Tennis News
At $850K Malaysian Open, Kuala Lumpur

[R2] (WC) Yuki Bhambri (IND,532) l (5) David Ferrer (ESP,11) 26 26

Yuki got a very tough lesson of playing on the professional tour by Ferrer.

Yuki started positively breaking Ferrer's serve in 2ng game to take 2-0 lead but after that Ferrer won next 6 games breaking Yuki's serve thrice to won first set30 mins ... In second set in few minutes Ferrer was up 0-5 ... But Yuki broke Ferrer's serve when he was serving for the match and avoided same fate which he delivered to Malaysian wild-card player Yew-Ming Si in the first round, after winning first 2 games lost next 12 games ... Yuki lost match in 59 minutes ... But good to see he showed some fight-back after down 0-5 in the second set.
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At $50K Napoli Challenger, Italy

[QF] (3) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ David Martin (USA) bt (ALT) Alberto Brizzi (ITA)/ Fabio Colangelo (ITA) 64 61

[SF] (3) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ David Martin (USA) vs Daniel Munoz-De La Nava (ESP)/ Simone Vagnozzi (ITA)

In end very convincing win by Harsh and Martin against alternate pair who upset Purav and Sadil in the first round ... Now they r facing another unseeded pair in the semis for place in the final ... Go guys.
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At 2010 Junior Davis Cup Finals, San Luis Potosi, Mexico

Group C
(4) Great Britain bt (5) Czech Republic 2-1
India l Brazil 1-2

Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) bt Pedro Dumont (BRA) 36 63 75
Ronit Bisht (IND) l Thiago Monteiro (BRA)26 36
Ronit Bisht (IND)/ Arjun Kadhe (IND) l Pedro Dumont (BRA)/ Thiago Monteiro (BRA) 36 36

After first day's upset win over seeded Czech, on second day unseeded Brazilian boys brough down Indian team down scoring convincing win in last 2 matches and with that our hope of reaching semis r almost over.
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At $15K Spain F35 Futures, Martos

[R2] (5) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND,369) vs Pablo MARTIN-ADALIA (ESP,457)

Doubles
[QF] (1) Vishnu Vardhan (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) bt ESTRUCH (ESP)/ SANCHIS-HERNANDEZ (ESP) 64 63

[SF] (1) Vishnu Vardhan (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) vs (3) CLAR-ROSSELLO (ESP)/ SOUSA (POR)

Tennis News
At 2010 Junior Davis Cup Finals, San Luis Potosi, Mexico

Our u-16 Davis Cup is playing finals at Mexico ... We r in group C with 4th seed Great Britain, 5th seed Czech Republic and Brazil ... Vishal Uppal in non-playing captain.

Group C
(4) Great Britain bt Brazil 2-1
India bt (5) Czech Republic 2-1

Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) l Vaclav Safranek (CZE) 26 63 26
Ronit Bisht (IND) bt Marek Jaloviec (CZE) 63 64
Ronit Bisht (IND)/ Arjun Kadhe (IND) bt Marek Jaloviec (CZE)/ Vaclav Safranek (CZE) 64 62

With excellent performance by Ronit Bisht in singles and doubles we upset 5th seed Czech team in the first match ... Huge upset by our young team.
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At $850K Malaysian Open, Kuala Lumpur

[R2] (WC) Yuki Bhambri (IND,532) vs (5) David Ferrer (ESP,11)

Doubles
[R1] (WC) Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Kei Nishikori (JPN) l (3) Marcelo Melo (BRA)/ Bruno Soares (BRA) W/O (due to Nishikori wrist injury)
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At $50K Napoli-2 Challenger, Italy

[R1] Sadik Kadir (AUS)/ Purav Raja (IND) l (ALT) Alberto Brizzi (ITA)/ Fabio Colangelo (ITA) 26 46

Oops, match was postpone due to bad light and I thought Purav was leading ... But that wasn't the case Purav and Sadik lost in straight sets in the first round.
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At $15K Spain F35 Futures, Martos

[R1] (5) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND,369) bt Javier VALENZUELA-GONZALEZ (ESP,1049) 64 64

[R2] (5) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND,369) vs Pablo MARTIN-ADALIA (ESP,457)

Doubles
[R1] (1) Vishnu Vardhan (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) bye

[QF] (1) Vishnu Vardhan (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) vs ESTRUCH (ESP)/ SANCHIS-HERNANDEZ (ESP)

Tough second round against similar ranked local player for Vishnu.
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At $10K Iran F4 Futures, Tehran (clay)

[R1] (3) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,520) l Christoph LESSIAK (AUT,990) 46 57
[R1] Abhijeet TIWARI (IND,1253) bt (Q) Mo NIAKI (CAN,1694) 64 76(5)

[R2] Abhijeet TIWARI (IND,1253) l (2) Murad INOYATOV (UZB,496) 26 36

Doubles
[R1] (4) SIE (INA)/ VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt NEDELKO (RUS)/ PULATOV (UZB) 64 64
[R1] HOBBS (SIN)/ TIWARI (IND) l ALTUNA (TUR)/ KUZIN (UKR) 36 46

[QF] (4) SIE (INA)/ VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) l LESSIAK (AUT)/ PROPST (AUT) 46 46

Ranjeet lost his match in straight sets but other hand Abhijeet earned his second ATP point in 2 weeks.

Tennis News
At $850K Malaysian Open, Kuala Lumpur

[R1] (WC) Yuki Bhambri (IND,532) bt (WC) Yew-Ming Si (MAS,UNR) 62 60

Yuki lost his first service game and was down 0-2 but after that he won next 12 games to crushed unranked local player in 46 minutes to scored his first ATP maindraw win ... Happy to see he managed to take advantage of weak opponent ... Next he will face winner between WR #11 David Ferrer and his nemesis from junior level Australian Bernard Tomic.
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At $551K PTT Thailand Open, Bangkok

[R1] (1) Leander Paes (IND)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) l Daniel Brands (GER)/ Ivan Dodig (CRO) 67(5) 76(5) 4-10

Shocking defeat for our formidable pair against rookie pair ... ry bad preparation for CWG 2010, though as we know they raise their game on different level when playing for nation.

Brands and Dodig kept pressure on our seasoned pair from the start ... After winning first set in tie-break in second set they had couple of break points on Mahesh's serve in 9th game but Mahesh managed to save them and in tie-break our pair fought back from 3-5 down to won it ... But in super tie-break Brands and Dodig proved too strong for this veteran pair.

Frankly speaking Brands and Dodig outplayed our pair winning 91 pts to 80 pts ... They had 12 break point chances and converted 1, other hand our pair had 5 and converted 1 ... Aces also Brands and Dodig hit more, 11 aces in comparison of our pair his 6 aces.
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At $50K Napoli Challenger, Italy

[R1] (3) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ David Martin (USA) bt (WC) Enrico Fioravante (ITA)/ Filip Krajinovic (SRB) 76(3) 75

Very tight win for Harsh and David Martin against local Italian wild-card pair to moved into quarters.

Tennis News
At $75K+H Izmir Cup 2010, Turkey

Singles Final
(2) Somdev Devvarman (IND,113) bt (4) Marcel Ilhan (TUR,102) 64 63

In this match Somdev showed very good atheleticism while running around ... Played some excellent passing shots, some lobs, Powerful winners from middle of the court and usual solid baseline game in the final ... This win brought his ranking back inside top-100, exactly at #100.

Somi started well breaking Ilhan's serve in 4th game but Ilhan immediately broke Somi's serve in next game to bring set back on serve ... Somdev take crucial break in 10th game breaking Ilhan's serve at 15 to won first set.

In second set Somi saved break point before holding his serve ... Somi broke Ilhan's serve in 4th game to take lead and then mananged to hold his serve to won his first title of 2010 ... While serving for the match Somi saved 1 break point before converting 2nd match point.
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At $50K Napoli Challenger, Italy

[R1] (3) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ David Martin (USA) vs (WC) Enrico Fioravante (ITA)/ Filip Krajinovic (SRB)
[R1] Sadik Kadir (AUS)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Andrey Kuznetsov (RUS)/ Yuri Schukin (KAZ)

This week Harsh and Purav r playing at Napoli with their respective partners ... They could play each other in quarters if wins their respective first round matches.

Tennis News
At $75K+H Izmir Cup 2010, Turkey

[SF] (2) Somdev Devvarman (IND,113) bt Matthias Bachinger (GER,310) 67(3) 76(5) 64

[F] (2) Somdev Devvarman (IND,113) vs (4) Marcel Ilhan (TUR,102)

In first set both players were holding their serves comfortably ... Bachinger got first chance at 4-5 when he had set point but Somi managed to save it ... In tie-break Somi was up 3-0 but from there Bachinger won next 7 points to take that comfortably.

In second set also Bachinger got first chance in 5th game but Somi saved break point to hold his serve ... Then in 6th game Somi had a break point but he failed to convert ... Bachinger broke Somi's serve in 7th game but immediately Somi broke Bachinger in next game to make it 4-all ... Then both hold to take second set in tie-break ... Bachinger take early lead with mini-break, 1-3 ... But Somi fought back to take tie-break with couple of mini-break to make it 1 set-all.

Somi started third set positively breaking Bachinger's serve on luv in 1st game ... But Bachinger broke back in next game to make it 1-all ... Somi saved break point in 6th game and take crucial break in 9th game ... Then hold his serve to complete superb comeback victory to moved into first challenger final of year 2010.

In the final Somi facing local favorite Ilhan ... Tough match but Somi having game and willpower to face this challenge.
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At $850K Malaysian Open, Kuala Lumpur

[R1] (WC) Yuki Bhambri (IND,527) vs (WC) Yew-Ming Si (MAS,UNR)

Doubles
[R1] (WC) Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Kei Nishikori (JPN) vs (3) Marcelo Melo (BRA)/ Bruno Soares (BRA)

Good draw for Yuki in Malaysian tournament facing local unranked player ... In doubles with Nishikori having tough match against 3rd seed Brazilian pair.
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At $551K PTT Thailand Open, Bangkok

[R1] (1) Leander Paes (IND)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) vs Daniel Brands (GER)/ Ivan Dodig (CRO)

In preparation for CWG 2010 Lee and Mahesh playing together on tour after long-time.

Tennis News
At $75K+H Izmir Cup 2010, Turkey

[QF] (2) Somdev Devvarman (IND,113) bt Yannick Mertens (BEL,223) 61 26 64

[SF] (2) Somdev Devvarman (IND,113) vs Matthias Bachinger (GER,310)

Somdev started well with couple of breaks in 1st and 5th games to take 4-1 lead ... In 6th game Somi saved 2 break points before holding his serve ... In 7th game Somi again broke Mertens's serve @30 to won first set ... But second set started exactly opposite of first set ... Somi lost his serve in 1st and 5th game and lost second set with these 2 breaks ... In decider both players were struggling to hold their serve after Somi hold 1st game on luv ... Mertens take important break in 5th game and was leading 2-4 ... But Somi fought back from there, he broke Mertens serve in 8th game on luv ... Then managed to hold his serve in 9th game after multiple deuce and again broke Mertens serve in 10th game to book his place in semis ... Excellent comeback in third set after break down winning last 4 games.
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At $75k Trnava Challenger, Slovakia (clay)

[SF] (2) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Guillermo Olaso (ESP) l (3) Karol Beck (SVK)/ Lukas Rosol (CZE) 16 64 7-10

Harsh lost with his Spanish partner in super tie-break ... After losing first set easily they fought back winning second set but Beck and Rosol proved too strong in super tie-break.
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At $15K France F15 Futures, Plaisir

Doubles Final
Ashutosh Singh (IND)/ Nicolas Grammaire (FRA) bt (3) Jeremy Blandin (FRA)/ Romain Jouan (FRA) 76(4) 75

Ashutosh Singh lifted another doubles ITF title this time with French partner ... In the final this unseeded pair defeated 3rd seed French pair in very tight match.
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At $15K Australia F7 Futures, Alice Springs

[QF] (4) Karan Rastogi (IND,460) l Michael LOOK (AUS,771) 16 16

Disappointing scoreline for Karan ... Aussies r tough in their home country but Karan need to produce some fighting performance in these matches.

Tennis News
At $75K+H Izmir Cup 2010, Turkey

[R2] (2) Somdev Devvarman (IND,113) bt (WC) Haluk Akkoyun (TUR,850) 61 61

[QF] (2) Somdev Devvarman (IND,113) vs Yannick Mertens (BEL,223)

Doubles
[QF] Sadik Kadir (AUS)/ Purav Raja (IND) l (3) Treat Conrad Huey (PHI)/ Dominic Inglot (GBR) 63 36 9-11

Crushing victory over local wild-card player to moved into quarters ... Only lost couple of games ... In quarters he is facing Belgium player Mertens.

Purav and Sadik started well against pair in-form winning first set but lost match in tight super tie-break.
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At $220K Tashkent Open, Uzbekistan

[QF] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Maria Elena Camerin (ITA) l Alexandra Dulgheru (ROU)/ Magdalena Rybarikova (SVK) 57 16

They managed to produce some fight in first set but lost second set badly.
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At $35K+H Bangkok-2 Challenger, Thailand

[QF] Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Thiago Alves (BRA) l (3) Chris Eaton (GBR)/ Joshua Goodall (GBR) 67(4) 16

After losing first set in tie-break they couldn't produce much fight.
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At $15K France F15 Futures, Plaisir

[R2] (4) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,368) l Gregoire Burquier (FRA,345) 36 36

Doubles
[SF] Ashutosh Singh (IND)/ Nicolas Grammaire (FRA) bt Kenny De Schepper (FRA)/ Alexandre Penaud (FRA) 67(4) 64 10-6

[F] Ashutosh Singh (IND)/ Nicolas Grammaire (FRA) vs (3) Jeremy Blandin (FRA)/ Romain Jouan (FRA)

Vishnu lost his match in straight sets against similar ranked French player ... But in doubles Ashutosh reached in the final with his French partner.

Tennis News
At $75k Trnava Challenger, Slovakia (clay)

[QF] (2) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Guillermo Olaso (ESP) bt Pavol Cervenak (SVK)/ Ivo Klec (SVK) 75 61

Solid win against good local pair for Harsh and his Spanish partner to place in semis.
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At $15K Australia F7 Futures, Alice Springs

[R2] (4) Karan Rastogi (IND,460) bt Mikal Statham (NZL,1053) 63 60

[QF] (4) Karan Rastogi (IND,460) vs Michael LOOK (AUS,771)

Comfortable win for Karan against New Zealander but now important for him to keep focus in next matches.
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At $10K Iran F3, Tehran (clay)

[R2] Abhijeet TIWARI (IND,1248) l Sebastian FITZ (GER,UNR) 63 46 57

After winning first set Abhijeet lost against experienced Fitz.
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At $10K Uganda F1 Futures 2010, Kampala (clay)

[R2] Vijayant MALIK (IND,880) l Takanyi GARANGANGA (ZIM,768) 57 16
[R2] Kaza Vinayak SHARMA (IND,1245) l (8) Gerald MELZER (AUT,761) 67(1) 26

Doubles
[QF] ENOSOREGBE (NGR)/ MANUJA (IND) l MELZER (AUT)/ SAFWAT (EGY) 1-2 Retd

Disappointing end for African tour.

Tennis News

Davis cup World Group draw is out for 2011 first round ... All 8 seeded teams r tough top teams, so I was hoping for home tie ... But we received worst draw as another away world group tie for us ... We r playing Serbia in Serbia

Davis Cup World Group First round 2011

Serbia (s) (c) vs India
Russia (s) (c) vs Sweden
Czech Republic (s) (c) vs Kazakhstan
Argentina (s) (c) vs Romania
Chile (c) vs USA (s)
Belgium (c) vs Spain (s)
Germany (c) vs Croatia (s)
Austria (c) vs France (s)
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At $75K+H Izmir Cup 2010, Turkey

[R1] (2) Somdev Devvarman (IND,113) bt (WC) Tuna Altuna (TUR,965) 63 63

[R2] (2) Somdev Devvarman (IND,113) vs (WC) Haluk Akkoyun (TUR,850)

Doubles
[R1] Sadik Kadir (AUS)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Theodoros Angelinos (GRE) 63 61

[QF] Sadik Kadir (AUS)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs (3) Treat Conrad Huey (PHI)/ Dominic Inglot (GBR)

Expected straight sets victory for Somi ... He reached yesterday evening at Izmir, so fatigue was the worry but he managed to complete victory ... Tomorrow he is facing another local wild-card player to place in quarters.

Comfortable win for experienced pair of Purav and Sadik against Somi and his UVa teammate ... Next Purav and Sadik playing against another UVa pair, who is on roll recently.
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At $220K Tashkent Open, Uzbekistan

[R1] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Maria Elena Camerin (ITA) bt Lyudmyla Kichenok (UKR)/ Nadiya Kichenok (UKR) 62 63

[QF] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Maria Elena Camerin (ITA) vs Alexandra Dulgheru (ROU)/ Magdalena Rybarikova (SVK)

Sania started with comfortable win against Kichenok twins in doubles with Camerin ... Next they r facing another unseeded pair, who upset 3rd seed in tight match.
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At $35K+H Bangkok-2 Challenger, Thailand

[R1] Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Thiago Alves (BRA) bt (Alt) Tomislav Peric (CRO)/ Yoav Schab (ISR) 75 64

[QF] Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Thiago Alves (BRA) vs (3) Chris Eaton (GBR)/ Joshua Goodall (GBR)

Bogomolov withdrew from doubles draw due to exhaustion so alternate pair played against Yuki and Alves ... They scored straight sets victory to face 3rd seed British pair in quarters.

Tennis News
At $75k Trnava Challenger, Slovakia (clay)

[R1] (2) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Guillermo Olaso (ESP) bt (WC) Michal Konecny (CZE)/ Radim Urbanek (CZE) 64 62

[QF] (2) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Guillermo Olaso (ESP) vs Pavol Cervenak (SVK)/ Ivo Klec (SVK)

Good start for Harsh with his new Spanish partner, so next match against local Slovakian pair.
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At $15K France F15 Futures, Plaisir

[R1] (4) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,368) bt (Q) Jeremie CAYLA (FRA,UNR) 63 61

[R2] (4) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,368) vs Gregoire Burquier (FRA,345)

Doubles
[R1] GRAMMARE (FRA)/ SINGH (IND) bt HAMARD (FRA)/ VENTURINO (FRA) 62 64
[QF] GRAMMARE (FRA)/ SINGH (IND) bt (1) CHARROIN (FRA)/ MITSUHASHI (JPN) Walkover

Vishnu comfortably won first round match against unseeded local qualifier ... But next he is facing tough match against similar ranked opponent.

Ashutosh and Nicolas started with win and they also received walkover against top-seed, so they r in semis.
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At $10K Iran F3, Tehran (clay)

[R1] Abhijeet TIWARI (IND,1248) bt Ashkan DABIRI (IRI,1517) 62 75

[R2] Abhijeet TIWARI (IND,1248) vs Sebastian FITZ (GER,UNR)

Doubles
[R1] HOBBS (SIN)/ TIWARI (IND) l FITZ (GER)/ KEPLER (GER) 26 67(3)

Good start for Abhijeet ... His next round German opponent now largely play doubles but Sebastian Fitz is former top-250 around singles and doubles player so good test for Abhijeet.

Sebastian Fitz and his German partner defeated Abhijeet and his Singaporean partner in doubles.
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At $10K Uganda F1 Futures 2010, Kampala (clay)

[R1] Vijayant MALIK (IND,880) bt Mauricio ALVAREZ-GUZMAN (CHI,1095) 60 61
[R1] Kaza Vinayak SHARMA (IND,1245) bt (Q) Mark FYNN (ZIM,UNR) 76(2) 76(2)

[R2] Vijayant MALIK (IND,880) vs Takanyi GARANGANGA (ZIM,768)
[R2] Kaza Vinayak SHARMA (IND,1245) vs (8) Gerald MELZER (AUT,761)

Good to see Kaza winning 1st ATP point in 3 weeks but second round against Melzer is tough one, who is in form winning back to back these African futures last 2 weeks ... Vijayant scored very convincing win over Chilean and next play Zimbabwean, who upset top-seed top-300 Dutch player in first round.

Tennis News
At $220K Tashkent Open, Uzbekistan

[R1] Sania Mirza (IND,129) l Ekaterina Bychkova (RUS,175) 16 64 57

Sania struggled with her service in this match ... In first set her service got broken 4 times and she managed to break Bychkova's serve once ... In second set she lost her serve once and broke Bychkova's serve twice from 2-4 down ... So Sania won 4 games in a row to won second set ... In third set Sania got broken in 2nd game as Bychkova converted 5th break point to lead 0-2 ... Sania immediately broke her in next game to make it 1-2 ... Sania again broke Bychkova in 5th game and 7th game to take 5-2 lead ... Sania lost her serve when she was serving for the match, 5-3 ... Again Sania lost her serve after serving double fault on break point to make it 5-all ... In 11th game Sania had a break point which she couldn't conver and in 12th game Sania was up 40-15 and after that she committed couple of double faults to lose game and match ... Shocking serving by Sania who lost from winning position in third set losing straight 5 games.
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At $35K+H Bangkok-2 Challenger, Thailand

[R1] (LL) Yuki Bhambri (IND,527) l James Ward (GBR,230) 76(4) 67(1) 1-1 Retd

Yuki entered as lucky loser as many withdrawals from main-draw ... He played excellent match against Britisher Ward before retiring due to cramps in third set.
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At $15K Australia F7 Futures, Alice Springs

[R1] (4) Karan Rastogi (IND,460) bt Andrew Thomas (AUS,1021) 76(3) 63

[R2] (4) Karan Rastogi (IND,460) vs Mikal Statham (NZL,1053)

Surprisingly little tough win against below 1000 rank player.
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At $10K Uganda F1 Futures 2010, Kampala (clay)

Doubles
[R1] MALIK (IND)/ SHARMA (IND) l MELZER (AUT)/ SAFWAT (EGY) 67(2) 46
[R1] ENOSOREGBE (NGR)/ MANUJA (IND) bt (3) FILENKOV (RUS)/ VOVK (RUS) 67Z(8) 75 10-4

[QF] ENOSOREGBE (NGR)/ MANUJA (IND) vs MELZER (AUT)/ SAFWAT (EGY)

Good hard fought win for Ronak Manuja in doubles with Nigerian partner against 3rd seeded Russian pair.

Shooting News
At ISSF World Cup Final Izmir 2010, Turkey

From ISSF site
Double Trap Men Final
Gold - Ronjan Sodhi IND 143 (48+46+49) + 49 = 192 pts
Silver - Junjie Mo CHN 141 (43+50+48) + 47 = 188 pts
Bronze - Qiang Pan CHN 144 (49+48+47) + 43 = 187 pts

Ronjan Sodhi qualified for the final with a score of 143 hits out of 150 targets behind Chinese shooter Qiang Pan ... In the final Ronjan took advantage of his Chinese opponents’ numerous mistakes, winning the Gold medal with a final tally of 49 hits, and a total score of 192 targets.

Ronjan Sodhi - “This has been a long and intense season. I took part in five different international competition, and the balance of the year is definitively positive.”


“I won the World Cup stage in Lonato, and the World Cup Final here in Izmir. And at the beginning of the year, in Acapulco, I also scored a world record… unluckily I was shooting as MQS, so that was not registered.”


“No holidays – he said - I will give my best for the Commonwealth Games, now. I am getting ready, and I feel extremely motivated. Australian and English shooters will be the toughest opponents to beat, there.“

Volleyball News
At 3rd Asian Senior men’s Volleyball Championship (Central Zone) , Kolkata, India

Final
India l Iran 0-3 (19-25 22-25 27-29)

Again poor blocking and back-court defense cost us match ... Poor result for us against this second string Iranian team.

Archery News
At Archery World Cup 2010 Final, Edinburgh, Great Britain

Men's Individual Recurve
Gold - Brady Ellison (USA)
Silver - Dong-Hyun Im (KOR)
Bronze - Jayanta Talukdar (IND)

For Bronze Medal
Jayanta Talukdar (IND) bt Marco Galiazzo (ITA) (30,29,26,29) 6-2 (29,28,27,28)

[SF] Jayanta Talukdar (IND) l Brady Ellison (USA) (28,29,27,25,26-T9) 5-6 (28,28,25,29,27-T9*)

[R1] Jayanta Talukdar (IND) bt Michele Frangilli (ITA) (26,25,28,30,29) 6-4 (26,27,26,26,29)

Women's Individual Recurve
[R1] Deepika Kumari (IND) l Victoriya Koval (UKR) (27,26,29,22,25) 4-6 (25,29,26,23,26)
[R1] Dola Banerjee (IND) l Justyna Mospinek (POL) (20,23,23) 0-6 (23,26,25)

First time in archery history 3 Indian archers qualified for World Cup Finals ... And in that Jayanta Talukdar won his first medal in the Archery World Cup Final.

In first round he defeated Frangilli with superiority skill ... His semi-final against young American archer was cracker, best match of the Archery Finals ... Ellison made comeback from 1-5 down to make it 5-all ... Match was decided on a 1-arrow shoot-off with a breath-taking end of semi-final match ... Ellison first released a mid-9 and then Jayanta also scored a mid-9 ... But Ellison's arrow was measured 1cm closer to the centre to win this match.

In Bronze medal match Jayanta scored comfortable win over defending champion Italian Marco Galiazzo to win his first World Cup Final medal.

In women's event Deepika Kumari managed to produce fighting performance against Silver medalist Ukrainian archer but other hand Dola had disappointing outing.

Tennis News
At Davis Cup World Group Play-Off 2010, Chennai, India

India bt Brazil 3-2

Day 3
[R4] Somdev Devvarman (IND,113) bt Thomaz Bellucci (BRA,27) 76(3) 4-0
[R5] Rohan Bopanna (IND,479) bt Ricardo Mello (BRA,75) 63 76(2) 63

Bellucci was serving solidly from the start and holding his serve easily ... Other hand Somi served percentage serving and holding his serves without much problem ... In 9th game Somi had 4 break point chances but he failed to convert ... In tie-break Somi started with mini-break then Bellucci take mini-break back to 2-1 but Somi broke Bellucci's serve twice to to take 5-1 lead ... And comfortably won tie-break ... In second set Somi broke Bellucci's serve in 2nd game ... At 3-0 Bellucci take medical break for his left shoulder ... He played next game and Somi again broke him to take 4-0 lead ... Bellucci decided to retired from the match and gave tie to Somi.

Somi played excellent in this match ... He kept Bellucci on the baseline moving around him from one corner to another ... Bellucci tired playing running around the court and that affected his game ... Now this win give amazing opportunity to India to complete comeback win against Brazil.

Rohan take early break against Ricardo Mello and kept that break to won first set ... As usual Rohan's service was working in this set ... Ricardo Mello serving well after losing his serve early in the first set ... In second set Rohan was struggling with his first serve, he had couple of break points on Mello's serve but failed to convert it ... At 4-5 Rohan saved couple of set points from 15-40 down and then in tie-break he controlled from the start to take 2-0 lead ... In third set Rohan broke Mello's serve in 4th game with some nice shots and volley to take 3-1 lead ... Rohan saved couple of break points to keep his break ... On 8th game Rohan had couple of match points but he failed to convert it ... But he converted 3rd match point to complete victory for him and India ... And with that we qualify for World group again.

This is our first victory for coming down from 0-2 deficit ... All players gave their best in this victory and what one can say about Leander, after the match he carries Roahn all around the court at age of 37 yrs.

Rohan Bopanna - For his part Bopanna said that despite playing the decisive rubber, he felt no pressure. “I had decided that I would go ahead and play my game.”

Somdev Devvarman - Devvarman said that he “didn’t see it coming”, referring to Bellucci conceding the match. However, he admitted that he had tried to make the points as long as possible and it was a strategy that worked. Referring to the 11.30 start, Devvarman said it was, “a team decision and a good call to start the matches at this time. I was happy to see the sun out this morning.” The Indian ace confirmed that he had recovered fully from Friday’s five set match against Bellucci. “I ate well, slept well and had my massages and was feeling good. This is the best team effort I have been part of.”

Mahesh Bhupathi - “We are back where we belong.”
From Davis cup site
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At $220K Guangzhou International Women's Open, Guangzhou, China

Doubles Final
Sania Mirza (IND)/ Edina Gallovits (ROU) bt Xinyun Han (CHN)/ Wanting Liu (CHN) 75 63

Sania and Edina won first set but were early break down in second set ... They were down 1-3 in second set but then won next 5 games to complete victory against local pair ... So after long time Sania lifting WTA doubles title ... Congrats Sania, she is truly coming back to her game which we missed for last couple of years.
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At $220K Tashkent Open, Uzbekistan

[R1] Sania Mirza (IND,129) vs Ekaterina Bychkova (RUS,175)

Doubles
[R1] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Maria Elena Camerin (ITA) vs Lyudmyla Kichenok (UKR)/ Nadiya Kichenok (UKR)

In singles Sania climb inside top-130 and in doubles she is back inside top-70 after Guangzhou International Women's Open.

This week Sania is having Italian partner Maria Elena Camerin in doubles and they r facing 18 yrs old Kichenok twins in the first round.
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At $75K+H Izmir Cup 2010, Turkey

[R1] (2) Somdev Devvarman (IND,113) vs (WC) Tuna Altuna (TUR,965)

Doubles
[R1] Sadik Kadir (AUS)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Theodoros Angelinos (GRE)

Somdev is not taking break this week, so less time to celebrate famous Davis cup play-off comeback victory against Brazil.

This week he is playingTurkish challenger ... He is 2nd seed and facing local wild-card opponent ... In doubles he is partnering Greece player but facing tough match against Purav and Sadik.
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At $75k Trnava Challenger, Slovakia (clay)

[R1] (2) Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Guillermo Olaso (ESP) vs (WC) Michal Konecny (CZE)/ Radim Urbanek (CZE)

This week Harsh is playing at Slovakian challenger and having good Spanish partner ... They r 2nd seed and facing local wild-card pair in the first round.
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At $35K+H Bangkok-2 Challenger, Thailand

[Q2] Yuki Bhambri (IND,526) bt (7) Ze Zhang (CHN,296) 76(8) 64

[Q3] Yuki Bhambri (IND,526) l (4) Frederik Nielsen (DEN,269) 67(2) 26

Doubles
[SF] Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Thiago Alves (BRA) vs Alex Bogomolov Jr (USA)/ Evgeny Kirillov (RUS)

Good win against top-300 Chinese player ... But Yuki lost in the final qualifying, though Yuki managed to take experienced Frederik Nielsen to tie-break into first set but couldn't produce much fight in second set.

This week he is partnering Brazilian Thiago Alves, so he is getting good doubles partner in these challengers.-----------------------------------------------------------
At $15K France F15 Futures, Plaisir

[R1] (4) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,355) vs Qualifier

Doubles
[R1] GRAMMARE (FRA)/ SINGH (IND) vs HAMARD (FRA)/ VENTURINO (FRA)
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At $15K Australia F7 Futures, Alice Springs

[R1] (4) Karan Rastogi (IND,460) vs Andrew Thomas (AUS,1021)

This week also Karan is 4th seed and only playing in singles.
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At $10K Uganda F1 Futures 2010, Kampala (clay)

[R1] Vijayant MALIK (IND,880) vs Mauricio ALVAREZ-GUZMAN (CHI,1095)
[R1] Kaza Vinayak SHARMA (IND,1245) vs (Q) Mark FYNN (ZIM,UNR)

Doubles
[R1] MALIK (IND)/ SHARMA (IND) vs MELZER (AUT)/ SAFWAT (EGY)
[R1] ENOSOREGBE (NGR)/ MANUJA (IND) vs (3) FILENKOV (RUS)/ VOVK (RUS)

This week Rupesh must be decide to take care of the ear infection so missing from the action at Kampala.

Volleyball News
At 3rd Asian Senior men’s Volleyball Championship (Central Zone) , Kolkata, India

India bt Pakistan 3-0 (25-17 25-15 25-22)
Iran bt Kazakhstan 3-0 (25-20 25-10 25-19)

Indians showed improved performance in their last league match beating Pakistan in straight sets ... So with that Indians qualified for the final against Iran, which will be played on Monday.

Boxing News
At AIBA Women’s World Championships 2010, Barbados

Light Fly 45-48 kg Final
Mary Kom (IND) bt Steluta Duta (ROU) 16-6

Gold - Mary Kom (IND)
Silver - Steluta Duta (ROU)
Bronze - Alice Aparri (PHI)
Bronze- Nazgul Boranbayeva (KAZ)

Heavy +81 kg
Gold - Nadezhda Torlopova (RUS)
Silver - Kateryna Kuzhel (UKR)
Bronze -Yunfei Li (CHN)
Bronze - Kavita (IND)

Mary Kom lifted consecutive 5th World Championship beating Romanian boxer in the final ... After first round Mary was down 3-4 but she fought back well winning next rounf 6-1 ... Then in 3rd round Mary defended well to win 3-0 and also 4-1 in final round to complete her World Championship win.

Mary Kom is undoubtfully our one of greatest athlete.

M.C. Marykom - “This is my most satisfying victory ever as many people doubted my ability to fight in the higher weight category. I am just happy that I let my fists do the talking.”

“I have been very disciplined with my training and nutrition and I managed the transition very comfortably. I am confident that I can fight in the higher weight categories very effectively in future major tournaments as I have shown here. In fact, my weight when I am not training is 51+ kgs, so I can actually adjust my training according to the weight category that I have to fight in.”

Volleyball News
At 3rd Asian Senior men’s Volleyball Championship (Central Zone) , Kolkata, India

India l Iran 1-3 (16-25 24-26 25-23 23-25)
Kazakhstan bt Pakistan 3-0 (25-11 25-22 25-23)

Disappointing result for Indians against second string Iranian team ... Yesterday our blocking and back-court defense was poor and attacking Iranian take full advantage of it.

Tennis News
At Davis Cup World Group Play-Off 2010, Chennai, India

India vs Brazil 1-2

Day 2
[R3] Leander Paes (IND)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) bt Marcelo Melo (BRA)/ Bruno Soares (BRA) 64 76(5) 61

Lee and Mahesh started with bang breaking both Brazilians to take 4-0 lead but Brazilian fought back breaking Mahesh's serve ... Still our pair managed to keep one break advantage to won first set ... Second set closely fought as Brazilians raised their game ... Also Lee and Mahesh were struggled with their serves ... Lee saved 2 set points in 10th game and in 12th game Mahesh saved 2 sets points on his serve ... In tie-break Brazilian pair was up 3-0 and 4-1 with mini-break on Lee's serve but our pair managed fought back to make it 5-all and then take another mini-break to won second set ... In third set Lee produced energetic performance to broke Marcelo Melo's serve twice to won third set comfortably and gave India important point in Davis cup.

This is Lee and Mahesh's 24th consecutive victory in Daqvis cup ... Still herculean task for our players to win reverse singles on the final day.
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At $220K Guangzhou International Women's Open, Guangzhou, China

[SF] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Edina Gallovits (ROU) bt Olga Savchuk (UKR)/ Tamarine Tanasugarn (THA) 63 60

[F] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Edina Gallovits (ROU) vs Xinyun Han (CHN)/ Wanting Liu (CHN)

Sania and Edina scored very dominating and crushing victory over Savchuk and Tanasugam to moved into the final ... In the final they r facing local unseeded pair, who also reached in the final creating upset like Sania and Edina.
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At $35K+H Bangkok-2 Challenger, Thailand

[Q1] Yuki Bhambri (IND,526) bt (WC) Pin Mahatharvorn (THA,UNR) 61 62

[Q2] Yuki Bhambri (IND,526) vs (7) Ze Zhang (CHN,296)

Expected comfortable win but now big test against top-300 Choinese player.
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At $10K USA F23, Claremont, CA

[SF] Karunuday Singh (IND,1041) l Devin Britton (USA,1107) 36 36

Karunuday's good run ended in semis but very good performance to reached in US futures semis.

Boxing News
At AIBA Women’s World Championships 2010, Barbados

Light Fly 45-48 kg
[SF] Mary Kom (IND) bt Alice Aparri (PHI) 8-1

[F] Mary Kom (IND) vs Steluta Duta (ROU)

Heavy +81 kg
[SF] Kavita (IND) l Kateryna Kuzhel (UKR) 2-14

Only Mary Kom reached in the final beating easily Filipino boxer ... In the final she is facing Romanian boxer ... In heavy weight category Ukrainian boxer didn't give any chance to Kavita, who confirmed Bronze.

Volleyball News
At 3rd Asian Senior men’s Volleyball Championship (Central Zone) , Kolkata, India

India bt Kazakhstan 3-0 (25-18 25-11 25-22)
Iran bt Pakistan 3-0 (25-21 25-19 25-18)

This is 4 nations round-robin tournament ... Indians are favorite as top contenders Iran have sent a second string side to be led by Arash Sadeghiani as their top side is preparing for the World Championship to be held in Italy (September 24-October 10).

Good start with straight sets victory for us.

Tennis News
At $35K+H Bangkok Challenger, Thailand

[SF] Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Ryler DeHeart (USA) bt Matthew Ebden (GBR)/ James Ward (GBR) 63 61

[F] Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Ryler DeHeart (USA) l (1) Mao-Xin Gong (CHN)/ Zhe Li (CHN) 36 46

Good run by Yuki with Ryler in doubles ... This was his first Challenger doubles final ... Hopefully next week Yuki perform better in singles also.
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At $35K+H Bangkok-2 Challenger, Thailand

[Q1] Yuki Bhambri (IND,526) vs (WC) Pin Mahatharvorn (THA,UNR)
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At $10K USA F23, Claremont, CA

[QF] Karunuday Singh (IND,1041) bt James Duckworth (AUS,1039) 64 Retd

[SF] Karunuday Singh (IND,1041) vs Devin Britton (USA,1107)

Though his opponent retired in the second set this is awesome run by Karunuday in US futures.

Tennis News
At Davis Cup World Group Play-Off 2010, Chennai, India


India vs Brazil 0-2

Day 1
[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND,479) l Thomaz Bellucci (BRA,27) 76(2) 67(7) 57 64 8-10
[R2] Somdev Devvarman (IND,113) l Ricardo Mello (BRA,75) 64 26 76(3) 26 46

In the first match, very solid service games by Rohan in the first set ... he didn't give a single break point and managed to keep pressure on Bellucci's serve ... He had couple of break point chances but didn't manage to convert ... But in ti-break he dominated from the start to comfortably won first set.

In second set Rohan broke Bellucci's serve in the first game but Bellucci immediately broke back in next game to make it 1-all ... Both players hold their service game to take set into tie-break ... In tie-break Somi had 3 set points at 6-3 but Bellucci hit 2 superb backhands down the line and then take crucial mini-break to won second set.

After losing second set Rohan was looking distrubed and Bellucci take advantage of breaking him in the first game ... Rohan saved 2 set points in 10th game before breaking Bellucci's serve in 10th game to make it 5-all but Rohan played loose service game and Bellucci broke back him in 11th game ... And then served out for the set to take 2-1 sets lead.

In fourth set Rohan played very controlled game and keeping pressure on Bellucci's serve ... Most crucial break came in 10th game when Rohan converted 3rd set point to make it 2 seta all.

In 1st game of fifth set Bellucci broke Rohan's service but then Rohan played excellent next 4 games ... He broke Bellucci's serve in 2nd and 4th games with scintillating backhand and forehand returns to take 4-1 lead ... At 5-2 Rohan wasted 3 match points on Bellucci's serve and then played loose 9th game to gave break back ... At 5-4 Bellucci take medical break ... Bellucci take crucial break in 17th game and hold to won this match after superb comeback after almost 4 and 1/2 hrs quality battle.... This win gave Brazil crucial one point.

Disappointing performance by Somi against Mello ... Somi started well breaking Mello early in the match and won first set ... But got broken in 2nd game of second set and then again got broken in 8th game to lose second set easily ... In third set Somi broke Mello's serve in 1st game and then while serving for the set Somi failed to hold his serve but in tie-break he dominated to won second set and take 2-1 lead ... But from 4th set Somi was struggling with his serve and increased his unforced errors ... Mello broke Somi's serve in 3rd game after Somi saved 2 break points in first game ... He again broke Somi in 5th game to won 4th set comfortably ... In 5th set Mello take crucial break in 9th game and then Mello served out for the match ... This match was also going for 4 hrs and 12 mins.

Tough task for Indians to win next 3 matches to make tie in their favor.
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At $220K Guangzhou International Women's Open, Guangzhou, China

[QF] Sania Mirza (IND,144) l Shuai Zhang (CHN,101) 46 61 46

Zhang broke Sania's serve in 2nd game to take 2-0 lead but Sania immediately broke back to make it 2-all ... But lost set after another break ... In second set she served well and broke her opponent's serve 3 times to won set comfortably ... In third set Sania again struggled with her service ... At 4-5 she had couple of break points at 15-40 but failed to take advantage and lost the match.
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At $15K Australia F6 Futures, Darwin

[QF] (4) Karan Rastogi (IND,460) l (5) Hiroki Moriya (JPN,467) 06 76(2) 67(0)

Karan is showing very inconsistency in his game, one day solid win and next day average performance.
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At $10K USA F23, Claremont, CA

[R2] Karunuday Singh (IND,1041) bt (2) Dimitar Kutrovsky (BUL,581) 26 62 64

[QF] Karunuday Singh (IND,1041) vs James Duckworth (AUS,1039)

Doubles
[SF] (4) GONZALES (PHI)/ SINGH (IND) l FOGLEMAN (USA)/ KEARNEY (USA) 57 63 5-10

Only good news of the day ... Karunuday scored superb win over 2nd seed Bulgarian player ... What a comeback victory for Karunuday.

Boxing News
At AIBA Women’s World Championships 2010, Barbados

Light Fly 45-48 kg
[R1] Mary Kom (IND) bt Stephanie Allen (TRI) 10-1
[R2] Mary Kom (IND) bt Jenny Smith (AUS) RSC R1 1:56
[QF] Mary Kom (IND) bt Lynsey Holdaway (WAL) 9-2

[SF] Mary Kom (IND) vs Alice Aparri (PHI)

Fly 51 kg
[R1] Laishram Devi (IND) bt Aleksandra Kuleshova (RUS) 11-8

[R2] Laishram Devi (IND) l Sumeyra Yazici (TUR) 8-12

Bantam 54 kg
[R1] Priyanka Chauhdary (IND) l Qin Zhang (CHN) 6-10

Feather 57 kg
[R1] Pavitra (IND) bt Kusa Simbi (KEN) RSC R1 1:52

[R2] Pavitra (IND) l Tassamalee Thongjan (THA) 0-10

Light 60 kg
[R1] Neetu (IND) bye

[R2] Neetu (IND) l Katie Taylor (IRL) 2-12

Light Welter 64 kg
[R1] Pratibha Jakhar (IND) l Cashmere Jackson (USA) RSC R1 2:00

Welter 69 kg
[R1] Kavita (IND) l Andrea Strohmayer (GER) 4-7

Middle 75 kg
[R1] Aswathimol Chenthitt (IND) l Inna Sagaydakovskaya (RUS) 1-5

Light Heavy 81 kg
[R1] Laxmi Padiya (IND) bt BURGOS Blanca Burgos (ECU) 7-3

[R2] Laxmi Padiya (IND) l Marina Volnova (KAZ) 9-12

Heavy +81 kg
[R1] Kavita (IND) bye
[QF] Kavita (IND) bt HOSU Adriana Hosu (ROU) 9-6

[SF] Kavita (IND) vs Kateryna Kuzhel (UKR)

Tough outing for our ladies boxers as in this World Championship total 72 countries boxers r participating.

Only Mary Kom in Light Fly Weight and Kavita in Heavy Weight r in the semis to guaranteed 2 medals for Indians ... Mary Kom is in position of winning her 5th World Championship gold.

Tennis News
At Davis Cup World Group Play-Off 2010, Chennai, India

Day 1
[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND,479) vs Thomaz Bellucci (BRA,27)
[R2] Somdev Devvarman (IND,113) vs Ricardo Mello (BRA,75)

Day 2
[R3] Leander Paes (IND)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) vs Marcelo Melo (BRA)/ Bruno Soares (BRA)

Day 3
[R4] Somdev Devvarman (IND,113) vs Thomaz Bellucci (BRA,27)
[R5] Rohan Bopanna (IND,479) vs Ricardo Mello (BRA,75)

Unfavourable draw for us as our 2nd singles player facing Brazilian top-30 singles player ... Anyway we r underdog for this tie as per our ATP rankings but I m hoping for surprising win, 3-2.
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At $220K Guangzhou International Women's Open, Guangzhou, China

Doubles
[QF] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Edina Gallovits (ROU) bt (4) Anna Smith (GBR)/ Zi Yan (CHN) 62 64

[SF] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Edina Gallovits (ROU) vs Olga Savchuk (UKR)/ Tamarine Tanasugarn (THA)

Sania and Edina won first set comfortably, in second set both pairs traded lot of breaks but our pair take decisive break to won match in straight sets.

In the semis they r facing another unseeded pair who upset top-seed pair in straight sets.
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At $35K+H Bangkok Challenger, Thailand

[QF] Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Ryler DeHeart (USA) bt Tsung-Hua Yang (TPE)/ Chu-Huan Yi (TPE) 62 36 10-6

[SF] Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Ryler DeHeart (USA) vs Matthew Ebden (GBR)/ James Ward (GBR)

Yuki and Ryler moved into semis with super tie-break win over Taipei's Davis cup doubles pair ... Next they r facing unseeded British pair, who defeated seeded fellow countrymen in quarters.
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At $15K Australia F6 Futures, Darwin

[R2] (4) Karan Rastogi (IND,460) bt Yu Chang (CHN,611) 62 62

[QF] (4) Karan Rastogi (IND,460) vs (5) Hiroki Moriya (JPN,467)

Another nice comfortable win for Karan against his Chinese opponent ... Next he is facing similar ranked Japanese opponent in quarters.
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At $10K USA F23, Claremont, CA

[R1] Karunuday Singh (IND,1041) bt (WC) Jeff Tarango (USA,UNR) 64 16 75

[R2] Karunuday Singh (IND,1041) vs (2) Dimitar Kutrovsky (BUL,581)

Doubles
[R1] (4) GONZALES (PHI)/ SINGH (IND) bt GORHAM (USA)/ TRAGARDH (USA) 63 63
[QF] (4) GONZALES (PHI)/ SINGH (IND) bt KONIGSFELDT (DEN)/ RECKNAGEL (GER) 62 63

[SF] (4) GONZALES (PHI)/ SINGH (IND) vs FOGLEMAN (USA)/ KEARNEY (USA)

Good to see Karunuday playing in US ... Also interesting to see 42 yrs old Jeff Tarango participated in this futures, who was ranked top-50 in singles and top-10 in doubles in 1990s ... Next Karunuday having tough match against 2nd seed Bulgarian Kutrovsky.

In doubles Karunuday r in semis with his Filipino partner.

Football News
FIFA International Friendly, New Delhi

India bt Namibia 2-0

Goal Scored - Mehrajuddin Wadoo (IND) 25', Anthony Pereira (IND) 55'

In updated ranking Indian drops to #160 in FIFA world ranking due to not playing enough friendlies to keep their ranking in inside top-140 ... But today Indian team take full advantage of 7 regulars missing from Namibian side scoring upset win over WR #116 ranked team.

Both team were struggling to control ball on soggy field ... But Indians adjusted well to these condition than visiting team ... Mehrajuddin scored goal on 25th minute due to deflection by Namibian defender when he tried long shot from outside of penalty box ... In second half Indians added another goal through excellent free kick by Pereira in 55th minute ... Subrata Pal was excellent under the bar saving many shots from Namibians.

Tennis News
At $220K Guangzhou International Women's Open, Guangzhou, China

[R2] Sania Mirza (IND,144) bt (3) Akgul Amanmuradova (UZB,60) 64 63

[QF] Sania Mirza (IND,144) vs Shuai Zhang (CHN,101)

Doubles
[R1] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Edina Gallovits (ROU) bt Jarmila Groth (AUS)/ Sally Peers (AUS) 64 63

[QF] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Edina Gallovits (ROU) vs (4) Anna Smith (GBR)/ Zi Yan (CHN)

In first set Sania was up with early break of service, she saved 1 break point on her serve but hold her service games to keep one break lead ... Sania converted 3rd set point to won first set, she was up 40-15 before Akgul take game into deuce ... In second set also Sania started with early break, broke Akgul in first game ... Again Sania broke Akgul in 3rd game to take 3-0 lead ... Akgul saved a match point in 7th game before holding her serve ... Akgul first-time broke Sania's serve in the match when Sania was serving for the match in 8th game ... But immediately Sania broke Akgul's serve in 9th game to scored comfortable win ... She will play China's Shuai Zhang in quarter-finals, who upset the South African 8th seed Chanelle Scheepers.

Overall heartening performance by Sania in this match ... Her 1st serve percentage were 54% ... She faced 3 break points and saved 2, other hand created 7 break point opportunities and converted 4 ... In this match Sania won 66 pts in compare Akgul's 54 pts.

Good start in doubles also ... Next they r facing 4th seed British-Chinese pair.
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At $35K+H Bangkok Challenger, Thailand

[R1] Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Ryler DeHeart (USA) bt (2) Evgeny Kirillov (RUS)/ Alexandre Kudryavtsev (RUS) 62 6-6 Retd

[QF] Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Ryler DeHeart (USA) vs Tsung-Hua Yang (TPE)/ Chu-Huan Yi (TPE)

Yuki and Ryler were up after winning first set and in second set at 6-all their 2nd seed opponents gave up the match due to back injury to Kudryavtsev ... Next they r facing Taipei pair in quarters.
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At $15K Australia F6 Futures, Darwin

[R1] (4) Karan Rastogi (IND,460) bt Dane PROPOGGIA (AUS,642) 61 60

[R2] (4) Karan Rastogi (IND,460) vs Yu Chang (CHN,611)

Really good solid win over his last week's doubles partner.
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At $10K Rwanda F1 Futures 2010, Kigali (clay)

[R1] (Q) Shivang MISHRA (IND,UNR) l (3) Mohamed SAFWAT (EGY,591) 36 46

[R2] (2) Rupesh ROY (IND,469) l Stanislav VOVK (RUS,873) 16 61 57

Doubles
[R1] FEAVER (GBR)/ MANUJA (IND) l HEDAYET (EGY)/ KIM (KOR) 57 26

[QF] MALIK (IND)/ SHARMA (IND) l MELZER (AUT)/ SAFWAT (EGY) 46 76(0) 6-10

Indian challenge got over with Rupesh's disappointing loss against Russian.

Tennis News
At $220K Guangzhou International Women's Open, Guangzhou, China

[R1] Sania Mirza (IND,144) bt Katie O'Brien (GBR,131) 63 16 62

[R2] Sania Mirza (IND,144) vs (3) Akgul Amanmuradova (UZB,60)

Sania broke Katie in the first game to take early lead ... They exchanged breaks afterwards but Sania again broke her in 9th game to won first set ... In second set Sania was total off-color, her 1st serve percentage was 36% and Katie take full advantage of it breaking Sania's serve three times to comfortably won second set ... In decider Sania broke Katie thrice to take 5-0 lead ... She lost her serve but managed to finish match on her next service game ... Next match is tougher one against Akgul Amanmuradova.
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At $125K Szczecin Challenger, Poland

[R1] Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Frank Moser (GER) l (2) Leos Friedl (CZE)/ Igor Zelenay (SVK) 61 16 8-10

Though they lost against 2nd seed in super tie-break still it is sad to see they lost match after winning first set comfortably.
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At $10K Rwanda F1 Futures 2010, Kigali (clay)

[R1] Kaza Vinayak SHARMA (IND,1245) l (6) Anas FATTAR (MAR,738) 67(0) 67(2)
[R1] Vijayant MALIK (IND,880) l (Q) Cheong-Eui KIM (KOR,UNR) 36 46
[R1] (2) Rupesh ROY (IND,469) bt (WC) Robert BUYINZA (UGA,UNR) 60 60

Doubles
[R1] MALIK (IND)/ SHARMA (IND) bt (2) ROELOFSE (RSA)/ ROY (IND) 63 46 10-6

I was expecting tough match but Vijayant lost against Korean in straight sets ... Kaza Vinayak take his seeded opponent into tie-breaks in both sets before losing the match ... Rupesh gave double bagel to his unranked Ugandan opponent.

In doubles Vijayant and Kaza Vinayak scored upset win over 2nd seed Rupesh and his South African partner.

Tennis News

In singles Somdev again find himself out of top-100, he is on #113 after first round US Open exit.

As expected big rise for Rohan and Aisam in their respective rankings ... Rohan is climbed to career-best ranking, #19 and Aisam is also on career-best ranking, #23 ... Leander is dropped to #8 and Mahesh is out of top-10 on #13 after their early exit.

Rohan and Aisam r also climb to #6 in race to London ahead of Mahesh and Max ... So they r in good chance to qualify for ATP doubles final as indoor season is suited to their attacking game ... So we r having chance of 3 players in ATP doubles final.

Race to London ATP World Tour Finals (after US Open)

1. Bob and Mike Bryan 9875 pts - Q
2. Daniel Nestor/ Nenad Zimonjic 7325 pts - Q
3. Leander Paes/ Lukas Dlouhy 3825 pts
4. Lukasz Kubot/ Oliver Marach 2925 pts
5. Dick Norman/ Wesley Moddie 2880 pts
6. Rohan Bopanna/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi 2800 pts
7. Mahesh Bhupathi/ Max Mirnyi 2745 pts
7. Jurgen Melzer/ Philipp Petzschner 2745 pts
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9. Simon Aspelin/ Paul Hanley 2690 pts
10. Robert Lindstedt/ Horia Tecau 2650 pts
11. Mariusz Fyrstenberg/ Marcin Matkowski 2320 pts
12 Frantisek Cermak/ Michal Mertinak 1965 pts
13. John Isner/ Sam Querrey 1945 pts
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At $220K Guangzhou International Women's Open, Guangzhou, China

[R1] Sania Mirza (IND,159) vs Katie O'Brien (GBR,127)

Doubles
[R1] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Edina Gallovits (ROU) vs Jarmila Groth (AUS)/ Sally Peers (AUS)

Good decision by Sania to play in China where top-50 players r not playing ... She is in doubles with Romanian partner and facing Aussie pair.
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At $35K+H Bangkok Challenger, Thailand

[R1] (WC) Yuki Bhambri (IND,526) l (WC) Dmitry Tursunov (RUS,487) 57 16

Doubles
[R1] Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Ryler DeHeart (USA) vs (2) Evgeny Kirillov (RUS)/ Alexandre Kudryavtsev (RUS)

Yuki lost against Dima, draw was tough as in US Open first round Dima stretched Wr #15 Jurgen Melzer to 5 sets ... It seems after first set Yuki couldn't match game with Dima.
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At $125K Szczecin Challenger, Poland

Doubles
[R1] Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Frank Moser (GER) vs (2) Leos Friedl (CZE)/ Igor Zelenay (SVK)

Tough first round for Harsh and his German partner.
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At $15K Australia F6 Futures, Darwin

[R1] (4) Karan Rastogi (IND,460) vs Dane PROPOGGIA (AUS,642)

Ths week Karan is playing in singles only ... Having tricky match against last week's doubles partner Aussie Dane Propoggia.
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At $10K Rwanda F1 Futures 2010, Kigali (clay)

[R1] Kaza Vinayak SHARMA (IND,1245) vs (6) Anas FATTAR (MAR,738)
[R1] Vijayant MALIK (IND,880) vs (Q) Cheong-Eui KIM (KOR,UNR)
[R1] (Q) Shivang MISHRA (IND,UNR) vs (3) Mohamed SAFWAT (EGY,591)
[R1] (2) Rupesh ROY (IND,469) vs Robert BUYINZA (UGA,UNR)

Doubles
[R1] FEAVER (GBR)/ MANUJA (IND) vs HEDAYET (EGY)/ KIM (KOR)
[R1] (2) ROELOFSE (RSA)/ ROY (IND) vs MALIK (IND)/ SHARMA (IND)

This week also Shivang qualified for main-draw but having tough match against 3rd seed Egyptian ... Vijayant facing unranked Korean, who was top-700 player couple of years back, may be this Korean coming out of injury.

Wrestling News
At Senior World Championship 2010, Moscow, Russia

Free Style Men - 66 KG
For Gold Medal

Sushil Kumar (IND) bt Alan Gogaev (RUS) 3-1

[SF] Sushil Kumar (IND) bt Jabrayil Hasanov (AZE) 4-3
[QF] Sushil Kumar (IND) bt Batzorig Buyanjav (MGL) 9-1
[R3] Sushil Kumar (IND) bt Martin Sebastian Daum (GER) 4-1
[R2] Sushil Kumar (IND) bt Anastasios Akritidis (GRE) 6-0
[R1] Sushil Kumar (IND) bye

Sushil Kumar won Gold medal at World Championship at Moscow ... He became first Indian wrestler to won gold medal at World championship ... He also proved his Bronze medal win at Beijing Olympics wasn't fluke ... In this tournament his toughest match was semi-final against Azerbaijanian wrestler Jabrayil Hasanov, which Sushil pulled off after hard fought victory.

Tennis News
At US Open 2010, New York, USA

From US Open site

Mens Doubles Final
(16) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) l (1) Bob Bryan (USA)/ Mike Bryan (USA) 67(5) 67(4)

Rohan and Aisam played above their own expectations to gave superb fight to WR #1 pair ... In this match all players hold their serves ... Rohan and Aisam missed some break point chances on Bryans serve ... In first tie-break also our guys were up with mini-break 3-1 but lost next 4 points and were down with min-break, they again take mini-break back to make it 5-all but Rohan missed volley on his serve to gave set point to Bryans, who converted it ... In second set also Bryans managed to lift their game in crucial points and hold stiff challenge from Rohan and Aisam.

This was huge experience for our pair, who was playing in their first major final ... But after seeing this performance it looks they r going to stay with these top pairs in coming years ... Well done Rohan and Aisam, we r proud of u.

Q. Could you foresee, perhaps, going to both countries and playing exhibitions?

BOB BRYAN: That would be great. You know, we would love to do anything with those guys. I'm sure those guys are rock stars in those countries right now. We've seen what Mahesh and Leander have done for tennis in doubles over in India, and I could see the same sort of excitement behind these guys. So we'd love to go over there and check it out, get a feel for what's going on.

An Interview With: Rohan Bopanna & Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (From US Open site)
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At $10K Burundi F1 Futures 2010, Bujumbura (clay)

[SF] Vijayant MALIK (IND,843) l (8) Gerald MELZER (AUT,760) 26 36

Doubles
[F] MANUJA (IND)/ MISHRA (IND) l (4) DIERCKX (BEL)/ GOVAERTS (BEL) 46 26

Eventual champion Melzer ended good run of Vijayant in the semis.

Hockey News
At 2010 Women's Hockey World Cup, , Rosario, Argentina

For 9th Place
India bt South Africa 4-3

Goal Scored - Rani Rampal (IND) 9' PC & 10', Saba Anjum (IND) PC, Jasjeet Kaur Handa (IND) 56' and Lesley Ann George (RSA) 3', Vida Ryan (RSA), Pietee Coetzee (RSA) 58' PC

Indian women defeated South Africa in well contested match to finished on 9th place ... This was their best finish in 32 yrs after 7th place finish in 1978 World Cup.

South Africans started offensively and scored first goal in 3rd minutes but Indians fight back after Rani Rampal scored 2 goals in 1 minute ... South African levled before half-time, so both teams were 2-all at half-time ... Second half also started like first half, both teams were attacking from the start ... Anjum gave lead and then Handa gave crucial 4-2 lead ... Soth African scored a goal through Coetzee but Indians defended well in last 12 minutes to scored good win.

Host Argentina won World Cup beating defending champion Netherlands 3-1 ... England completed their best finish beating Germany 2-0 in Bronze medal match.

India's Rani Rampal was voted best young player at the Women's Hockey World Cup, who scored 7 goals in the tournament ... She finished second-highest goal scorer behind Dutch penalty corner specialist Maartje Paumen, who scored 12 goals in the tournament.

Tennis News
At US Open 2010, New York, USA

MXD Final
Kveta Peschke (CZE)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) l (1) Liezel Huber (USA)/ Bob Bryan (USA) 46 46

Aisam failed to lift his first grandslam after losing in the final of MXD against top-seed pair of Huber and Bryan ... Huber an Bryan broke Peschke's serve in 3rd game to take early lead but Aisam and Peschke broke back Huber's serve in next game to make it 2-all ... Again Huber and Bryan break Aisam'r serve in 5th gamr to take lead and that break was enough to win first set ... In second set first break taken on Aisam's serve in 3rd game but thety immediately broke Bob's serve in next game ... At 3-all again they put pressure on Aisam's serve to broke it and then hold their serve to scored complete the victory ... Yesterday Aisam was struggling more on his serve, otherwise he was at his usual best near the net.

Bob commented on Aisam and Rohan at presentation and announced aid through their foundation to Pakistan flood relief efforts .....
After the trophy ceremony on court, Bryan congratulated Qureshi on advancing to both the mixed and men's doubles finals, and he announced that the Bryan Brothers Foundation will be making a donation to aid the flood relief efforts in Qureshi's native Pakistan.

"Those guys (Qureshi and his doubles partner Rohan Bopanna) are great guys," Bryan said. "Everyone in the locker room likes them. Just hearing about the problem in Pakistan, I talked about it with my brother and my dad, and we just wanted to do it. Qureshi didn't know about it, but as soon as this tournament is over we'll write a check and do it."
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At $10K Burundi F1 Futures 2010, Bujumbura (clay)

[QF] (1) Rupesh ROY (IND,459) l (8) Gerald MELZER (AUT,760) 75 67(0) 57
[QF] Vijayant MALIK (IND,843) bt (Q) Karim-Mohamed MAAMOUN (EGY,1383) 06 62 64

[SF] Vijayant MALIK (IND,843) vs (8) Gerald MELZER (AUT,760)

Doubles
[SF] MANUJA (IND)/ MISHRA (IND) bt MELZER (AUT)/ SAFWAT (EGY) 64 16 10-6
[SF] MALIK (IND)/ SHARMA (IND) l (4) DIERCKX (BEL)/ GOVAERTS (BEL) 36 46

[F] MANUJA (IND)/ MISHRA (IND) vs (4) DIERCKX (BEL)/ GOVAERTS (BEL)


Rupesh lost in close match against Austrian ... After winning close first set he lost next 2 in close battle ... Other hand Vijayant produced encouraging comeback in the match after losing first set 6-0 ... He won next 2 sets to moved into semi-final against Austrian Melzer.

Tennis News
At US Open 2010, New York, USA

From US Open site

Doubles
[SF] (16) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) bt Eduardo Schwank (ARG)/ Horacio Zeballos (ARG) 76(5) 64

[F] (16) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) vs (1) Bob Bryan (USA)/ Mike Bryan (USA)

MXD
[F] Kveta Peschke (CZE)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) vs (1) Liezel Huber (USA)/ Bob Bryan (USA)

WOW, their good run continues and Rohan and Aisam r in their FIRST GRANDSLAM FINAL!!!

As match started all the players were serving really well but other hand our guys didn't returning well at all ... Both pairs hold their serves until 6-all ... In tie-break Zeballos double faulted to gave us mini-break and that was enought o won first set ... In first game of second set our pair hit couple of superb service returns to take break and that break was enough to won second set and match.

In the final against Bryans they need to improve their return game to challenge Bryans serve ... But they already defeated them once on hard court so they know what to do.

Today Aisam is playing his MXD match against top-seed pair and one of his opponent is Bryan.

Nice interview by Aisam and Rohan on US Open site after the match -
An Interview With: Rohan Bopanna & Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi
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At $15K Australia F5 Futures, Cairns

[R2] (6) Karan Rastogi (IND,457) l Matt Reid (AUS,478) 61 57 16

Karan lost after winning firs set comfortably against similar ranked local player.

Football News
FIFA International Friendly, New Delhi

India l Thailand 1-2

Goal Scored - N.P. Pradeep (IND) 60' and Winothai Teerathep (THA) 48', Keawsombat Keerati (THA) 65'

Indians were patchy in the game ... They were losing possessions a lot, other hand Thai were looking compose and managed to test Indian defense with short passes and possession of the ball ... In this match 4 times ball hit cross bar to denied Thai goal.

After goal-less in the first half ... Thai started well scoring excellent goal from Teerathep ... Indians managed to equal after excellent move ... Anthony Pereira's cross from the right was headed down by Sunil Chhetri which deflected by Thai goalkeeper Kawin but Pradeep headed down again and which went inside of the goal off the rebound from a Thai defender ... But in 4 minutes Thai scored goal after ball came into play after hitting crossbar and Keerati headed in ... Keerati had very good game and deserving player of the match.

Tennis News
At US Open 2010, New York, USA

Doubles
[QF] (16) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) bt (10) Wesley Moodie (RSA)/ Dick Norman (BEL) 75 76(2)

[SF] (16) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) vs Eduardo Schwank (ARG)/ Horacio Zeballos (ARG)

MXD
[SF] Kveta Peschke (CZE)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) bt Anna-Lena Groenefeld (GER)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) 76(5) 76(4)

In the beginning both pairs serving hard and holding their service game easily ... In 7th game Aisam saved 2 break points on his serve ... In 10th game our pair had a set point on Dick Norman's serve before he hold ... But our pair got crucial break in 12th game breaking Moodie's serve to won first set ... In second set also our pair managed to keep pressure on opponent's serve ... They had a break point on Norman's serve in 2nd game but he managed to hold ... In 10th game our pair had 2 match points on Norman's serve but he managed to save them to hold ... In tie-break from 3-2 our pair take 2 mini-breaks on Moodie's serve and then Rohan served to win match ... Our pair didn't face any break points other than 2 break points they faced on Aisam's serve in 7th game of first set ... What a win!

Congrats Rohan and Aisam for their first semi-final appearance and definitely many more with grand slam titles will follow soon ... Next they r facing Argentine pair, who upset Mahesh and Max in second round.

Aisam having dream US Open, he with Peschke in the final of MXD ... Yesterday they avoided super tie-break winning both sets in tie-break
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At $50K+H St Remy de Provence Challenger, France

[R1] (WC) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Ashutosh Singh (IND) l Harri Heliovaara (FIN)/ Michael Ryderstedt (SWE) 16 36

They lost easily against experienced player like Swede Michael Ryderstedt.
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At $15K Australia F5 Futures, Cairns

[R1] (6) Karan Rastogi (IND,457) bt Jared Easton (AUS,771) 63 61

[R2] (6) Karan Rastogi (IND,457) vs Matt Reid (AUS,478)

Doubles
[QF] (4) PROPOGGIA (AUS)/ RASTOGI (IND) l EASTON (AUS)/ STATHAM (NZL) 61 46 8-10

Good easy victory in first round singles but lost in doubles in super tie-break.
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At $10K Burundi F1 Futures 2010, Bujumbura (clay)

[R2] (1) Rupesh ROY (IND,459) bt Stanislav VOVK (RUS,925) 64 63
[R2] (Q) Shivang MISHRA (IND,UNR) l (8) Gerald MELZER (AUT,760) 06 57
[R2] Vijayant MALIK (IND,843) bt Matias CASTRO (ARG,1104) 62 26 76(9)

[QF] (1) Rupesh ROY (IND,459) vs (8) Gerald MELZER (AUT,760)
[QF] Vijayant MALIK (IND,843) vs (Q) Karim-Mohamed MAAMOUN (EGY,1383)

Doubles
[QF] (1) ROELOFSE (RSA)/ ROY (IND) l MELZER (AUT)/ SAFWAT (EGY) 76(5) 36 14-16
[QF] MANUJA (IND)/ MISHRA (IND) bt AL ABDULLAH (KSA)/ ENOSOREGBE (NGR) 75 75
[QF] MALIK (IND)/ SHARMA (IND) bt ALVAREZ-GUZMAN (CHI)/ DIERCKX (BEL) 36 63 10-8

[SF] MANUJA (IND)/ MISHRA (IND) vs MELZER (AUT)/ SAFWAT (EGY)
[SF] MALIK (IND)/ SHARMA (IND) vs (4) DIERCKX (BEL)/ GOVAERTS (BEL)

Vijayant joined Rupesh in singles quarter-final with tight third set tie-break win over Argentine player ... Rupesh also scored convincing win over Russian ... Heartening performance by our players on the clay.

Hockey News
At 2010 Women's Hockey World Cup, , Rosario, Argentina

Group A

India l New Zealand 0-3

Goal Scored - Kayla Marie Sharland (NZL) 44' & 54' PC, Katie Glynn (NZL) 51'

Netherlands bt Japan 5-2
Germany bt Australia 1-0

New Zeland were looking more dangerous on the field but our ladies managed to hold them initially ... At half-time scored was 0-0 ... In second half New Zealand increased their attacks and counter-attacks ... They scored 3 goals in 10-odd minutes to take match in their favor ... First goal was due to mistake from our goal-keeper Dipika as reverse-flick from Sharland went through between her legs but next was good interception near goal by Katie Glynn and last goal scored on penalty-corner by Kayla Marie Sharland ... Dipika also had some very good saves in first-half.

After Japan's loss we r playing for 9th place against South Africa on Friday.

Tennis News
At US Open 2010, New York, USA

MXD
[QF] (2) Cara Black (ZIM)/ Leander Paes (IND) l Anna-Lena Groenefeld (GER)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) 36 46
[QF] Kveta Peschke (CZE)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) bt Gisela Dulko (ARG)/ Pablo Cuevas (URU) 36 62 10-4

[SF] Kveta Peschke (CZE)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) vs Anna-Lena Groenefeld (GER)/ Mark Knowles (BAH)

Cara and Lee lost in straight sets against Knowles and Groenefeld but Aisam's reached his first grandslam semi-final with Peschke winning another match in super tie-break.
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At $50K+H St Remy de Provence Challenger, France

[R1] (WC) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Ashutosh Singh (IND) vs Harri Heliovaara (FIN)/ Michael Ryderstedt (SWE)

Surprisingly our pair recieve wild-card in French challenger.
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At $15K Australia F5 Futures, Cairns

[R1] (6) Karan Rastogi (IND,457) vs Jared Easton (AUS,771)

Doubles
[R1] (4) PROPOGGIA (AUS)/ RASTOGI (IND) bt CHANG (CHN)/ XU (CHN) 64 67(2) 10-6

[QF] (4) PROPOGGIA (AUS)/ RASTOGI (IND) vs EASTON (AUS)/ STATHAM (NZL)

Karan is down-under for back to back 3 futures, hopefully some good results boost his ranking inside top-400.

Winning start in doubles for Karan.
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At $10K Burundi F1 Futures 2010, Bujumbura (clay)

[R1] (1) Rupesh ROY (IND,459) bt Philip BARLOW (GBR,1248) 62 62
[R1] (Q) Shivang MISHRA (IND,UNR)) bt Javier HERRERA-EGUILUZ (MEX,1211) 64 75
[R1] (Q) Ronak MANUJA (IND,UNR) l (3) Bogdan-Victor LEONTE (ROU,605) 26 16
[R1] Vijayant MALIK (IND,843) bt Motaz ABOU EL KHAIR (EGY,929) 64 76(2)
[R1] Kaza Vinayak SHARMA (IND,1255) l (7) James FEAVER (GBR,752) 06 36

[R2] (1) Rupesh ROY (IND,459) vs Stanislav VOVK (RUS,925)
[R2] (Q) Shivang MISHRA (IND,UNR) vs (8) Gerald MELZER (AUT,760)
[R2] Vijayant MALIK (IND,843) vs Matias CASTRO (ARG,1104)

Doubles
[R1] (1) ROELOFSE (RSA)/ ROY (IND) bt FATTAR (MAR)/ RACHIDI (MAR) 61 62
[R1] (MANUJA (IND)/ MISHRA (IND) bt (3) FILENKOV (RUS)/ VOVK (RUS) 64 46 10-7
[R1] (MALIK (IND)/ SHARMA (IND) bt (2) FEAVER (GBR)/ LEONTE (ROU) 62 60

[QF] (1) ROELOFSE (RSA)/ ROY (IND) vs MELZER (AUT)/ SAFWAT (EGY)
[QF] MANUJA (IND)/ MISHRA (IND) vs AL ABDULLAH (KSA)/ ENOSOREGBE (NGR)
[QF] MALIK (IND)/ SHARMA (IND) vs ALVAREZ-GUZMAN (CHI)/ DIERCKX (BEL)

Good to see our few players decided to play in African clay and earn some cheap points to improve their rankings ... And good start by our players to win some good matches to moved into next round.

Tennis News
At US Open 2010, New York, USA

Doubles
[R3] (16) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) bt (2) Daniel Nestor (CAN)/ Nenad Zimonjic (SRB) 63 64

[QF] (16) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) vs (10) Wesley Moodie (RSA)/ Dick Norman (BEL)

MXD
[R2] (2) Cara Black (ZIM)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt Kaia Kanepi (EST)/ Robert Lindstedt (SWE) 64 61

[QF] (2) Cara Black (ZIM)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Anna-Lena Groenefeld (GER)/ Mark Knowles (BAH)

Rohan and Aisam scored another win over top team, this time they defeated WR #2 Nestor and Zimo in straight sets to moved into their first quarter-final at US Open ... So now in this US hard-court season they defeated 3 teams from top 4 teams,WR #1 Bryans, WR #2 Nestor & Zimo and WR #4 Mahesh & Max.

In this match they saved 3 break points on Aisam's serve after 0-40 down in 4th game ... Take crucial break on Nestor's serve in 6th game and then hold their service games to won first set ... While serving for the set at 5-3, Rohan saved 1 break point ... In second set they didn't face a single break point and take important break breaking Nestors's serve on luv in fifth game ... That single break was enough to win set and match ... Very authorative performance by our pair ... Next quarter-final match against Moodie and Norman is tough one as they both r also big servers.

Lee and Cara scored convincing win to moved into quarters in MXD.

Hockey News
At 2010 Women's Hockey World Cup, , Rosario, Argentina

Group A

India bt Japan 2-0

Goal Scored - Rani Rampal (IND) 2 goals, Ritu Rani (IND), Jaseet Handa (IND) PC

Netherlands bt Germany 2-1
Australia bt New Zealand 4-1

Indian women scored upset win over higher ranked Japanese team to open their points account ... Rani continued to score in every match, she gave lead in the first half on field goal ... In second half Handa increased Indian lead converting penalty corner ... Indian players adjusted well to little hot condition than Japanese.