Zovko(CRO) 46 64 62

[R2] Rajeev Ram (USA)/ Bobby Reynolds(USA) bt (15) Travis Parrot(USA)/ Filip Polasek(SVK) 76(5) 46 64
[R2] (4) Leander Paes (IND)/ Lukas Dlouhy (CZE) bt Fabio Fognini (ITA)/ Ivan Ljubicic (CRO) 63 64

[R1] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) bt (6) Kveta Peschke (CZE)/ Pavel Vizner (CZE) 62 64

[R2] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Jarkko Nieminen (FIN) vs Nicolas Lapentti (ECU)/ Tommy Robredo (ESP)

[R2] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) vs Anastasia Rodionova (AUS)/ Stephen Huss (AUS)

Winning start for Bops and Nieminen in AO doubles ... They faced only 1 break-point in this match on their serve and their Spanish opponent converted that to win the first set ... But then it was service dominated match for Bops and Nieminen, who had 8 break-point chances and they converted 3 to win this match in 1 hr 13 mins.

Lee and Lukas moved into 3rd round with straight sets victory ... In 2nd round match, Lee and Lukas started positively breaking opponent's serve twice in 5th and 9th game to won first set in 26 mins ... In second set they had few break point opportunities but they managed to convert it in only 10th game to won this match.

Mahesh and Sania scored exciting win over 6th seed Czech pair in 1 hr and 8 minutes ... Their service were broken 3 times in the match but they broke Czech pair's serve 6 times in 7 break-point chances they received ... In second round they r facing Aussie pair.

Rajeev is also performing well with his doubles partner, they r in the third round with 2 good wins and mostly will play Bryans.

Squash News
At $25K Harrow Greenwich Open 2009, Greenwich, USA

[Q1] Joshna Chinappa (IND,37) bt Alexandra Norman (ENG,68) 8-11 13-11 11-9 19-21 11-6
[Q2] Joshna Chinappa (IND,37) bt Aisling Blake (IRL,32) 12-10 5-11 11-7 11-8

[R1] (Q) Joshna Chinappa (IND,37) vs (6) Samantha teran (MEX,16)

Joshna playing at Greenwich, USA in $25K event ... In the first qualifying round she needed her all experience to pulled off victory against Englishwoman in marathon match ... But in the final qualifying match she scored good win against similar ranked player ... Now in the first round she is facing Mexican WR #16.
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At $117 Tournament of Champions, New York, USA

[Q1] Saurav Ghosal (IND,36) l Yaseer El Halaby (EGY,53) 11-8 8-11 11-6 9-11 4-11 (61m)

Saurav tried to qualify for big tournament but lost in the first qualifying round against lower rank Egyptian ... Saurav was leading 2-1 but lost next 2 games in this an hour long match.

Hockey News
4 Matches Test Series, Argentina

20th January
India bt Argentina 0-2

Goal scored - Matias Paredes (ARG) 6', Lucas Vila 32' PC

Argentina scored their first victory of this series ... Indian started well but our forward line missed many scoring opportunities ... Other hand Argentine players take full advantage of our defensive mistakes to score victory to bring series on 2-1.
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Badminton News

After 2 super series tournaments new rankings r updated ... After reaching semis into Korean Super series our MXD team of Diju and Jwala first time entered into top-20 MXD team ... Chetan also reached his personal high on #13 ... Saina remain on #10 but now difference between 8th, 9th and 10th players is few hundred points.

Mens Singles
13 Chetan Anand 41640 pts
27 Arvind Bhat 32727 pts
37 Anup Sridhar 27352 pts
44 Anand Pawar 26130 pts
47 P Kashyap 25520 pts

Womens Singles
10 Saina Nehwal 51170 pts
38 Aditi Mutatkar 28400 pts

Mens Doubles
25 Rupesh Kumar/ Sanave Thomas 27866 pts

MXD
17 V Diju/ Jwala Gutta 33260 pts

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2009, Melbourne

[R1] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) bt Mikhail Youzhny (RUS)/ Mischa Zverev (GER) 63 62
[R1] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Vania King (USA) l Vera Dushevina (RUS)/ Olga Savchuk (UKR) 64 16 16
[R1] (4) Leander Paes (IND)/ Lukas Dlouhy (CZE) bt Yves Allegro (SUI)/ Fabrice Santoro (FRA) 46 61 62

[R2] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) vs Igor Kunitsyn (RUS)/ Dmitry Tursunov (RUS)
[R2] (4) Leander Paes (IND)/ Lukas Dlouhy (CZE) vs Fabio Fognini (ITA)/ Ivan Ljubicic (CRO)

Very dominating performance by 3rd seed pair in 52 mins match, where they broke opponent's serve 5 times and lost their serve only once ... Good start for AO for Mahesh and Mark.

But Sania and Vania lost their long doubles match in 1 hr 51 mins ... In this match they broke oppoent's serve 5 times but lost their own serve 9 times ... Though last 2 sets score r one-sided but they r misleading as in both sets went for longer duration so mostly many service games went to deuce.

Lukas double faulted twice in his first service game to lose it and with that single break Allegro and Santoro won first set ... But in second set Lee and Lukas comeback strongly, they broke opponent's serve twice to won 2nd set easily ... In third set also they broke Allegro and Santoro's serve in 3rd and 7th game to win first round match against this tricky pair.

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2009, Melbourne

Mixed doubles draw is out ... Lee and Cara r top-seed and facing Zimo and his German partner in the first round ... Mahesh and Sania r in bottom draw and r facing 6th seed Czech pair ... It seems Rohan missed MXD due to his doubles lower ranking.

Mixed Doubles
[R1] (1) Cara Black (ZIM)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Anna-Lena Groenefeld (GER)/ Nenad Zimonjic (SRB)
[R1] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) vs (6) Kveta Peschke (CZE)/ Pavel Vizner (CZE)

Singles
[R2] Sania Mirza (IND,107) l (10) Nadia Petrova (RUS,11) 36 26

Sania started well getting first break point on Petrova's serve on 3rd game but couldn't convert it due to excellent services from Petrova ... But Petrova immediately broke Sania in next game to win first set with this single break ... In 4th game of second set Sania had 2 break-points but again she failed to convert it ... But Petrova broke Sania's serve in 5th game on luv and in 7th game after duece ... And served couple of aces in the final 8th game to win match.

Petrova played solid game with very few errors and her serve was also working like magic for her ... First set was lot closer than score suggest and Sania's failue to convert 2 break-points in 4th game of second set gave momentum to Petrova.

It was heartening to see Sania's lethal forehands and cross-court shots with famous powerful backhand cross-court were working ... Many times she missed shot by few centimeters after controlling the points ... As usual her serve was worry, more when her first serve doesn't work then her 'hit-me-winner' second serve come into picture ... I feel she was lacking rhythm due to lack of match practice and so playing more tournaments will definitely bring her ranking in top-50, but need more improvement (defensive shots and in second serve) and consistency in her game to move inside top-25.

Hockey News
Test Series, Argentina

20th January
India bt Argentina 3-2

Goal Scored - Shivendra Singh (IND) 12', Prabhjot Singh (IND) 40', Sandeep Singh (IND) 59' PC and Mario Almada (ARG) 13', Pedro Ibarra (ARG) 46'

Today we played very aggressive game and matches Argentine in all departments ... Very improved performance by our team ... Argentina also fought hard, every time we scored they managed to equalize but in end our captain Sandeep Singh's powerful drag-flick skill helped to secure win.

So with this win we take 2-0 lead in 4-test series.
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Football News
At I-League 2008/09 - 20th January

Mumbai FC bt Mohammedan Sporting 3-0

Goal Scored - Riston Rodrigues (MFC) 35', K. Kulothungan (MFC) 44', Abhishek Yadav (MFC) 74'

Mumbai FC continue to impress with their performance in their first year in I-League ... Today again they showed their aggressive game to defeat Mohammedan Sporting convincingly ... Ghanaian Abel Hammond was star of the match, who was exceptional in passing and play making.

Football News
At I-League 2008/09 - 19th January

Mahindra United bt Dempo SC 3-1

Goal Scored - Mohammad Rafi (MU) 39', Chidi Edeh (MU) 78', Djidjia Douhou Pierre (MU) 83' and Roberto Mendes Silva (DSC) 49'

Much needed win for Mahindra as they were in bottom 3 before this match.
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Hockey News
Test Series, Argentina

19th January
India bt Argentina 2-1

Goal Scored - Deepak Thakur (IND) 18' & 41' and Matias Paredes (ARG) 65' PC

India managed to beat Argentina but Argentina was superior team on the turf ... They played very attacking game and were unlucky to lose this match ... India earned only 2 penalty corners and other hand conceded 7 penalty corners, in that Argentina managed to convert only last penalty corner ... India need to lift their game in defensive lapse and tackles in next matches.

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2009, Melbourne

[R1] Sania Mirza (IND,107) bt Marta Domachowska (POL,61) 61 64

[R2] Sania Mirza (IND,107) vs (10) Nadia Petrova (RUS,11)

Doubles -
[R1] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) vs Mikhail Youzhny (RUS)/ Mischa Zverev (GER)
[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Jarkko Nieminen (FIN) vs Marcel Granollers (ESP)/ Santiago Ventura (ESP)
[R1] (4) Lukas Dlouhy (CZE)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Yves Allegro (SUI)/ Fabrice Santoro (FRA)

[R1] Vania King (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) vs Vera Dushevina (RUS)/ Olga Savchuk (UKR)

Fabulous start for Sania against Marta Domachowska ... She broke Marta in 3rd, 5th and 7th games to won first set in just 25 minutes ... And started well in second set breaking Marta's serve in the second game but Marta immediately broke back Sania's serve in next game ... Marta was leading in the second set breaking Sania's serve in 5th game but Sania broke it back in 8th game to make it 4-all ... In 10th game Sania broke Marta's serve on luv to scoring straight sets victory ... So solid comeback by Sania to win last 4 games where she broke Marta's serve twice to win this first round match in 1 hr 7 mins.

Really good start for Sania in this AO where she participating after long wrist injury break ... Against Marta she lost 2 matches in 2003 in junior days but today she showed how much she improved in last few years scoring easy victory against player who reached in the 4th round of last year's AO edition.

In next round Sania facing 10th seed Russian Nadia Petrova ... For information, Sania and Petrova r 1-1 in head to head meetings ... Sania defeated her on hard court in 2005 at San Diego tournament, 62 61 ... But Sania lost against her in 2007 at Wimbledon, 26 26.

Doubles draws r out ... Mahesh and Mark r 3rd seed and they r in top draw with top-seed Nestor and Zimo ... Lee and Lukas r 4th seed and they r in bottom draw with Bryans ... Pair of Rohan and Nieminen can meet Mahesh and Mark in the third round ... Sania is partnering Vania King in doubles.
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Squash News
At $11K Libery Bell Open 2009, Berwyn, USA

[F] (4) Joshna Chinappa (IND,37) l (1) Vanessa Atkinson (NED,11) 7-11 7-11 5-11

But Joshna's fine run ended in the final as she failed repeat her semis performance ... But overall good performance to reach final.
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At Asian Junior Championships 2009,

Girls Final
(2) Dipika Pallikal (IND) l (1) Low Wee Wern (MAS) bt (5/8) Liu Tsz Ling (HKG) 5-11 11-8 9-11 11-9 10-12 (49m)

This time Dipika was closest to beat top-seed Malaysian Low Wee Wern in their all meetings ... But Low Wee Wern was determine to finish her Junior career on winning note ... She pulled of match in extra points in the decider ... Creditable performance by Dipika against this quality opponent.

Malaysia win double crown as Ivan Yuen manage to captured boys title.

Squash News
At $11K Libery Bell Open 2009, Berwyn, USA

[QF] (4) Joshna Chinappa (IND,37) bt Kylie Lindsay (NZL,54) 10-12 11-4 11-8 11-6
[SF] (4) Joshna Chinappa (IND,37) bt (2) Jaclyn Hawkes (NZL,17) 8-11 12-10 11-9 11-8

[F] (4) Joshna Chinappa (IND,37) vs (1) Vanessa Atkinson (NED,11)

Joshna's solid performance continue, yesterday she scored win over top-20 player to move into the final.
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At Asian Junior Championships 2009,

Girls Semi-Finals
(2) Dipika Pallikal (IND) bt (3/4) Song Sung-Mi (KOR) 11-6 11-4 13-11 (31m)
(1) Low Wee Wern (MAS) bt (5/8) Liu Tsz Ling (HKG) 11-8 11-7 11-5 (23m)

Boys Semi-Finals
(1) Leo Au (HKG) bt (5/8) Ravi Dixit (IND) 13-11 11-3 11-6 (39m)
(2) Ivan Yuen (MAS) bt (3/4) Adtiya Japtap (IND) 11-5 11-5 11-9 (27m)

Our boys good run ended in semis ... But Dipika continued her good run to repeat last year's Asian Junior championship final.

Golf News
At The Abu Dhabi Golf Championship - Final Standing

T26 Jyoti Randhawa 71 70 67 69 -11 € 13751.51
T26 Jeev Milkha Singh 74 67 70 66 -11 € 13751.51
T62 Shiv Kapur 72 70 77 67 - 2 € 3676.87

Jeev finished strongly scoring his best round of the tournament after poor first round ... Jyoti failed to finish inside top-20.
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At $5.4M Sony Open, Hawaii -Final Standing

T65 Arjun Atwal 69 71 72 70 +2 $ 11,178.00

But in end no firework from Arjun and he finished in lowly 60s in the standing.
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At $5.4M Sony Open, Hawaii - Third Round

T68 Arjun Atwal 69 71 72 +2

Arjun need solid round for better finish.

Squash News
At Asian Junior Championships 2009, Chennai, India

Girls -
Quarter Finals
(2) Dipika Pallikal (IND) bt (5/8) Low Wee Nee (MAS) 11-1 11-1 11-8 (19m)

Round Three
(5/8) Lee Ka Man (HKG) bt (9/12) Anaka Alankamony (IND) 11-6 11-3 2-11 11-9 (29m)
(3/4) Tong Tsz Wing (HKG) bt (13/16) Harita OmPrakash (IND) 11-4 11-9 11-5 (17m)
(9/12) Rachael Goh (MAs) bt (5/8) Anwesha Reddy (IND) 11-3 11-6 11-8 (21m)
(5/8) Low Wee Nee (MAS) bt (9/12) Saumya Karki (IND) 11-9 11-6 12-10 (16m)
(2) Dipika Pallikal (IND) bt (13/16) Chua Ying Li Pamela (SIN) 11-6 11-7 11-2 (15m)

Round two
(9/12) Anaka Alankamony (IND) bt Waka Nakamoto (JPN) 11-3 11-2 11-4 (18m)
(13/16) Harita OmPrakash (IND) bt Teo Li Fang (SIN) 11-1 11-5 11-4 (14m)
(13/16) Siu Ka Man (HKG) bt Aparajitha Balamurukan (IND) 7-11 11-3 11-7 11-5 (23m)
(5/8) Anwesha Reddy (IND) bt Choe Yura (KOR) 11-0 11-3 11-2 (12m)
(9/12) Saumya Karki (IND) bt Lee Ji-Hyun (KOR) 11-1 7-11 11-7 11-7 (35m)
(2) Dipika Pallikal (IND) bt Tulika Lal Lal (IND) 11-3 11-1 11-1 (11m)

Round one
Yang Yeon-Soo (KOR) bt Shria Khatri Khatri (IND) 11-9 11-7 11-5 (18m)
Nadindi Udangawa (SRI) bt Shaheen Madraswala (IND) 11-8 11-8 8-11 14-12 (30m)
Tulika Lal Lal (IND) bt Lu Yao (CHN) 11-8 11-6 11-3 (27m)

Boys -
Quarter Finals
(5/8) Ravi Dixit (IND) bt (3/4) Kamran Khan (MAS) 5-11 11-8 11-6 11-9 (54m)
(3/4) Adtiya Japtap (IND) bt (5/8) Nelson Chan (HKG) 11-9 12-10 6-11 11-6 (51m)
(2) Ivan Yuen (MAS) bt (5/8) Karan Malik (IND) 11-6 11-7 12-10 (29m)

Round Three
(1) Leo Au (HKG) bt Naveen Jangra (IND) 11-5 11-4 11-9 (19m)
(5/8) Ravi Dixit (IND) bt Abhishek Pradhan (IND) 11-6 11-5 11-9 (30m)
(3/4) Adtiya Japtap (IND) bt (13/16) Muhd.Zul Azri (MAS) 13-11 7-11 11-7 11-8 (43m)
(5/8) Nelson Chan (HKG) bt Laxman Joshi (IND) 11-8 11-6 11-1 (26m)
(5/8) Karan Malik (IND) bt Han Seung-Cheol (KOR) 11-5 11-7 11-8 (20m)
(2) Ivan Yuen (MAS) bt (13/16) Paramit Singh (IND) 11-5 11-5 7-11 11-5 (35m)

Round Two
Naveen Jangra (IND) bt (13/16) Gihan Suwaris (SRI) 11-3 11-8 11-8 (25m)
(5/8) Ng Jo Wen (MAS) bt Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND) 13-11 10-12 11-8 11-8 (43m)
(5/8) Ravi Dixit (IND) bt Adulla mahammed Al-Tamimi (QAT) 11-8 11-7 11-4 (20m)
Abhishek Pradhan (IND) bt (9/12) Jin Sung-Woo (KOR) 11-8 9-11 11-8 11-8 (41m)
(3/4) Kamran Khan (Mas) bt Karm Kumar (IND) 11-4 11-7 5-11 10-12 11-2 (35m)
(3/4) Adtiya Japtap (IND) bt Choi Wonseok (KOR) 8-11 11-6 11-9 11-5 (29m)
(13/16) Muhd.Zul Azri (MAS) bt Abhinav Shina (IND) 11-8 9-11 14-12 11-9 (50m)
Laxman Joshi (IND) bt (9/12) Sho Miyagawa (JPN) 11-3 11-7 11-6 (16m)
(5/8) Nelson Chan (HKG) bt Ramit Tandon (IND) 3-1
(5/8) Karan Malik (IND) bt Wang Junjie (CHN) 11-1 11-4 11-7 (13m)
(13/16) Paramit Singh (IND) bt Shen Jiaqi (CHN) 11-2 11-4 11-8 (17m)

Round One
Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND) bt Hayate Gunji (JPN) 11-7 12-10 8-11 17-19 11-3 (51m)
Abhishek Pradhan (IND) bt Chuang Kai-Han (TPE) 11-3 11-1 11-3 (15m)
Choy Kit Lun (HKG) bt Gunraj Singh (IND) 11-5 11-5 11-2 (17m)
Karm Kumar (IND) bt Li Zhiyuan (CHN) 11-2 11-2 11-0 (13m)
Abhinav Shina (IND) bt Kasun Werasuriya (SRI) 11-8 11-4 11-4 (16m)

As expected Dipika in the semis with easy wins ... But in boys section Adtiya Japtap and Ravi Dixit played exceptionally well to reach semis.
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At $11K Libery Bell Open 2009, Berwyn, USA

[R1] (4) Joshna Chinappa (IND,37) bt (Q) Miranda Ranieri (CAN,96) 11-7 8-11 11-13 11-9 11-7
[QF] (4) Joshna Chinappa (IND,37) vs Kylie Lindsay (NZL,54)

Joshna needed to play out of her skin to win after 1-2 down to move into quarters.

Badminton News
At $300K Korean Super Series 2009,

[SF] V Diju (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) l (4) Songphon Anugritayawon (THA)/ Kunchala Voravichitchaikul (THA) 19-21 20-22

Dream run ended for our pair but they played exceptionally well to become first Indian pair to reach Super Series semi-final ... They lost in closely fought match, in second game they did catching game to produce fight but they couldn't turn it into win.
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Tennis News
At Australian Open 2009, Melbourne

As per updated Australian Oprn Junior acceptance list our 4 boys and 1 girl r qualifies for maindraw and few r participating in qualifying.

In boys Yuki Bhambri, Sudnawa Sitaram, Ronak Manuja & Kaza Vinayak Sharma and in girls section Rashmi Teltumbde) have made the main draw.

Christopher Marquis is in the boys qualiying while Kyra Shroff & Tanvi Shah are in the girls qualifying ... So this time our biggest junior contigent participating at AO junior.
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At US$480,750 Heineken Open, Auckland, New Zealand

[F] (2) Leander Paes (IND)/ Scott Lipsky (USA) l (1) Martin Damm (CZE)/ Robert Lindstedt (SWE) 57 46

Leander and Lipsky lost in close match and with that Lee missed opportunity of scoring his 500th doubles career win with title.

Badminton News
At $300K Korean Super Series 2009,

[QF] V Diju (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) bt (8) Wijaya Rendra (INA)/ Meiliana Jauhari (INA) 21-17 16-21 21-9

[SF] V Diju (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) vs (4) Songphon Anugritayawon (THA)/ Kunchala Voravichitchaikul (THA)

This pair is cooking up in MXD ... They showed yesterday's win against World Nr. 1 pair and current world champion wasn't fluke beating another seeded pair from Indonasia ... They defeated this 8th seed pair in 34 minutes ... In both matched they showed very strong performance in third game to win it easily and that's really creditable on this higher level.

So Diju and Jwala r laying their first Super Series semi-final against 4th seed Thai pair.

Also yesterday's win over WR #1 pair was first win by our any pairs against doubles or mixed doubles current world number one.

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2009, Melbourne

[R1] Sania Mirza (IND,107) vs Marta Domachowska (POL,61)

[Q2] (28) Somdev Devvarman (IND,154) l Lukasz Kubot (POL,207) 64 46 57

As expectations were high from Som, this was shocking result considering his recent good performances ... Though this was disappointing result still as per Som's philosophy each loss teach him how to win such matches in the future ... After checking stats his first serve let him down in comparison with his opponent and that was the real difference in the stat . ... In this match his first serve percentage was only 56% and Kubot had 74% ... Som hit 6 aces but also committed 6 double faults ... Percentage of winning points on first serve and second serve both players had almost similar ... Both players had too many opportunities of breaking opponent's serve, Kubot converted 5 break points from 15 chances other hand Som managed to convert only 4 from 12 chances.

Mostly after a week or 2 weeks break we will see Som back on the court.

Draw is out, Sania is not facing seeded player in the first round but Polish Domachowska can be good test for her ... Last year Domachowska reached 4th round of Australian Open ... If Sania wins first round then in second round she can face 10th seed Russian Nadia Petrova.

Interesting to note, Both faced twice in 2003 once in junior and once in $25K tournament ... Both time Sania lost in straight sets ... On clay, at 39th Astrid Bowl Charleroi, Belgian International Junior Championships (26 36) and on hard court, at $25K Peachtree City tournament, GA (36 46).
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At US$480,750 Heineken Open, Auckland, New Zealand

[SF] (2) Leander Paes (IND)/ Scott Lipsky (USA) bt Paul Hanley (AUS) / Jordan Kerr (AUS) 63 67(4) 10(7)

[F] (2) Leander Paes (IND)/ Scott Lipsky (USA) vs (1) Martin Damm (CZE)/ Robert Lindstedt (SWE)

Leander and Lipsky scored super tie-break win against local pair to face top-seed pair in the final.
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At US$$484,750 Medibank International, Sydney, Australia

[SF] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) l (2) Bob Bryan (USA)/ Mike Bryan (USA) 16 76(4) (5)10

Mahesh and Mark produced fight back after losing first set easily but Bryans proved too strong in super tie-break.

Badminton News
At $300K Korean Super Series 2009,

[R2] Arvind Bhat (IND,35) l (7) Przemyslaw Wacha (POL,12) 21-11 14-21 21-23
[R2] (5) Saina Nehwal (IND,10) l Adrianti Firdasari (INA,35) 21-18 18-21 12-21

[R2] Rupesh Kumar (IND)/ Sanave Thomas (IND) l (3) Lars Paaske (DEN)/ Jonas Rasmussen (DEN) 10-21 15-21

[R2] V Diju (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) bt (1) Nova Widianto (INA)/ Liliyana Natsir (INA) 10-21 21-16 21-9

[QF] V Diju (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) vs (8) Wijaya Rendra (INA)/ Meiliana Jauhari (INA)

Another close loss for Indian ... Arvind started well winning first game but then Wacha controlled the match ... In third game Arvind produced excellent fight back from 13-19 to 19-all but Wacha managed to win match in 57 minutes.

Very shocking result for Saina in recent days ... After longtime she lost match to lower rank player ... She started well winning first game but Firdasari turned table on her from second game.

Diju and Jwala Gutta scored biggest upset of Korean Super Series beating top-seed Indonasin in 3 games ... In quarters they r facing another seeded Indonasian pair.

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2009, Melbourne

[Q1] Sunitha Rao (IND,196) l Melanie Oudin (USA,173) 36 46

Somewhat expected defeat after less match practice before this Australian Open qualifying ... In second set Sunitha was up 3-1 but then Melanie won next 5 games of 6 played to finish the match.
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At US$480,750 Heineken Open, Auckland, New Zealand

[QF] (2) Leander Paes (IND)/ Scott Lipsky (USA) bt Nicolas Almagro (ESP)/ Ivan Navarro (ESP) 75 61

[SF] (2) Leander Paes (IND)/ Scott Lipsky (USA) vs Paul Hanley (AUS) / Jordan Kerr (AUS)

Good straight sets victory against Spanish pair ... They r facing local pair in the semis.
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At US$$484,750 Medibank International, Sydney, Australia

[QF] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) bt Simon Aspelin (SWE)/ Pavel Vizner (CZE) 63 62

[SF] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) vs (2) Bob Bryan (USA)/ Mike Bryan (USA)

Mahesh and Mark scored esy victory to move into semis ... They r facing Bryans in the semis.

Football News
International Friendly

Hong Kong bt India 2-1

Goal Scored - Yiu Chung Au Yeung (HKG) 70', Ng Wai Chiu (HKG) 90+' and Baichung Bhutia (IND) 80'

Indians played exceptional game ... They dominated match most of the time but couldn't convert into goals ... They were unlucky to lost this match ... As per report our team was playing together after six months but they combined well on the field.

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2009, Melbourne

[Q1] (28) Somdev Devvarman (IND,154) bt Prakash Amritraj (IND,209) 64 36 64

[Q1] Sunitha Rao (IND,196) vs Melanie Oudin (USA,173)
[Q2] (28) Somdev Devvarman (IND,154) vs Lukasz Kubot (POL,207)

Very evenly contested match ... Som had 3 breaks in the match other hand Kash had 2 breaks ... Som started match breaking Kash's serve, then again he broke Kash's serve in 5th game to lead 4-1 but Kash broke next game to bring it back on 4-2 ... After that both player hold their serves so Somi won first set 6-4 in 47 minutes ... In second set Kash broke Som's serve in 4th game and that was the only break in second set ... Kash won second set 6-3 in 41 minutes ... Third set also was closely fought ... Where only break came when Kash was serving for stay in the match at 4-5.

So it was close match as we expected but Som came top in it ... After tomorrow's break Som will face Polish doubles specialist Lukasz Kubot in second qualifying round.

Sunitha having tough match against 17 yrs old Oudin, who is on her best ranking #173 ... Moreover Sunitha is less on match practice ... Let's hope best for her.
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At US$480,750 Heineken Open, Auckland, New Zealand

[R1] (2) Leander Paes (IND)/ Scott Lipsky (USA) bt David Martin (USA)/ Igor Kunitsyn (RUS) 61 46 12(10)

[QF] (2) Leander Paes (IND)/ Scott Lipsky (USA) vs Nicolas Almagro (ESP)/ Ivan Navarro (ESP)

Lee and Lipsky had tough match after winning first set easily ... In super tie-break they needed to save one match point before moving to quarters, where they r facing Spanish team.
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At US$$484,750 Medibank International, Sydney, Australia

[R1] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) bt Bruno Soares (BRA)/ Kevin Ullyett (ZIM) 75 57 10(7)

[QF] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) vs Simon Aspelin (SWE)/ Pavel Vizner (CZE)

Good win in hard fought almost 2 hours long match ... Next they r facing experienced tricky pair. -----------------------------------------------------------
At US$220K Moorilla Hobart International, Hobart, Australia

[QF] (4) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Francesca Schiavone (ITA) l Edina Gallovita (ROU)/ Arantxa Parra Santonja (ESP) 57 16

So lost opportunity of having some important match practice before Australian Open.

Badminton News
At $300K Korean Super Series 2009,

[R1] P Kashyap (IND,49) l (7) Przemyslaw Wacha (POL,12) 11-21 17-21
[R1] Arvind Bhat (IND,35) bt Chetan Anand (IND,15) 21-12 21-13
[R1] Anup Sridhar (IND,45) l Wei Ng (HKG,24) 23-21 17-21 22-24
[R1] Anand Pawar (IND,50) l Mohamad Arif Abdul Latif (MAS,69) 14-21 15-21

[R1] Aditi Mutatkar (IND,36) l Julia Pei Xian Wong (MAS,21) 9-21 15-21

[R1] V Diju (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) bt Yeon Seong Yoo (KOR)/ Min Jung Kim (KOR) 21-19 14-21 21-19

[R2] Arvind Bhat (IND,35) vs (7) Przemyslaw Wacha (POL,12)
[R2] (5) Saina Nehwal (IND,10) vs Adrianti Firdasari (INA,35)

[R2] Rupesh Kumar (IND)/ Sanave Thomas (IND) vs (3) Lars Paaske (DEN)/ Jonas Rasmussen (DEN)

[R2] V Diju (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) vs (1) Nova Widianto (INA)/ Liliyana Natsir (INA)

For me disappointing day for Indians ... Frankly nobody take advantage of their opponents ... Arvind surprised his senior with easy victory in just 24 minutes ... Diju and Jwala scored hard fought win against local player, but facing top-seed in second round.

Aditi lost against Malaysian in 28 minutes ... Anand Pawar had good opportunity to move deep into draw after WR #5 Sony's withdrawal but he lost easily against lowly ranked Malaysian in 26 minutes ... Anup Sridhar had excellent opportunity against Wei Ng, after one game-all in the third game Anup was down 12-16 but he won next 8 points to gave himself 4 match points ... Somehow he didn't manage to convert one of them and lost match 22-24 in 63 minutes.

Badminton News
At $300K Korean Super Series 2009, 

[R1] P Kashyap (IND,49) vs (7) Przemyslaw Wacha (POL,12)
[R1] Chetan Anand (IND,15) vs Arvind Bhat (IND,35)
[R1] Anup Sridhar (IND,45) vs Wei Ng (HKG,24)
[R1] Anand Pawar (IND,50) vs Mohamad Arif Abdul Latif (MAS,69)

[R1] (5) Saina Nehwal (IND,10) bye
[R1] Aditi Mutatkar (IND,36) vs Julia Pei Xian Wong (MAS,21)

[R1] Rupesh Kumar (IND)/ Sanave Thomas (IND) bye

[R1] V Diju (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) vs Yeon Seong Yoo (KOR)/ Min Jung Kim (KOR)

[R2] (5) Saina Nehwal (IND,10) vs Adrianti Firdasari (INA,35)

This week our players r participating in Korean Super Series ... Saina received bye in the first round as her Canadian opponent Charmaine Reid withdraw after qualifying ... Pair of Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas were also lucky as their first round opponent Indonesian pair withdrew.

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2009, Melbourne

[Q1] (28) Somdev Devvarman (IND,154) vs Prakash Amritraj (IND,209)

Somi is seeded in qualifying but our players receive one devil of draw ... Its sad that our one of player will lose into first round of qualifying ... They r having threat of 2nd seed and #103 rank German Andreas Beck for qualify in maindraw.
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At US$480,750 Heineken Open, Auckland, New Zealand

[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Jeff Koetzee (RSA) l Nicolas Almagro (ESP)/ Ivan Navarro (ESP) 63 36 (6)10

Rohan is still searching for his first maindraw victory in 2009 ... He lost with his partner Jeff Koetzee in super tie-break.

Tennis News

As expected with his final appearance at Chennai Open helped Somdev Devvarman to rise his personal best ranking of #154 on ATP rankings ... Prakash Amritraj drop 3 places to #209, Rohan Bopanna also improv by 16 places to #316 after qualifying at Chennnai Open.
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At US$220K Moorilla Hobart International, Hobart, Australia

[R1] (4) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Francesca Schiavone (ITA) bt Liga Dekmeijere (LAT)/ Ipek Senoglu (TUR) 76(7) 64
[R1] Shikha Uberoi (IND)/ Jasmin Woehr (GER) l Natalie Grandin (RSA)/ Abigail Spears (USA) 67(4) 75 (6)10

This week Sania playing only in doubles here as her singles ranking, #107, didn't help her to grab direct entry ... But Sania having winning start on tour in doubles with Francesca Schiavone in this 1 hr 25 mins match ... This match saw multiple breaks, which we generally experience in women matches.

Shikha and her German partner produced fighting performance after losing the first set in this 1 hr 48 mins match ... But they lost match in the super tie-break.
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At US$480,750 Heineken Open, Auckland, New Zeland

[Q3] Rohan Bopanna (IND,332) l Gilles Muller (LUX,94) 36 26

Doubles
[R1] (2) Leander Paes (IND)/ Scott Lipsky (USA) vs David Martin (USA)/ Igor Kunitsyn (RUS)
[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Jeff Koetzee (RSA) vs Nicolas Almagro (ESP)/ Ivan Navarro (ESP)

In end very easy loss of Rohan against Muller.
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At US$$484,750 Medibank International, Sydney, Australia

[R1] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) vs Bruno Soares (BRA)/ Kevin Ullyett (ZIM)

Tennis News
At $450K Chennai Open ATP Tennis Tournament, India (5 - 11 Jan 2009)

[F] (WC) Somdev Devvarman (IND,202) l (3) Marin Cilic (CRO,27) 46 67(3)

Som was tentative in the first set while playing in his first ATP final at home ... Marin was dominating on his serve in the beginning other hand Somi was struggling to hold his serve saving few break points ... In 5th game Som had 2 break point chances but he couldn't convert it ... Som serve broken when he double faulted to lose the first set ... Som started badly in second set losing his serve on love in second game ... Marin saved few break points in next game ... But Som managed to break Marin's serve when he was serving for that match ... Som had 2 break points in 11th game but he couldn't convert those ... Marin played solid tie-break to win set and match with 2 mini-breaks in 2 hrs.

Overall very satisfying Chennai Open for Somi ... Where he participated as wild-card holder and reached in the final scoring few big upsets ... Very positive start of season 2009 for Somi ... With this performance he will be just outside top-150 in tomorrow's updated ranking list.

Somdev Devvarman - "Losing is not fun, but I don't want to be too negative on myself. I will try to learn from the chances I missed today and improve my game. I'm now looking forward to playing the qualifying in Melbourne and hope to play well there."

"I had a lot of chances but Cilic came up with good shots on break points. That is what makes a good tennis player and I can learn from that."

"This was a great week for me and I hope to play more tour events in the upcoming months. It is my goal to move up further in the rankings and to become a better player."
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At US$480,750 Heineken Open, Auckland, New Zeland

[Q2] Rohan Bopanna (IND,332) bt Benoit Paire (FRA,628) 57 63 62

[Q3] Rohan Bopanna (IND,332) vs Gilles Muller (LUX,94)

Another slow start Bops but again he recovered quickly after losing first set ... He won next 2 sets easily against Frenchman ... In the final qualifying round he is facing top-100 player, Gilles Muller.

Tennis News
SOMI IS IN THE FINAL OF CHENNAI OPEN !!!

At $450K Chennai Open ATP Tennis Tournament, India (5 - 11 Jan 2009)

[SF] (WC) Somdev Devvarman (IND,202) bt (5) Rainer Schuettler (GER,33) W/O (due to wrist injury to Schuettler)

[F] (WC) Somdev Devvarman (IND,202) vs (3) Marin Cilic (CRO,27)

As Schuettler give him walkover due to a wrist injury .. With that Som became the first Indian player to make it to the final of Chennai Open ... So with 150 ranking points Som will move inside top-155 ATP rankings.

Tomorrow Som is facing another Croatian WR # 27 Marin Cilic ... So another match against big server for Som ... With fresh legs and local vocal support Cilic having tough task to defeat Som.

Somi was as modest after this news as we all know him ... :-)
"I would have been much happier if I would have played the match and won."
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At US$480,750 Heineken Open, Auckland, New Zeland

[Q1] Rohan Bopanna (IND,332) bt Adam Thompson (NZL,834) 67(5) 63 64

[Q2] Rohan Bopanna (IND,332) vs Benoit Paire (FRA,628)

Happy to see Rohan is already in Auckland playing in qualifying ... In first round he had tough time to adjust settling down against local player losing the first set but then came back strongly to win match.

In doubles Rohan is partnering WR #13 ranked Jeff Koetzee of South Africa.

Tennis News

At $450K Chennai Open ATP Tennis Tournament, India (5 - 11 Jan 2009)

Sorry for poor video and photos, as captured through digital camera on TV .... ;-)

[QF] (WC) Somdev Devvarman (IND,202) bt (4) Ivo Karlovic (CRO,25) 76(4) 64

Doubles
[QF] (1) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) l Jean-Claude Scherrer (SUI)/ Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI) 63 36 (8)10

What a day for Indian tennis!!! We r seeing Indian player in Chennai Open semi-final after 1998 when Leander lost to Rafter in the singles semis.

Somdev repeated history beating WR #25 Ivo Karlovic in straight sets in 1hr., 26min, this was his first win over top-25 player but I know many will come ... In complete match both players didn't face break-point until last game ... Som won the match converting second match point on Karlovic's serve, when Karlovic's volley went outside returning Som's powerful return on his forehand.

Som played very calculated tennis as he planned before the match ... Yesterday after Moya's match he mentioned tomorrow against big server Karlovic his main aim to hold his own serve ... Today he didn't face a single break-point and served 6 aces in comparison 10 aces by Karlovic ... Som played excellent tennis from back of the court ... Many time in the match he hit passing shots approaching Karlovic at net ... Som mixed his backside game with sometime approaching the net ... Very impressed with execution of Som's game plan in the match.

Tomorrow Som having tricky match against 5th seed and WR #33 Rainer Schuettler, who also play same counter-punching style of Som ... But with current increased confidence and backing from excellent home crowd it will difficult to beat Somi!!!

Tennis News
At J B Group Classic 2009, Hong Kong

J B Silver Group Final
Team Asia-Pacific bt Team Europe 3-0

Match 1
Zheng Jie/ Sania Mirza bt Jelena Jankovic/ Michelle Larcher de Brito 61 61

Match 2
Sania Mirza bt Agnes Szavay 63 64

Match 3
Zheng Jie bt Jelena Jankovic W/O (stomach bug)

Today Asia-Pacific started well winning the first match ... Sania played with Zheng Jie to gave heavy defeat to Jelena Jankovic and her partner.

But huge win for Sania over WR #25 Hungarian Agnes Szavay in straight sets ... Sania was playing only 2nd singles match after coming out of career threatening long wrist injury so stake were higher ... So it is good sign that Sania able generate same or more furious pace on her forehands which she used against Agnes Szavay ... Go Sania.

So with this win Sania helped Team Asia-Pacific to win Silver Group final (3rd place) at J B Group Classic 2009.

Badminton News
At $200K Malaysia Super Series 2009, Kuala Lumpur

[QF] (5) Saina Nehwal (IND,10) l (4) Hongyan Pi (FRA,7) 17-21 26-24 16-21

Another promising performance from Saina against Pi in 56 minutes match ... In the first game Pi maintained lead from start to win it ... In second game both players were going neck to neck but Pi take 3 points lead from 16-all ... But Saina fought back to make it 19-all and won game after saving 4 match points ... In the third game after 10-all Pi take control of the game and didin't give any chance of comeback to Saina.

Tennis News
At $450K Chennai Open ATP Tennis Tournament, India (5 - 11 Jan 2009)

Reuters Photo

[R2] (WC) Somdev Devvarman (IND,202) bt (6) Carlos Moya (ESP,42) 46 75 64

[QF] (WC) Somdev Devvarman (IND,202) vs (4) Ivo Karlovic (CRO,25)

Doubles
[R1] (1) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) bt (WC) Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Somdev Devvarman (IND) 76(3) 76(8)
[R1] (2) Lukas Dlouhy (CZE)/ Leander Paes (IND) l Bjorn Phau (GER)/ Rainer Schuettler (GER) 64 26 (7)10

And Somi DID it!!! In evenly contested match Somi scored biggest upset of his small career on ATP tour beating former WR #1 and current WR #42 Carlos Moya ... Somi finished this match in 2 hours and 14 minutes to move into quarter finals of 2009 Chennai Open.

This was well contested match as both players having similar style and ability to play long rallies ... Both players had many break points opportunities, 10 for Somi's and 7 for Moya, in the match ... Somi converted 3 of those and Moya managed to convert 2 ... Both players had 58% first serve percentage and 80% first serve points won ... Somi was better in second serve points winning percentage 56% and Moya managed to win 48% ... Again Somi showed good serving skill, he served 10 aces and 2 double faults, other hand Moya managed 3 aces and 4 doubles faults ... In overall points win, Somi won 5 points more in comparison with Moya, 97-92 ... That tell us story how much this match was close.

This win will give Somi total 45 ranking points and that will help him to move inside top-180 ATP ranking ... C'mon Somi.

In doubles Somi had another long match, which ended after 2 tie-breaks after 1 hour 43 minutes ... That also means today Somi was on the court for almost 4 hours ... I hope tomorrow his legs will be fresh against Karlovic.

But second seed pair of Lee and Lukas started on wrong feet ... They lost against German pair in super tie break ... In the first set our pair was down 1-4 but they played exceptionally well to win next 5 games to clinch first set but afterwards everything went against them.

Somdev Devvarman - "I believed I could pull it off from the very beginning. I did the right things to come back (in the match), I was hanging in there well after a few baseline points. Moya was trying to create a lot of things. He was trying too hard to get past. But I just going back. (about his poor display in the first set) I was not as solid as he ought to have been."

Badminton News
At $200K Malaysia Super Series 2009, Kuala Lumpur

[R2] (5) Saina Nehwal (IND,10) bt Hsiao Huan Chen (TPE,162) 21-16 19-21 21-19

[R2] Chetan Anand (IND,15) l (3) Peter Hoeg Gade (DEN,5) 7-21 8-21
[R2] Anup Sridhar (IND,45) l (2) Sony Dwi Kuncoro (INA,4) 12-21 18-21

[R2] Diju V (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) l Kien Keat Koo (MAS)/ Hui Lin Ng (MAS) 18-21 14-21

[QF] (5) Saina Nehwal (IND,10) vs (4) Hongyan Pi (FRA,7)

Saina won her match in 48 minutes, unexpectedly tough fight from low ranked Taipei player ... After losing first game she managed to keep pressure on Saina in second game to won it ... In third game also she was matching with Saina's game, Chen was up 16-18 then 18-19 but Saian kept her cool to clinch this closely fought match to enter into another Super Series quarter finals.

Peter Gade crushed Chetan in mere 20 minutes ... Very tough loss for Chetan, who is in top-15, against world number 5 ... But Anup gave good fighting performance against world number 4 Sony Kuncoro in 34 minutes match ... He saved 5 match points but despite loss very encouraging comeback after long injury break to competitive badminton for Anup.