Tennis News
At Davis Cup - Group I Asia/Oceania - 1st Round, New Delhi, India

Friday - 1st February 2013
[R1] Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND,511) vs Min Hyeok Cho (KOR,UNR)
[R2] Vijayant Malik (IND,537) vs Suk-Young Jeong (KOR,321)

Saturday - 2nd February 2013
[R3] Leander Paes (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Young-Kyu Lim (KOR)/ Ji Sung Nam (KOR)

Sunday - 3rd February 2013
[R4] Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND,511) vs Suk-Young Jeong (KOR,321)
[R5] Vijayant Malik (IND,537) vs Min Hyeok Cho (KOR,UNR)

Korean non-playing captain Yong-Il Yoon surprised with his selection ... He selected un-ranked Min Hyeok Cho (highest ranking was #666 in 2010) for a first match against Ranjeet over other top-500 ranked players ... Can we consider this as good fortune for India?

Football News
At FIFA Friendly 2013, Kochi, India

Goalkeepers - Subrata Pal (Prayag United), Sandip Nandy (Churchill Brothers). Karanjit Singh (Salgaocar SC)

Defenders - Nirmal Chhetri (Mohun Bagan), Gouramangi Singh (Prayag United), Shouvik Ghosh (Pailan Arrows), Syed Rahim Nabi (Mohun Bagan), Gurjinder Kumar (Pune FC), Raju Gaikwad (East Bengal), Denzil Franco (Churchill Brothers)

Midfielders - Lenny Rodrigues (Churchill Brothers), Lalkamal Bhowmick (Prayag United), Arata Izumi (Pune FC), Mehtab Hossain (East Bengal), Francis Fernandes (Salgaocar), Anthony Pereira (Dempo SC), Alwyn George (Pailan Arrows), Jewel Raja (Mohun Bagan), Clifford Miranda (Dempo SC), Vineet CK (Prayag United)

Forwards - Sunil Chhetri (Sporting Lisbon), Manandeep Singh (East Bengal), Sushil Kumar Singh (Shillong Lajong FC)

30 yrs old Japanese Arata Izumi became the first foreigner to be selected in the Indian football team for the international friendly against Palestine in Kochi slated for February 6 ... He fulfilled the norms laid down by the Union sports ministry and obtained an Indian passport in August 2012 (received it in November).

Squash News
At $70K Suburban Motor City Open 2013, Detroit, USA

[Q1] Siddharth Suchde (IND,48) bt Mohd Nafizwan Adnan (MAS,33) 3-0 (14-12, 11-4, 11-8)

[Q2] Siddharth Suchde (IND,48) l Abdullah Al Muzayen (KUW,41) 1-3 (13-11, 9-11, 10-12, 4-11)

[R1] Saurav Ghosal (IND,22) bt Alan Clyne (SCO,28) 3-1 (6-11, 11-7, 11-2, 11-3)

[QF] Saurav Ghosal (IND,22) l (3) Omar Mosaad (EGY,9) 0-3 (6-11, 8-11, 8-11)

Saurav played at Suburban Motor City Open ... After winning the first round he lost against top-10 Egyptian Omar Mosaad.
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At 35K glo Greenwich Open 2013, USA

[Q1] Joshana Chinappa (IND,30) bt Lucia Fialova (CZE,38) 3-1 (4-11, 12-10, 11-9, 12-10)

[Q2] Joshana Chinappa (IND,30) l Aisling Blake (IRL,23) 2-3 (9-11, 8-11, 11-9, 11-7, 8-11)

[R1] (6) Dipika Pallikal (IND,14) bt Donna Urquhart (AUS,17) 3-2 (7-11, 9-11, 12-10 14-12, 11-4)

[QF] (6) Dipika Pallikal (IND,14) l (2) Nour El Sherbini (EGY,6) 2-3 (8-11, 11-9, 11-2, 2-11, 5-11)

Dipika slide to #14 in latest ranking updates ... At Greenwich Open, Dipika needed to fought back against Aussie Donna Urquhart after losing the first 2 games ... Dipika saved match points in next 2 games to won them in extra points ... After that won the final game easily ... In the quarters she faced WR #6 Egyptian Nour El Sherbini ... After losing the first game Dipika came back strongly to win next two but Nour El Sherbini dominated last two for fighting win.

Joshna also played in Greenwich Open qualifying ... After winning tight first qualifying round she lost in the second qualifying round against Irish Aisling Blake ... After losing the first 2 games Joshna fought back to win next 2 but failed to keep momentum in the decider.

Chess News
At Tata Steel Chess Tournament (Corus Chess Tournament) 2013, Wijk aan Zee, The Netherlands

Group A - Round Thirteen
Sergey Karjakin - Loek van Wely 1-0
Hou Yifan - Peter Leko ½-½
Erwin L'Ami - Ivan Sokolov ½-½
Wang Hao - Viswanathan Anand 1-0
Hikaru Nakamura - Pentala Harikrishna ½-½
Anish Giri - Magnus Carlsen ½-½
Fabiano Caruana - Levon Aronian ½-½

In the final round the Chinese GM Wang Hao ruined Anand's chances of gaining Silver by beating the World Champion in very strong positional game ... Wang played perfect game without giving any chances to Anand and won it in 49 moves ... Hari managed draw after 66 moves against Nakamura after long game.

Magnus Carlsen lifted the title 1½ points lead over 2nd place Levon Aronian ... Carlsen scored 10 points and Aronian finished on 2nd place with 8½ points ... Anand tied for 3rd position with Sergey Karjakin with 8 points ... Hari finished on creditable sole 7th position with 6½ points in his first participation in this strong tournament.

Chess News
At Tata Steel Chess Tournament (Corus Chess Tournament) 2013, Wijk aan Zee, The Netherlands

Group A - Round Eleven
Peter Leko - Loek van Wely 1-0 Sergey Karjakin - Ivan Sokolov 1-0
Hou Yifan - Viswanathan Anand ½-½
Erwin L'Ami - Pentala Harikrishna ½-½
Wang Hao - Magnus Carlsen ½-½
Hikaru Nakamura - Levon Aronian 0-1
Anish Giri - Fabiano Caruana 1-0

Group A - Round Twelve
Loek van Wely - Fabiano Caruana 1-0
Levon Aronian - Anish Giri ½-½
Magnus Carlsen - Hikaru Nakamura 1-0
Pentala Harikrishna - Wang Hao ½-½
Viswanathan Anand - Erwin L'Ami 1-0
Ivan Sokolov - Hou Yifan 0-1
Peter Leko - Sergey Karjakin ½-½

In eleventh game Hou Yifan hold World champion Anand in an unique Najdorf opening ... Hou Yifan defended well in endgame despite being down a pawn ... The match ended in draw after 52 moves ... Hari's match also ended in a draw against Erwin L'Ami after 54 moves in Queen's Indian Defense despite having upper hand ... After this round Anand slipped to 3rd position as Levon Aronian moved to 2nd position with win over Hikaru Nakamura with Black.

In twelfth round Magnus Carlse secured title when still one round is remaining ... In very entertaining match he defeated Hikaru Nakamura in 31 moves ... Anand moved up to tied 2nd position with Aronian after fighting win over Dutch grand master L'Ami ... Earlier L'Ami handled the Najdorf beautifully but Anand slowly take initiative ... Than take advantage of mistakes by L'Ami to win it in 54 moves ... Hari and Wang Hao played solid game and their game ended in draw after 49 moves.

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2013, Melbourne

Mixed Doubles
[QF] (3) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Bob Bryan (USA) l Lucie Hradecka (CZE)/ Frantisek Cermak (CZE) 57 46
[QF] (5) Nadia Petrova (RUS)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) l (WC) Jarmila Gajdosova (AUS)/ Matthew Ebden (AUS) 36 63 11-13

Sania and Mahesh lost with their respective partners in mixed doubles quarter'finals and with that Indian challenge got over in this ongoing Australian open ... Sania and Bob lost against Czech pair ... And wild-card Australian pair continued with their dream run and scored another upset win over Mahesh and Nadia ... In last round they defeated Lee and Elena easily.

In the first set Czech pair take crucial break on Sania's serve in 11th game to win it ... In the second set they again broke Sania's serve in 3rd game but lost their serve in 4th game ... Again they take crucial break in 5th game and kept that lead to win the set and match.

Mahesh and Nadia started well after breaking Aussie's serve in 3rd game to lead 2-1 ... But after that Aussie pair won 5 games from 6 games played in that they broke Mahesh and Nadia's serve twice and won this set ... In the second set Mahesh and Nadia take crucial break in 8th game and then hold their serve to win this set ... In match tie-break Mahesh and Nadia were leading 4-2 and 7'5 with mini-break but Aussie pair fought back to catch them ... Our pair missed matched point at 10-9 and Aussie pair converted 3rd match point for exciting win.

Chess News
At Tata Steel Chess Tournament (Corus Chess Tournament) 2013, Wijk aan Zee, The Netherlands

Group A - Round Ten
Loek van Wely - Anish Giri ½-½
Fabiano Caruana - Hikaru Nakamura 0-1
Levon Aronian - Wang Hao 1-0
Magnus Carlsen - Erwin L'Ami 1-0
Pentala Harikrishna - Hou Yifan 0-1
Viswanathan Anand - Sergey Karjakin ½-½
Ivan Sokolov - Peter Leko 0-1

Carlsen convincingly defeated L'Ami in 65 moves to increased his lead to 1½ points ... Anand faile capitalized on the advantage and managed draw with Karjakin after 46 moves ... Aronian and Nakamura joined Anand on 2nd position with 6½ points ... Hou Yifan scored upset win with Black over Hari with her faithful Keres Attack against the Scheveningen move ... She completed victory in 55 moves.

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2013, Melbourne

Mixed Doubles
[QF] Su-Wei Hsieh (TPE)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) l Kveta Peschke (CZE)/ Marcin Matkowski (POL)

Rohan lost in the quarters in MXD with his Taipei partner in 58 minutes ... After losing the first in just 20 minutes they tried to make fightback but failed to win key points ... They had 9 break points but couldn't convert a single point ... Other hand their opponents converted 3 break points from four.

Chess News
At Tata Steel Chess Tournament (Corus Chess Tournament) 2013, Wijk aan Zee, The Netherlands

Group A - Round Nine
Ivan Sokolov - Loek van Wely 0-1
Peter Leko - Viswanathan Anand ½-½
Sergey Karjakin - Pentala Harikrishna ½-½
Hou Yifan - Magnus Carlsen 0-1
Erwin L'Ami - Levon Aronian ½-½
Wang Hao - Fabiano Caruana ½-½
Hikaru Nakamura - Anish Giri ½-½

Anand accepted another quick draw in 25 moves with Najdorf opening ... Carlsen take full advantage of it and take full point lead with win over Chinese girl Hou Yifan ... Hari hold Karjakin in 40 moves where Karjakin again used Berlin opening.

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2013, Melbourne

Mixed Doubles
[R2] (5) Nadia Petrova (RUS)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) bt Katarina Srebotnik (SLO)/ Nenad Zimonjic (SRB) 36 62 10-5
[R2] (2) Elena Vesnina (RUS)/ Leander Paes (IND) l (WC) Jarmila Gajdosova (AUS)/ Matthew Ebden (AUS) 36 26

[QF] (5) Nadia Petrova (RUS)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) vs (WC) Jarmila Gajdosova (AUS)/ Matthew Ebden (AUS)

Superb comeback victory by Mahesh and Nadia against tricky opponents ... In the first set Mahesh and Nadia were double break down 0-5 ... They won next 3 games breaking Srebotnik's serve but Zimo hold his serve for winning the first set ... In the second set Mahesh and Nadia broke Srebotnik's serve in 4th game and take 4-1 lead and again they broke Srebotnik in 8th game to win this set comfortably ... In match tie-break both pairs exchanged early mini-breaks but from 3-all Nadia and Mahesh take control ... They won 7 points from next 9 points and won this match.

Lee and Elena struggled with local wild-card pair and lost in 57 minutes ... After exchanging breaks early Australian take crucial break in 8th game and then hold their serve to win the first set ... In the second set also Aussie pair take early break and then they broke again in 7th game to lead 5-2 ... After that Aussie pair comfortably hold their serve for dominating win over 2nd seed ... Next they r facing Mahesh and Nadia in the quarters.

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2013, Melbourne

Doubles
[R3] (5) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Daniel Nestor (CAN) l Simone Bolelli (ITA)/ Fabio Fognini (ITA) 36 64 36

Mixed Doubles
[R2] Su-Wei Hsieh (TPE)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) bt Daniela Hantuchova (SVK)/ Fabio Fognini (ITA) 61 75
[R2] (3) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Bob Bryan (USA) bt Abigail Spears (USA)/ Scott Lipsky (USA) 46 61 10-4

[QF] Su-Wei Hsieh (TPE)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) vs Kveta Peschke (CZE)/ Marcin Matkowski (POL)
[QF] (3) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Bob Bryan (USA) vs Lucie Hradecka (CZE)/ Frantisek Cermak (CZE)

This year terrible results in men's doubles for us in Australian open as Mahesh and Daniel lost against Italian pair ... After losing the first set Mahesh and Daniel fought back to win the second ... But they failed to keep momentum in the decider ... Italians were attacking their serves and take break of serve ... Mahesh and Daniel saved 2 match points on their serves but Italian hold their serve for the victory.

Sania and Bob lost the first set with a single break but they fought back in the second ... They broke Spears and Lipsky service games in 2nd and 4th game to lead 4-0 and kept that advantage to win the second set in 22 minutes ... Sania and Bob didn't give chance to Amrican pair and take control from the start to won match tie-break comfortably ... Sania and Bob Bryan r facing Czech pair in the quarters, who upset 7th seed in the second round.

Dominated start for Rohan and Su-Wei Hsieh ... They won the first set in 19 minutes with double break ... In the second set they were dowm when Su-Wei lost her serve in 4th game ... Our pair responded breaking opponent's serve in next game, 3-3 ... Rohan and Su-Wei Hsieh missed break point chance in 9th game but they broke opponent's in 11th game and then hold their serve to win this match in 55 minutes ... Next in the quarters they r facing another unseeded pair, Peschke and Matkowski, who received walkover in the second round.

Chess News
At Tata Steel Chess Tournament (Corus Chess Tournament) 2013, Wijk aan Zee, The Netherlands

Group A - Round Eight
Loek van Wely - Hikaru Nakamura ½-½ Anish Giri - Wang Hao ½-½
Fabiano Caruana - Erwin L'Ami 1-0
Levon Aronian - Hou Yifan 1-0
Magnus Carlsen - Sergey Karjakin 1-0
Pentala Harikrishna - Peter Leko ½-½
Viswanathan Anand - Ivan Sokolov ½-½

Magnus Carlsen take sole lead after defeating Sergey Karjakin in marathon match ... Carlsen won this match after 92 moves, deserving leader ... Anand missed chance of winning against Sokolov and accepted draw after only 24 moves ... Hari also hold Leko and maintained tied 5th position with 4½ points.

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2013, Melbourne

Mixed Doubles
[R1] (5) Nadia Petrova (RUS)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) bt Anastasia Rodionova (AUS)/ Jean-Julien Rojer (NED) 64 62

[R2] (5) Nadia Petrova (RUS)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) vs Katarina Srebotnik (SLO)/ Nenad Zimonjic (SRB)

As expected Mahesh and Nadia started with comfortable win in 65 minutes ... Next they r facing tricky pairing of Nadia's doubles partner Srebotnik and Zimo.

Chess News
At Tata Steel Chess Tournament (Corus Chess Tournament) 2013, Wijk aan Zee, The Netherlands

Group A - Round Seven
Viswanathan Anand - Loek van Wely 1-0
Ivan Sokolov - Pentala Harikrishna ½-½
Peter Leko - Magnus Carlsen ½-½
Sergey Karjakin - Levon Aronian ½-½
Hou Yifan - Fabiano Caruana ½-½
Erwin L'Ami - Anish Giri ½-½
Wang Hao - Hikaru Nakamura 0-1

Anand take advantage of weak 18th moves of Loek van Wely ... Loek van Wely made a blunder on his 35th move in difficult position ... Anand won this match after 37 moves ... Anand again join Carlsen on top position with 5 pts ... Hari used solid Nimzo-Indian defense against Sokolov ... Their match ended in draw after 45 moves ... Hari is joined 5th position with 4 pts.

Badminton News
At $400K Malaysia Badminton Open, Kuala Lumpur (Super Series)

[SF] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,2) l (6) Tzu Ying Tai (TPE,12) 20-22 14-21

Sania again messed up when she had a chance of winning the title ... She lost against Tzu Ying Tai in straight games in 35 minutes ... Tai opened 7 points lead after 5-all, 13-6 ... Saina tried fightback in the late of the game ... From 15-20 Saina saved 5 game points but Tai converted 6th for winning this game ... In the second game Tai started with 5-0 lead which she kept increasing ... Saina was also making too many unforced errors and helping Tai ... Tai won this game comfortably.

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2013, Melbourne

Doubles
[R2] (12) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) l Simone Bolelli (ITA)/ Fabio Fognini (ITA) 26 67(3)
[R2] (5) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Daniel Nestor (CAN) bt Victor Hanescu (ROU)/ Martin Klizan (SVK) 61 76(8)

[R3] (5) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Daniel Nestor (CAN) vs Simone Bolelli (ITA)/ Fabio Fognini (ITA)

Mixed Doubles
[R1] Su-Wei Hsieh (TPE)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) bt (WC) Ashleigh Barty (AUS)/ Jack Sock (USA) 63 63
[R1] (2) Elena Vesnina (RUS)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt Sofia Arvidsson (SWE)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) 67(8) 64 10-7

[R2] (3) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Bob Bryan (USA) vs Abigail Spears (USA)/ Scott Lipsky (USA)
[R2] (2) Elena Vesnina (RUS)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Jarmila Gajdosova (AUS)/ Matthew Ebden (AUS)

Our struggle in men's doubles continued ... Rohan and Rajeev lost against unseeded Italian pair in straight sets ... Italians dominated the first set winning it with double break ... In the second set Rohan and Rajeev tried fightback but Italians proved strong in tie-break.

Other hand terrific start for Mahesh and Daniel ... After 1-all they won 5 games in a row, in that breaking opponent's serve twice, to won the first set in 22 minutes ... In the second set Mahesh and Daniel saved a break pint on their serve in 4th game ... They had 5 break point chance on Klizan's serve in 9th game but failed to convert ... Mahesh and Daniel played well in tight tie-break to won it and avoided the match going into the final set.

Rohan and Hsieh scored straight sets win over Aussie-American wild-card pair ... Lee and Elena had a tricky match against Aisam and Sofia. As expected match was cracker, Aisam and Sofia won the first set in tight tie-break but Lee and Elena fought back to win the second set ... In match tie-break Lee and Elena's experience of playing together helped to win crucial points.

Chess News
At Tata Steel Chess Tournament (Corus Chess Tournament) 2013, Wijk aan Zee, The Netherlands

Group A - Round Six
Loek van Wely - Wang Hao 1-0
Hikaru Nakamura - Erwin L'Ami ½-½
Anish Giri - Hou Yifan 0-1
Fabiano Caruana - Sergey Karjakin ½-½
Levon Aronian - Peter Leko 1-0
Magnus Carlsen - Ivan Sokolov 1-0
Pentala Harikrishna - Viswanathan Anand ½-½

Hari hold Anand after 41 moves in very complicated game ... Carlsen take lead with convincing win over Sokolov ... Now Carlsen is leading by ½ point over Anand and Karjakin.

Badminton News
At $400K Malaysia Badminton Open, Kuala Lumpur (Super Series)

[QF] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,2) bt Nozomi Okuhara (JPN,33) 21-11 14-21 2-0 Retd.

[QF] Pradnya Gadre (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) l Aprilsasi Putri Lejarsar Variella (INA)/ Vita Marissa (INA) 21-18 13-21 13-21

[SF] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,2) vs (6) Tzu Ying Tai (TPE,12)

Okuhara retired in the final game after winning the second game ... Tough luck for teenager but lucky break for Saina, who started well winning the first game but may be lost her focus in the second ... In the first game Saina started with 3-0 lead which she increased to 9-3 ... Saina kept increasing the lead and won this game comfortably ... But story was different in the second ... Okuhara opened big 9-1 lead after winning 8 points in a row ... From 4-16 Saina tried fightback, she won 6 points in a row to reduced lead to 10-16 ... Then from 10-19 to won 4 points in a row to make it 14-19 but Okuhara kept her cool and won the second game ... In the semis Saina is facing Taipei player Tzu Ying Tai.

Ashwini and Pradnya started well winning the first game ... They take early 11-5 lead but Indonesian pair caught with them at 16-all ... After that Indian pair managed to keep 2 points lead to win this game ... In the second game both pairs were going neck to neck until 7-all ... Indonesian pair opened first big lead of the game winning 4 points in a row, 11-7 ... Which they increased to 17-8 again winning 6 points in a row ... That lead was enough for Indonesian pair to win the second game ... In the decider both pairs exchanged lead and were together till 11-all ... Indonesian pair scored 5 points in a row to lead 16-11 and after that they gave only 2 points to Indian pair before completing comeback win in 43 mins.

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2013, Melbourne

Mixed Doubles
[R1] (3) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Bob Bryan (USA) bt Samantha Stosur (AUS)/ Luke Saville (AUS) 62 62

Sania and Bob started with convincing win in 50 minutes over local wild-card pair, which also had Samantha Stosur ... Good start for Sania and Bob.

Boxing News

The AIBA (International Amateur Boxing Association) suspend the Indian boxers and coaches from world events after finding the "lack of progress" in resolving the electoral mess that led to IABF's suspension late last year.

The AIBA provisionally suspended the Indian Amateur Boxing Federation (IABF) in December last year citing the International Olympic Committee's suspension of the Indian Olympic Association and "possible manipulation in its elections".

Chess News
At Tata Steel Chess Tournament (Corus Chess Tournament) 2013, Wijk aan Zee, The Netherlands

Group A - Round Five
Pentala Harikrishna - Loek van Wely 1-0
Viswanathan Anand - Magnus Carlsen ½-½
Ivan Sokolov - Levon Aronian 0-1
Peter Leko - Fabiano Caruana 1-0
Sergey Karjakin - Anish Giri ½-½
Hou Yifan - Hikaru Nakamura 0-1
Erwin L'Ami - Wang Hao 0-1

All three leaders drew their respective matches ... Anand and Carlsen agreed quick draw after 24 moves ... Hari scored good tactical win against experienced Loek van Wely in 39 moves ... He is remained tied 4th position but now only ½ point behind the leaders.

Badminton News
At $400K Malaysia Badminton Open, Kuala Lumpur (Super Series)

[R2] Kashyap Parupalli (IND,11) l (6) Jan O Jorgensen (DEN,15) 17-21 14-21
[R2] (Q) Gurusaidutt R.M.V. (IND,38) l (2) Kenichi Tago (JPN,4) 25-27 19-21
[R2] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,3) bt Pui Yin Yip (HKG,23) 21-12 21-9

[R2] Pradnya Gadre (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) bt (6) Jin Ma (CHN)/ Jinhua Tang (CHN) 22-24 21-16 21-19

[QF] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,2) vs Nozomi Okuhara (JPN,33)

[QF] Pradnya Gadre (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs Aprilsasi Putri Lejarsar Variella (INA)/ Vita Marissa (INA)

Saina scored dominating win over Hong Kong player in 30 mins ... In the first game Saina take early lead but Pui caught her at 9-all ... After that Saina lost only 3 points before winning this game ... Saina won last 8 points in a row from 13-12 ... In the second game Saina won 7 points in a row from 1-2 to take 8-2 lead which she kept increasing for comfortable win ... Next Saina is facing unseeded Japanese teenager in the quarters.

Huge win by new pairing of Ashwini and Pradnya Gadre against seeded Chinese pair ... After losing the first game in extra points they fought well to win next 2 games and won this match in 58 minutes ... In the first game our pair saved 4 game points but Chinese pair converted 5th game point ... In the second game Ashwini and Pradnya started with 3-0 early lead which they kept until the end to make it one game all ... In the decider both pairs exchanged early lead ... After that Indian pair take couple of points lead but from 13-16 Chinese pair caught with them after winning 3 points in a row ... Again our pair opened couple of points lead, 18-16 but this time also Chinese pair caught with them at 19-all ... Ashwini and Pradnya kept their nerves and won next 2 points for exciting win ... Next they r facing Indonesian pair who upset 3rd seed Thai pair in previous round.

Kashyap failed produce challenge to Jorgensen in this 37 mins match ... In both games Kashyap was close to Jorgensen at change over 10-11 and 8-11 but in both games Jorgensen was strong in later stage of the games.

Guru fought valiantly against WR #4 Tago but lost in very close match ... In first game both players were exchanging the leads ... From 17-19 Guru won next 3 points to gain a game point but Tago saved that ... After that Guru saved couple of game points in extra points ... Again Guru had 3 game points which Tago saved and then Tago converted his 3rd game point for winning this long game ... In the second game at change over Tago was leading 11-4 but after that Guru won next 7 points to make it 11-all ... Again Tago opened 3 points lead from 13-all ... This time also Guru fought back from 16-19 to make it 19-all ... Tago won next 2 points for a win in 59 minutes.

In latest ranking updates Saina climb to (equaling) her career best #2 rank ... Kashyap first-time enter into top-10 rank, he is on #10 ... Sindhu also climb one place to her career best #16.

Chess News
At Tata Steel Chess Tournament (Corus Chess Tournament) 2013, Wijk aan Zee, The Netherlands

Group A - Round Four
Loek van Wely - Erwin L'Ami 1-0
Wang Hao - Hou Yifan 1-0
Hikaru Nakamura - Sergey Karjakin ½-½
Anish Giri - Peter Leko ½-½
Fabiano Caruana - Ivan Sokolov 1-0
Levon Aronian - Viswanathan Anand 0-1
Magnus Carlsen - Pentala Harikrishna 1-0

Group A - Round Three
Magnus Carlsen - Loek van Wely 1-0
Pentala Harikrishna - Levon Aronian ½-½
Viswanathan Anand - Fabiano Caruana 1-0
Ivan Sokolov - Anish Giri ½-½
Peter Leko - Hikaru Nakamura ½-½
Sergey Karjakin - Wang Hao 1-0
Hou Yifan - Erwin L'Ami ½-½

Group A - Round Two
Loek van Wely - Hou Yifan ½-½
Erwin L'Ami - Sergey Karjakin ½-½
Wang Hao - Peter Leko ½-½
Hikaru Nakamura - Ivan Sokolov ½-½
Anish Giri - Viswanathan Anand ½-½
Fabiano Caruana - Pentala Harikrishna ½-½
Levon Aronian - Magnus Carlsen ½-½

Group A - Round One
Levon Aronian - Loek van Wely ½-½
Magnus Carlsen - Fabiano Caruana ½-½
Pentala Harikrishna - Anish Giri 1-0
Viswanathan Anand - Hikaru Nakamura ½-½
Ivan Sokolov - Wang Hao ½-½
Peter Leko - Erwin L'Ami ½-½
Sergey Karjakin - Hou Yifan 1-0

In this year's Tata (Corus) tournament Hari joined Vishy in top group ... Hari started really well ... He started with upset win over Giri in the first round in 59 moves ... After that in next 2 rounds he hold higher rated Fabiano Caruana and Levon Aronian ... In 4th round he faced WR #1 Magnus Carlsen ... Hari made a mistake under time pressure in 40th move and Carlsen take full advantage of it winning this game in 49 moves.

Other hand Anand had slow start in this tournament ... Anand had quite draw against Nakamura in the first round ... In the second round Anand had a chance but Giri played very defensive end game forcing draw after 46 moves ... In the third round Anand defeated Spanish Fabiano Caruana in exciting match ... Caruana made a blunder on 34 moves and Anand take full advantage to beat him in 41 moves ... In 4th round Anand scored one of the best victory playing with Black against Levon Aronian ... Anand himself rated this win one of the top among his best games ... Carlsen termed this Anand win as 'mind blowing' ... Anand demolished Levon Aronian in 23 moves playing with Black ... This was a great game to follow.

After four rounds Anand is tied for top position with Magnus Carlsen and Sergey Karjakin with 3 points ... Hari is tied for 4th position with 6 other players.

Viswanathan Anand - "This could easily be one of the best games I have played. To win a game like this against Levon, who is my nightmare opponent, as you probably know, is definitely wonderful. Funnily enough both my black wins against him have been real classics. I don't win that often, but when I do it is at least a good one."

Levon Aronian - "I think I ran into a theoretical trap. I was not aware of Bc5, which is very strong. Vishy said he had prepared it for somebody else. I should study openings better."

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2013, Melbourne

[R2] Rajeev Ram (USA,130) l (12) Marin Cilic (CRO,14) 57 26 46

Doubles
[R1] (2) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) l Kevin Anderson (RSA)/ Jonathan Erlich (ISR) 36 57
[R2] (5) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Daniel Nestor (CAN) vs Victor Hanescu (ROU)/ Martin Klizan (SVK)

Mixed Doubles
[R1] Su-Wei Hsieh (TPE)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) vs (WC) Ashleigh Barty (AUS)/ Jack Sock (USA)
[R1] (3) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Bob Bryan (USA) vs (WC) Samantha Stosur (AUS)/ Luke Saville (AUS)
[R1] (5) Nadia Petrova (RUS)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) vs Anastasia Rodionova (AUS)/ Jean-Julien Rojer (NED)
[R1] (2) Elena Vesnina (RUS)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Sofia Arvidsson (SWE)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK)

In shocking result last year's doubles champion lost in the first round ... Lee and Radek lost against Anderson and Erlich in 1 hour and 30 minutes ... In the first set Anderson and Erlich take break in 8th game which was help them to win this set ... In the second set Anderson and Erlich broke opponent's in 3rd game to lead 2-1 but Lee and Radek immediately broke back ... Lee and Radek take a lead with break in 8th game to lead 5-3 ... But from here they lost four games in a row in that losing their service games twice ... Really disappointing result for 2nd seed.

Mixed doubles draw is out ... Interesting pairing btween Sania and Bob Bryan ... They r 3rd seed in top draw with Rohan and his Taipei partner ... Lee and Elena r in bottom draw ... They need to win title this time as this pair having potential but failed to produce that in crunch matches ... Also after losing in men's doubles Lee's only chance to lift title is in mixed doubles ... Mahesh is having good partner in Nadia Petrova and if respective pairs win their first 2 round matches then Lee and Mahesh can face eachother in quarters with their Russian partners.

Badminton News
At $400K Malaysia Badminton Open, Kuala Lumpur (Super Series)

[R1] Ajay Jayaram (IND,30) l Daren Liew (MAS,13) 15-21 11-21
[R1] Kashyap Parupalli (IND,11) bt Takuma Ueda (JPN,29) 21-14 16-21 21-5
[R1] (Q) Gurusaidutt R.M.V. (IND,38) bt Sourabh Varma (IND,40) 21-11 21-14
[R1] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,3) bt Juan Gu (SIN,18) 21-12 21-15
[R1] Sindhu P.V. (IND,17) l (3) Tine Baun (DEN,6) 16-21 21-18 17-21

[R1] Pranaav Jerry Chopra (IND)/ Akshay Dewalkar (IND) l (7) Angga Pratama (INA)/ Ryan Agung Saputra (INA) 12-21 16-21
[R1] Pradnya Gadre (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) bt Yu Yan Vanessa Neo (SIN)/ Dellis Yuliana (SIN) 20-22 21-16 21-15
[R1] Aparna Balan (IND)/ Siki Reddy N. (IND) l Heather Olver (ENG)/ Kate Robertshaw (ENG) 21-11 4-3 Retd.
[R1] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) l (Q) Praveen Jordan (INA)/ Vita Marissa (INA) 20-22 17-21
[R1] Pranaav Jerry Chopra (IND)/ Siki Reddy N. (IND) l Chris Adcock (ENG)/ Gabrielle White (ENG) W/O

[R2] Kashyap Parupalli (IND,11) vs (6) Jan O Jorgensen (DEN,15)
[R2] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,3) vs Pui Yin Yip (HKG,23)

[R2] Pradnya Gadre (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs (6) Jin Ma (CHN)/ Jinhua Tang (CHN)

Guru scored comfortable and dominating win in 39 mins against Sourabh ... Saina also scored comfortable win against her Singaporean opponent in 29 mins ... Really fighting performance by Sindhu against Baun in 49 mins match ... After losing the first game Sindhu fought back to win the second game ... Sindhu won the second game winning 7 points in a row from 14-18 down but failed to keep same momentum in the final game ... Sindhu kept pace with Baun till 14-all ... Baun opened 3 points lead, 17-14 ... Sindhu reduced it to 16-17 but after that Baun showed her experience winning 4 points from next 5 points for a win ... Ajay failed to produce much fight to in-form Malaysian Daren Liew, who won the match in 33 minutes.

Kashyap won the first game easily against Ueda ... In the second game Ueda take early 4-1 lead which he kept increasing but Kashyap tried fightback from 9-16 ... Kashyap reduced lead to 16-18 but Ueda won last 3 points to make it one game-all ... In the final game Kashyap started with 9-0 lead which he kept increasing to 12-1 ... Kashyap kept increasing that lead and again won 7 points in a row from 13-4 to lead 20-4 ... Kashyap converted 2nd match point for a win in 55 minutes.

In doubles, Balan and Siki Reddy retired after winning the first game when Siki injured herself on the court ... Pranaav and Akshay failed to produce much fight to their seeded opponents and lost in 25 mins ... Ashwini and Pradnya scored superb fighting win over Singaporean pair ... They made excellent comeback after losing the first game in extra points.

In mixed doubles, Ashwini and Tarun lost against Indonesian qualifiers ... They had couple of game points in the first game and in the second game from 13-all Indonesian pair take control for the win ... Our other Indian pair gave walkover to their British opponents as Siki got injured in her women's doubles match.

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2013, Melbourne

[R1] (Q) Rajeev Ram (USA,130) bt Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP,85) 64 64 36 62

[R2] (PR) Somdev Devvarman (IND,551) l (24) Jerzy Janowicz (POL,26) 76(10) 63 16 06 57
[R2] Rajeev Ram (USA,130) vs (12) Marin Cilic (CRO,14)

Doubles
[R1] (10) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA) l Silvia Soler-Espinosa (ESP)/ Carla Suarez Navarro (ESP) 67(4) 36
[R1] (12) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) bt (WC) Thanasi Kokkinakis (AUS)/ Nick Kyrgios (AUS) 62 64
[R1] (5) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Daniel Nestor (CAN) bt Pablo Andujar (ESP)/ Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP) 62 64

[R2] (12) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) vs Simone Bolelli (ITA)/ Fabio Fognini (ITA)

Jerzy broke Somi in 1st game but Somi broke back immediately to make it 1-all ... Somi had 4 break point chances in 6th game which he failed to convert ... Both players were holding their service games but Somi missed few chances in it ... On Jerzy's serve Somi had a set point when he was serving at 5-6 ... In tie-break Somi take early lead of 5-2 with double break but Jerzy broke next 2 Somi's serve to make it 4-5 ... Jerzy won 5 points in a row from 1-5 down to lead 6-5 ... Both players had set points on their respective serves ... Jerzy had 3 set points but Somi was also holding his serve in crucial points and converted 4th set point to won this long tie-break ... The first set was going for 79 minutes ... In the second set also Somi created break point chances early but failed to convert ... Somi broke Jerzy at love in 7th game to lead 4-3 ... In 9th game on Jerzy's serve Somi had 3 set points at 0-40 ... Jerzy saved 2 set points but Somi converted 3rd set point to won the second set ... In the third set Jerzy broke Somi at love in 1st game ... Somi had couple of break points at 15-40 in next game but failed to convert it ... Jerzy again broke Somi in 3rd game to lead 0-4 ... Jerzy broke Somi in 7th game to won the third set ... In the fourth set also Jerzy broke Somi in 2nd game to lead 3-0 ... Jerzy broke Somi in 4th and 6th games to won this set without losing a single game ... In the final set Jerzy broke Somi in 4th game to take 3-1 lead ... In 9th game Jerzy was serving for the match at 5-3 ... Jerzy made double fault and unforced error, Somi take advantage of it to break back, 4-5 ... But in 12th game serving for staying in the match Somi struggled with his serve ... Somi's 3 lobs went out ... Somi missed 2 game points but Jerzy converted 2nd match point for fighting win ... After second set couple of times trainer came on the court for Somi's shoulder trouble ... So it looks he was struggling with his serve due to his shoulder ... In last three sets he was serving in between 130 kmph to 160 kmph speed ... Missed opportunity for Somi but still creditable fighting performance ... Remarkable fightback after 2-5 down in 5th set and at that time Jerzy was dominating for last 2 and half sets ... This match was over after 4 hours.

Terrible loss for Sania and Bethanie in the first round against Spanish pair ... After winning the title in the first week of season I ahd big hope from this pair at Australian open.

Comfortable winning start against Spanish pair for old pairing of Mahesh and Daniel ... Rohan and Rajeev also scored similar score-line win over wild-card Aussie pair ... Next they r facing Italian pair.

Badminton News
At $400K Malaysia Badminton Open, Kuala Lumpur (Super Series)

[Q1] Anand Pawar (IND,50) l Ji Hoon Hong (KOR,87) 16-21 12-21
[Q1] (1) Gurusaidutt R.M.V. (IND,38) bt Andre Kurniawan Tedjono (INA,51) 21-23 21-18 21-14
[Q1] Sai Praneeth B. (IND,49) l Zulfadli Zulkiffli (MAS,72) 18-21 18-21
[Q1] Manu Attri (IND)/ Sumeeth Reddy B. (IND) l Yee Han Chong (MAS)/ Kian Meng Tan (MAS) 11-21 16-21
[Q1] Sanjeeth S. (IND)/ Jagdish Yadav (IND) l Zheng Yi Kok (MAS)/ Keat Zhen Kong (MAS) 16-21 21-14 20-22
[Q1] Akshay Dewalkar (IND)/ Pradnya Gadre (IND) bt Calvin Jia Hong Ong (MAS)/ To Chia Vern See (MAS) 21-12 21-15

[Q2] (1) Gurusaidutt R.M.V. (IND,38) bt Yan Kit Chan (HKG,56) 21-13 21-9

[Q2] Akshay Dewalkar (IND)/ Pradnya Gadre (IND) l Chun Hei Lee (HKG)/ Hoi Wah Chau (HKG) 18-21 21-19 15-21

[R1] Ajay Jayaram (IND,30) vs Daren Liew (MAS,13)
[R1] Kashyap Parupalli (IND,11) vs Takuma Ueda (JPN,29)
[R1] Sourabh Varma (IND,40) vs (Q) Gurusaidutt R.M.V. (IND,38)
[R1] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,3) vs Juan Gu (SIN,18)
[R1] Sindhu P.V. (IND,17) vs (3) Tine Baun (DEN,6)

[R1] Pranaav Jerry Chopra (IND)/ Akshay Dewalkar (IND) vs (7) Angga Pratama (INA)/ Ryan Agung Saputra (INA)
[R1] Pradnya Gadre (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs Yu Yan Vanessa Neo (SIN)/ Dellis Yuliana (SIN)
[R1] Aparna Balan (IND)/ Siki Reddy N. (IND) vs Heather Olver (ENG)/ Kate Robertshaw (ENG)
[R1] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs (Q) Praveen Jordan (INA)/ Vita Marissa (INA)
[R1] Pranaav Jerry Chopra (IND)/ Siki Reddy N. (IND) vs Chris Adcock (ENG)/ Gabrielle White (ENG)

Only Guru qualified for the main-draw from qualifying ... In the first qualifying round former top-20 experienced Indonesian Andre Kurniawan Tedjono stretched him to three games ... After losing the first game Guru won the match in 69 minutes ... In the final qualifying round he scored convincing win over Hong Kong's Yan Kit Chan in 39 minutes ... Anand Pawar and Sai Praneeth lost in the first qualifying round against their lower ranked Asian opponents.

In the doubles qualifying only our mixed pair Akshay Dewalkar and Pradnya Gadre managed to enter in the final qualifying before losing to Hong Kong pair ... All other pairs lost in the first qualifying round.

In main-draw Guru is facing Sourabh Varma ... Ajay is having tough match against Malaysian Daren Liew ... Winnable match for Kashyap against Ueda.

Top Chinese players r skipping this tournament so Saina is to-seed and facing Singaporean top-20 player Juan Gu ... Sindhu having tough match against former WR #1 Tine Baun.

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2013, Melbourne

[R1] (PR) Somdev Devvarman (IND,552) bt Bjorn Phau (GER,78) 63 62 63

[R2] (PR) Somdev Devvarman (IND,551) vs (24) Jerzy Janowicz (POL,26)

Doubles
[R1] (10) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA) vs Silvia Soler-Espinosa (ESP)/ Carla Suarez Navarro (ESP)
[R1] (12) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) vs (WC) Thanasi Kokkinakis (AUS)/ Nick Kyrgios (AUS)
[R1] (5) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Daniel Nestor (IND) vs Pablo Andujar (ESP)/ Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP)
[R1] (2) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) vs Kevin Anderson (RSA)/ Jonathan Erlich (ISR)

Somi scored much needed excellent win over counter-puncher German Bjorn Phau in straight sets in 1 hour and 50 minutes ... Key stats from this match, Somi saved 13 break points from 14 break points he faced and other hand Somi converted 6 break points from 9 break points on Phau's serve ... Somi won 47% return points won Bjorn Phau's serve ... Also this win was more creditable considering he kept his concentration and composure in this match despite ongoing Davis cup fiasco with AITA.

In the first set Phau take early break in 3rd game but Somi immediately broke back to make it 2-all ... Somi take crucial break on Phau's serve in 8th game and then hold to won the first set ... In the second set Somi needed to saved 2 break point in 2nd game before holding his serve, 1-1 ... Somi immediately broke Phau in next game to lead 2-1 ... In 4th game Somi needed to save 4 break points before cementing his break advantage, 3-1 ... Somi missed a break point in Phau's serve in 5th game and again Somi saved 4 break points in 6th game before holding his serve, 4-2 ... Somi broke Phau's serve in 7th game to go up double break, 5-2 ... While serving for the set Somi hold his serve without losing a single point and won the second set ... In the third set Somi broke Phau in 1st game to lead 1-0 ... After that both players were holding their serves comfortably ... Phau had 2 break points in 6th game on Somi's serve but Somi hold and kept his one break advantage, 4-2 ... At 5-3 Somi again broke Phau's serve for excellent win.

Somi's next opponent is Polish Jerzy Janowicz ... Janowicz came into limelight when at Paris Master (Oct 2012) he reached in the final as an qualifier beating Marin Cilic, Andy Murray and Janko Tipsarevic etc ... This performance helped him to enter in top-30 world ranking ... Somi needs to handle big forehand and huge serve of 6' 8" Janowicz.

Sania and Bethanie r 10th seed and they r in top draw ... In the first round they r facing Spanish pair ... As per seedings they can face 6th seed Liezel Huber and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez in the third round.

As expected Lee and Radek r 2nd seed ... They r having tricky first round against good pairing of Anderson and Erlich ... Hoping full recovery for Radek from his back injury.

Mahesh and Daniel r 5th seed and in top-draw ... They r facing Spanish pair in the first round and can face 12th seed Rohan and Rajeev in the third round ... Rajeev and Rohan having easy match against local wild-card pair.

Tennis News
At Davis Cup 2013 - Asia / Oceania Group I ,

Indian Team - Leander Paes, Vijayant Malik, Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan, Purav Raja
Reserve players - Ashwin Vijayaraghavan, Arjun Kadhe
Non-playing Captain - S. P. Misra
Coach - Zeeshan Ali

I was trying to avoid commenting about Indian tennis fiasco ... And was hoping somehow this whole mess will get resolve but alas ....... We r keep going in deep shit ... As per my knowledge Somdev Devvarman (Somi) written mail to AITA (All India Tennis Association) in November 2012 ... AITA was sitting on the letter for few weeks and again with mis-management leaked that letter to the media ... Players demands were fair but first reaction from AITA wasn't positive ... Then suddenly AITA came with 'Code of Conduct' for players and asked them to sign before selection ... When players reacted on that then AITA tried to save their faces saying this is only 'Agreement' with players ... In the beginning Yuki Bhambri, Vishnu Vardhan, Sanam Singh, Divij Sharan and Saketh Myneni were with Somi but Mahesh Bhupathi joined them with Rohan Bopanna ... From here dirty politics started ... AITA came with logical proposal on this short notice ... They were ready to chance non-playing captain S. P. Misra after Korea tie ... They appointed Zeeshan Ali (who is having 17 yrs coaching experience and he was former top-150 player with vast Davis cup experience) as coach ... And acceptable prize money sharing formula with players ... But AITA didn't agree six players team for Davis cup tie and business class travel for all players ... Also on physio players weren't happy with AITA proposal ... Players outrightly rejected this proposal ... Wanted immediate appointment of Rohit Rajpal or Anand Amritraj as non-playing captain and Aditya Sachdev (Yuki's personal coach) as Indian coach ... That was shocking and disrespectful for S. P. Misra (AITA announced to change him after Korea tie) and Zeeshan Ali, who is having experience in coaching ... I feel Mahesh (off course with some inside support) is using these young players for his personal (?) agenda ... Mahesh is retiring this season but these players having long careers in front of them ... They should act more sensibly but instead they misguided in this power tussle ... I am shocked to see Somi's decision of sticking to this fiasco after AITA taken a step back (may be becoz all young players initially joined him when he wrote letter to AITA) ... Due to this AITA decided to select team from available lower ranked players ... In that they avoided to select players, who are supported by Karti Chidambaram, like Balaji and Jeevan.

I m having feeling that Lee need to play reverse singles on last day to help Indian team ... If we loses this match then with these set of players (with respect) our chances of relegation to Group II r high ... And if that happen then we need two more years for qualification to World Group ... Are both parties listening plea of Indian tennis lovers? I DOUBT.

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At Australian Open 2013, Melbourne

[R1] (PR) Somdev Devvarman (IND,552) vs Bjorn Phau (GER,78)

Australian open draw is out ... Somi is having decent draw as he is playing against Bjorn Phau ... He need to win this match against similar style Phau.

Badminton News
At $1M Victor Korea Open 2013, Seoul (Super Series Premier)

[QF] (3) Saina Nehwal (IND,3) l Li Han (CHN,26) 14-21 21-15 12-21

Saina missed big opportunity of capturing this biggest prize money event in Korea as top 2 seed Chinese were out in the first round due to injury ... She had disappointing loss against Chinese Li Han in 59 minutes.

In the first game from 3-all Saina take couple of points lead, 5-3 then 7-4 ... Li Han made it 7-all and then take control from 7-8 ... Li Han won 4 points in a row and then kept increasing the lead for winning the first game ... In the second game Saina started with 4-0 lead but Li Han caught with her at 6-all ... Then Saina won 5 points in a row ... After taking control of the game Saina also won the second game easily ... In the decider Saina started with 2-0 but from 3-all Li Han take control of the game ... She opened with 5 points lead at 8-3 ... After that Li Han didn't give any chance to Saina for fightback ... Saina managed to reduce lead to 2 points at 11-13 but again Li Han won next 4 points and won the match winning 4 points in a row.

Tennis News
At $436K Apia International Sydney, Australia

[QF] Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Daniel Nestor (IND) l (4) Max Mirnyi (BLR)/ Horia Tecau (ROU) 36 46

Mahesh and Nestor's struggle of adjusting with each other continues ... They lost in straight sets against 4th seed Mirnyi and Tecau.

Badminton News
At $1M Victor Korea Open 2013, Seoul (Super Series Premier)

[R2] Kashyap Parupalli (IND,14) l (7) Yun Hu (HKG,10) 21-16 13-21 17-21
[R2] Sindhu P. V. (IND,19) l Porntip Buranaprasertsuk (THA,13) 19-21 13-21
[R2] (3) Saina Nehwal (IND,3) bt Mingtian Fu (SIN,41) 21-16 21-9

[QF] (3) Saina Nehwal (IND,3) vs Li Han (CHN,26)

Only Saina managed to win ... Kashyap and Sindhu had disappointing losses.

Saina take early 3-1 lead which she kept increasing ... Mingtian tried fightback winning 4 points in a row from 8-14 but Saina kept her lead and won the first game ... In the second game from 2-all Saina opened lead which she kept increasing and won this match comfortably in 36 minutes ... In the quarters Saina is facing her first Chinese test of 2013 season ... She is having 2-0 win-loss record against Li Han but nevertheless tricky match.

Kashyap started well opening 4-0 lead which he increased to 13-5 ... After that Yun Hu fought back winning 4 points in a row ... He kept trying but in end Kashyap kept his nerve and won the first game ... Yun Hu started to play his game and opened 3-0 lead which he extended to 13-5 ... Kashyap tried fightback winning next 3 points ... Kashyap reduced lead to 13-18 but Yun Hu won next 3 points to win this game ... In the decider both players were exchanging the lead ... Yun Hu take 7-4 lead but Kashyap won next 4 points to retake the lead ... Then Kashyap take 13-10 lead this time Yun Hu won 4 points in a row for retaking the lead ... Kashyap again take 16-14 lead but from here Yun Hu raised his game ... He again won 4 points in row to lead 18-16 and gave another point before completing win in 70 minutes.

Sindhu had disappointing performance against Buranaprasertsuk ... She won last 2 matches against Buranaprasertsuk but this time she failed to challenge her Thai opponent ... In the first game after 4-all Sindhu was doing catching game ... From 6-9 down Sindhu made it 9-all ... After that Buranaprasertsuk opened couple of points lead ... Sindhu tried fightback from 16-20 saving 3 game points but Buranaprasertsuk converted 4th game point ... In the second game Buranaprasertsuk started with 4-0 lead ... Sidhnu managed to reduce it to 6-7 but after that this was all Buranaprasertsuk's show ... From 11-14 Sindhu managed to win only 2 points against Buranaprasertsuk ... Buranaprasertsuk won this match in 31 minutes.

Tennis News
At Australian open 2013, Melbourne

[Q1] Yuki Bhambri (IND,237) l Thomas Fabbiano (ITA,263) 36 64 46

Terrible start of 2013 for Yuki ... He lost against lower ranked Italian in the first round qualifying ... Yuki struggled with his services in this match, Fabbiano had many break point opportunities ... In the first set both players hold their respective service games till seventh game but Fabbiano take crucial break in 8th game and then hold his serve to win this set ... In the second set Yuki broke Fabbiano's serve in 6th game and take 4-2 lead but Yuki failed to win this set when he was serving for the set ... Fabbiano broke Yuki's serve when he was 3-5 down but this time Yuki immediately broke him in 1oth game and won the second set ... In the decider also Yuki struggled with his service games ... Fabbiano take crucial and only break of the set in 5th game ... After that Fabbiano hold comfortably his service games for upset win in 2 hours.
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At $690K Apia International Sydney, Australia

[QF] (4) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Liezel Huber (USA) l Nadia Petrova (RUS)/ Katarina Srebotnik (SLO) 26 57

In the first set Petrova and Srebotnik broke Huber and Sania in 1st and 3rd games to take 4-0 lead ... That double break advantage was enough for winning the first set for Petrova and Srebotnik ... In the second set again Petrova and Srebotnik take first break in 7th game to lead 4-3 ... This time Sani and Huber broke immediately in next game to make it 4-all ... But Petrova and Srebotnik take crucial break in 11th game and then hold their serve for the victory.
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At $436K Apia International Sydney, Australia

[R1] Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Daniel Nestor (IND) bt (WC) Matthew Ebden (AUS)/ Marinko Matosevic (AUS) 36 76(2) 10-8

[QF] (2) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) l David Marrero (ESP)/ Fernando Verdasco (ESP) w/o (Radek injury)
[QF] Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Daniel Nestor (IND) vs (4) Max Mirnyi (BLR)/ Horia Tecau (ROU)

Lee and Radek gave walkover to their Spanish opponent as Radek sustained back injury in the singles.

Terrible start for Nestor and Mahesh ... They lost the first set against local wild-card pair ... In the second set Mahesh and Nestor had a set point in 10th game which they failed to convert ... But in tie-break Nestor and Mahesh dominated to win it comfortably ... Nestor and Mahesh used their experience in match tie-break and scored tight win over local pair .. Next they r facing 4th seed Mirnyi and Tecau.

Badminton News
At $1M Victor Korea Open 2013, Seoul (Super Series Premier)

[R1] Kashyap Parupalli (IND,14) bt Rajiv Ouseph (ENG,32) 21-19 21-16
[R1] Sindhu P. V. (IND,19) bt Lindaweni Fanetri (INA,25) 22-20 21-16
[R1] (3) Saina Nehwal (IND,3) bt Sapsiree Taerattanachai (THA,22) 17-21 21-9 21-19

[R2] Kashyap Parupalli (IND,14) vs (7) Yun Hu (HKG,10)
[R2] Sindhu P. V. (IND,19) vs Porntip Buranaprasertsuk (THA,13)
[R2] (3) Saina Nehwal (IND,3) vs Mingtian Fu (SIN,41)

Ajay decided to skip this Super Series Premier event.

Saina faced tough challenge in the first round from young Thai Taerattanachai ... She needed almost an hour to win this in three games ... In the first game Taerattanachai take early lead from 5-all .. She was leading 10-6 then 12-9 but Saina caught her at 12-all ... From 15-all Taerattanachai opened 4 points lead, 19-15 and won the first game after converting 2nd game point ... In the second game Saina opened 7-0 lead which she kept increasing to win this game comfortably ... In the decider Saina started with 3-0 lead ... She kept couple of points lead till 16-13 ... Saina won next 4 points to gave herself match points at 20-13 ... Taerattanachai won next 6 points saving that many match points but Saina managed to convert 7th match point for hard fought win ... Saina is having winnable second round match against Singaporean Mingtian Fu.

Kashyap faced tricky British opponent Rajiv Ouseph ... In the first game Rajiv was keeping early couple of points lead ... Kashyap caught him at 6-all, 8-all, 10-all then 11-all ... Kashyap won 4 points in a row to take 14-11 lead but this time Rajiv caught with him at 15-all and take 18-16 lead ... From 18-19 Kashyap won next three points to win the first game ... In the second game Rajiv opened 3-0 lead but Kashyap won next four points to take 4-3 lead ... From 7-all Kashyap take lead after winning next 5 points ... Kashyap again won six points in a row from 13-11 to lead 19-11 ... Kashyap converted 3rd match point and cmpleted with in 37 minutes ... Next he is facing WR #10 Yun Hu ... Yun Hu is leading 1-0 in win-loss head-to-head record but that match was in 2010.

Sindhu was behind from the start against Fanetri ... At change over Sindhu was trailing 6-11 but from here Sindhu fought back ... She came closer 11-12 but again trailed 12-15 ... Sidhnu caught with Fanetri at 15-all and take 17-16 lead ... Again Fanetri take 19-17 lead but Sindhu won next 3 points ... Sindhu failed to convert 1st game point but converted 2nd game point ... In the second game an early both players were neck to neck ... Sindhu won five points in a row from 8-9 to lead 13-9 ... After that Sindhu kept increasing lead and had 8 match points at 20-19 ... Fanetri saved four match points but Sindhu converted fifth match point for a win in 42 minutes ... Lucky break for Sindhu as WR #1 Xuerui Li retired from her first round match ... So Sindhu will face WR #13 Thai Porntip Buranaprasertsuk in the second round ... Sindhu is leading 2-0 in win-loss head-to-head record, though both matches ended in three games.

Tennis News
At Australian open 2013, Melbourne

[Q1] Yuki Bhambri (IND,237) vs Thomas Fabbiano (ITA,263)

AO qualifying draw is out ... In the first match Yuki is facing 23 yrs old Italian Thomas Fabbiano ... Who is challenger level player with consistent results in the last year ... He was Junior French Open doubles champion in 20078 ... If Yuki wins this match then he can face 5th seed Argentine Martin Alund.
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At $436K Apia International Sydney, Australia

[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Marcelo Melo (BRA) l (3) Marcel Granollers (ESP)/ Marc Lopez (ESP) 46 26
[R1] (2) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) bt Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA)/ Gilles Simon (FRA) 64 46 10-5

[QF] (2) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) vs David Marrero (ESP)/ Fernando Verdasco (ESP)

Slow start for Lee and Radek ... They needed match tie-break against unseeded French pair for the win ... Next they r facing Spanish pair who upset Aisam and Rojer ... But Rohan lost with Melo against last year's in-form Spanish pair in straight sets.

Tennis News
At $690K Apia International Sydney, Australia

[R1] (4) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Liezel Huber (USA) bt Dominika Cibulkova (SVK)/ Lucie Safarova (CZE) 16 60 11-9

[QF] (4) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Liezel Huber (USA) vs Nadia Petrova (RUS)/ Katarina Srebotnik (SLO)

This week Sania is playing with Liezel Huber as Bethanie is playing in Australian open singles qualifying ... Sania and Huber had winning start after winning closely fought match tie-break ... They fought back well after losing the first set against tricky pairing of Cibulkova and Safarova ... Next they r facing another tricky and experienced pairing of Petrova and Srebotnik.
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At $436K Apia International Sydney, Australia

[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Marcelo Melo (BRA) vs (3) Marcel Granollers (ESP)/ Marc Lopez (ESP)
[R1] Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Daniel Nestor (IND) vs (WC) Matthew Ebden (AUS)/ Marinko Matosevic (AUS)
[R1] (2) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) vs Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA)/ Gilles Simon (FRA)

This week Lee is back with Radek before Australian open title defense but Rohan is playing with Melo as Rajeev is playing in the Australian open singles qualifying.

Badminton News
At $1M Victor Korea Open 2013, Seoul (Super Series Premier)

[R1] Kashyap Parupalli (IND,14) vs Rajiv Ouseph (ENG,32)
[R1] Ajay Jayaram (IND,31) vs (3) Chen Jin (CHN,3)
[R1] Sindhu P. V. (IND,19) vs Lindaweni Fanetri (INA,25)
[R2] (3) Saina Nehwal (IND,3) vs Sapsiree Taerattanachai (THA,22)

The first Super series premier tournament of season 2013 will begin at Seoul ... Tough match for Ajay against WR #3 Jin ... Sindhu and Sania r in top draw ... Sindhu can face WR #1 Xuerui Li in the second round.

Tennis News
At $1M Brisbane International 2013, Australia

Final
Sania Mirza (IND)/ Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA) bt (4) Anna-Lena Groenefeld (GER)/ Kveta Peschke (CZE) 46 64 10-7

Sania Mirza won her 15th WTA doubles title with American Bethanie Mattek-Sands after upsetting 4th seeds Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany and Czech Kveta Peschke at the Brisbane International ... This was the pair's third WTA doubles title together, after Cincinnati in 2007 and Brussels in 2012 - Also Bethanie Mattek-Sands now has 11 WTA doubles titles ... Terrific start for 2013 season for Sania.

After losing the first set Sania and Bethanie produced excellent comeback to lift title in a match tie-break.

Bethanie Mattek-Sands - "In the first week of a new season you're still kind of getting loose and getting match play in, but we were relaxed and played well this week in Brisbane. It's always fun with Sania. We're best friends and always get along really well, whether we're getting ready for matches or going for dinner. I'm feeling good right now and really looking forward to the rest of the season."

Will they play together all year?
Sania Mirza - "That's the plan. We get along great off the court. In tight situations that friendship really helps. You trust each other. She's my best friend on the tour. Hopefully we'll both be healthy in 2013. We always joke that we're done with injuries now."

Tennis News
At $450K Aircel Chennai Open 2013, India

[QF] (PR) Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Sergei Stakhovsky (UKR) l Sanchai Ratiwatana (THA)/ Sonchat Ratiwatana (THA) 36 57

Somi and Sergei failed to overcome Ratiwatana brothers challenge and lost in straight sets ... With this Indian challenge got over from Chennai Open 2013.

Tennis News
At $450K Aircel Chennai Open 2013, India
[R2] (WC) Somdev Devvarman (IND,663) l (1) Tomas Berdych (CZE,6) 36 16

Doubles
[QF] (1) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Daniel Nestor (IND) l Raven Klaasen (RSA)/ Nicholas Monroe (USA) 46 57
[QF] (3) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Rajeev Ram (IND) l Benoit Paire (FRA)/ Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI) 60 46 1-10

Somi overpowered by Berdych in one-sided match which lasted 65 minutes ... From start Berdych toyed with Somi and didn't give a little chance to him ... In the first set he broke Somi in 4th game ... Then he had few chances but failed to convert those but that single break was enough to win the set ... Berdych produced more dominant performance in the second set ... Somi hold his serve in 1st game but after that Berdych won next 6 games breaking Somi thrice for completing the win.

Rohan and Rajeev started with very dominating style ... They won the first set in 16 minutes without losing a single game against Wawrinka and Paire... In the second set Wawrinka and Paire take early breaking after breaking Rajeev's serve in 1st game ... After that both pairs traded another break but in end Wawrinka and Paire managed to keep one break advantage to win this set ... Rohan and Rajeev failed to lift their game in match tie-break and lost it poorly.

Klaasen and Moroe broke Mahesh's serve in 3rd game to take 1-2 lead ... In 8th game on Monroe's serve our pair had 4 break points at 0-40 but failed to convert it ... In 10th game Klaasen saved another couple of break points before holding to win the set ... Mahesh and Daniel were up 3-1 in the second set before losing the plot ... Klaasen and Moroe made it 3-all and then take crucial break in 11th game ... Klaasen hold for upset win.

So turned to be very bad day for Indians ... Only Somi is remaining in the doubles.
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At $1M Brisbane International 2013, Australia

[SF] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA) bt Daniela Hantuchova (SVK)/ Katarina Srebotnik (SLO) 5-1 Retd.

After got broken in the 1st game Sania and Bethanie responded strongly winning next 5 games ... In that they broke opponent's service games thrice but at 1-5 Hantuchova and Srebotnik conceded match due to Hantuchova injury.

Tennis News
At $450K Aircel Chennai Open 2013, India

[R2] (Q) Prakash Amritraj (IND,549) vs (8) Go Soeda (JPN,58) 67(2)63 46

Doubles
[R1] (1) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Daniel Nestor (IND) bt (WC) N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Jeevan Neduchezhiyan (IND) 63 60
[R1] (3) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Rajeev Ram (IND) bt Yen-Hsun Lu (TPE)/ Go Soeda (JPN) 64 63
[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Sergei Stakhovsky (UKR) bt Robin Haase (NED)/ Igor Sijsling (NED) 75 63

[QF] (1) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Daniel Nestor (IND) vs Raven Klaasen (RSA)/ Nicholas Monroe (USA)
[QF] (3) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Rajeev Ram (IND) vs Benoit Paire (FRA)/ Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI)
[QF] (PR) Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Sergei Stakhovsky (UKR) vs Sanchai Ratiwatana (THA)/ Sonchat Ratiwatana (THA)

He was tired as he played 14 sets in 4 days ... This was his 4th three setter ... Terrific performance showing improved physical fitness ... He had a chance of going deep here but frankly organizers screwed up with his scheduling of the matches.

Soeda started with breaking Prakash's serve in 1st game but after 0-2 Kash started fightback ... He won next five games in that he broke Soeda twice in 4th and 6th games to lead 5-2 ... But Soeda kept fighting and he broke Kash in 9th game when he was serving for the set to make it 4-5 ... Kash had couple of set points which he failed to convert and that proved crucial in the end ... In tie-break Soeda take mini-break on 1st point to lead 0-1 ... Kash failed to fight back as Soeda broke him another couple of times to win the first set tie-break comfortably ... Kash again showed his fighting performance and tried another comeback after losing the first set ... He won the second breaking Soeda twice but he was visibly tired in the third ... Soeda take crucial break in 9th game and hold his serve for fighting victory.

Winning start for Somdev and his Ukrainian partner Stakhovsky ... They started with straight sets victory over Dutch pair ... In the quarters they r facing Ratiwatana brothers who upset 2nd seed Lee and Roger-Vasselin in the first round.

Rohan and Rajeev won the first set but were down early with a break in the second ... Rohan and Rajeev broke back in 4th game to make it 2-all ... They again broke Yen-Hsun and Go Soeda in 6th game and take control of this set ... After that both pair won their respective service games and our pair completed win in 57 minutes ... Next they r facing Wawrinka and Paire.

Mahesh and Daniel gave lesson to Jeevan and Bala of playing on ATP tour ... They scored dominating win losing only 3 games ... Next they r facing Klaasen and Monroe.
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At $1M Brisbane International 2013, Australia

[QF] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA) bt (2) Liezel Huber (USA)/ Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez (ESP) 62 63

[SF] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA) vs Daniela Hantuchova (SVK)/ Katarina Srebotnik (SLO)

Sania and Bethabie scored solid win over 2nd seeds Huber and Jose Martinez Sanchez ... In the first set they won four games in a row from 2-all ... In the second set Huber and Jose Martinez Sanchez broke Sania's serve in 3rd game to lead 2-1 but after that Sania and Bethanie won five games from next six games ... In that they broke Huber and Jose Martinez Sanchez's serve twice for win in 62 minutes ... In the semis they r facing experienced pair of Hantuchova and Srebotnik.

Tennis News
At $450K Aircel Chennai Open 2013, India

[R1] (WC) Somdev Devvarman (IND,663) bt Jan Hajek (CZE,106) 63 63
[R1] (Q) Prakash Amritraj (IND,549) bt Guillaume Rufin (FRA,90) 67(4) 62 63
[R1] (Q) Rajeev Ram (USA,132) l Dudi Sela (ISR,109) 46 16

[R2] (WC) Somdev Devvarman (IND,663) vs (1) Tomas Berdych (CZE,6)
[R2] (Q) Prakash Amritraj (IND,549) vs (8) Go Soeda (JPN,58)

Doubles
[R1] (2) Leander Paes (IND)/ Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) l Sanchai Ratiwatana (THA)/ Sonchat Ratiwatana (THA) 67(7) 16
[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Sergei Stakhovsky (UKR) vs Robin Haase (NED)/ Igor Sijsling (NED)

Turned terrific day for us in the singles as Prakash and Somdev pulled excellent wins against their respective opponents ... Next Somi having tough match against top-seed Tomas Berdych and Prakash is facing 8th seed Go Soeda ... Prakash must be tired after playing four matches in three days and tomorrow he will be facing Soeda.

Prkash started with breaking Rufin's serve but Rufin broke back in 6th game to make it 3-all ... In tie-break Kash take 3-0 lead but Rufin came back strongly to win this set after winning 7 points from next 8 points ... In the second set from 2-all Kash won next 7 games ... In that he won the second set breaking Rufin's serve in 6th and 8th games ... He also broke Rufin 2nd game of the final set to take 3-0 lead ... And that break was enough for Kash to win this match.

From beginning Somi was playing comfortably ... Really happy to see him match-fit again ... He was winning long rallies and hitting some wonderful winners from back of the court ... Somi also hit 7 aces in the match ... In the first set Somi broke Hajek twice to win it ... In the second set also Somi broke Hajek twice but this time Hajek also broke him once but one break advantage was enough for winning the match.

After excellent two wins in the singles I was expecting win for 2nd seed Lee and Roger-Vasselin ... But Ratiwatana brothers had a different idea and in end they spoiled Indian party after upset straights sets win ... In the first set both pairs had break point opportunities but both managed to hold ... In tie-break lead were exchanging but Ratiwatanas got lucky net break on their second set point ... After winning the first set Ratiwatana brothers were on the fire in the second set ... They played excellent tennis, their returns were good, matched in net exchange with Lee and some excellent lobs ... They broke Lee and Roger-Vasselin serve two times and comfortably wwon the second set.

Find surprising entry of Somdev in the doubles ... He is partnering big serving Ukrainian Sergei Stakhovsky and facing Dutch pair in the first round.