Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Tennis News
At $100K+H Johannesburg Challenger, South Africa,

[R1] Prakash Amritraj (IND,364) l Mate Pavic (CRO,361) 76(4) 46 46
[R1] (2) Rajeev Ram (USA,115) bt Ruan Roelofse (RSA,506) 67(4) 63 64

Doubles
[R1] (2) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Jean Andersen (RSA)/ Ruan Roelofse (RSA) 63 64

[QF] (2) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Fabiano De Paula (BRA)/ Thales Turini (BRA)
[QF] Rajeev Ram (USA)/ Prakash Amritraj (IND) vs (1) Rik De Voest (RSA)/ Marcelo Demoliner (BRA)

Prakash lost in the three sets against Pavic ... In the first set both players broke opponent's serve once but Ka$h played solid tie-break ... In next two sets Pavic broke Ka$h service game early and kept that advantage for winning the match ... Prakash had 5 break points in 3rd set when Pavic was serving for the match at 4-5 but failed to convert.

Divij and Purav had solid winning start in their doubles match against local pair ... Next they r facing Brazilian pair.

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At $50K An-ning Challenger, China

[R1] Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND,390) bt (7) Vincent Millot (FRA,206)

[R2] Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND,390) vs Danilo Petrovic (SRB,461)

Jeevan scored his first win at challenger level, that was also against top-200 type Frenchman on the red clay ... In the first set he was up 3-0 but Millot broke back to make it 3-4 but again Jeevan broke him and won the first set ... In the second set Millot broke Jeevan early and kept that advantage for winning this set ... In the final set both players traded early break but from 2-all Jeevan won next 4 games for excellent win ... Next he is facing Serbian opponent.
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At $50K Tallahassee Challenger, USA (green clay)

[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,184) l (7) Denis Kudla (USA,143) 67(4) 46

Buji completed another poor week with lost against Kudla in straight sets ... Next he will be playing Roland Garros qualies.

Monday, April 29, 2013

Tennis News
At $100K+H Johannesburg Challenger, South Africa,

[R1] (Q) Purav Raja (IND,994) l Jean Andersen (RSA,755) 36 46
[R1] (Q) Divij Sharan (IND,1154) l (3) Vasek Pospisil (CAN,130) 26 46

Doubles
[R1] Rajeev Ram (USA)/ Prakash Amritraj (IND) bt Thiago Alves (BRA)/ Augusto Laranja (BRA) 61 63

Purav and Divij lost in the first round of main-draw.

Prakash and Rajeev had comfortable winning start against Brazilian pair in the doubles.

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At $15K India F4 Futures, Chandigarh

Singles First Round
(1) Yuki BHAMBRI (IND) bt Abhijeet TIWARI (IND) 63 61
Austin KAROSI (USA) bt (WC) Ranjeet SINGH (IND) 64 64
Vinayak Sharma KAZA (IND) bt Ronak MANUJA (IND) 76(5) 63
(7) Vijayant MALIK (IND) bt (Q) Anvit BENDRE (IND) 63 61
(LL) Sagar AHUJA (IND) bt (Q) Nischay RAWAL (IND) 64 16 64
(Q) Rakshit RISHI (IND) bt Ajai SELVARAJ (IND) 06 64 75
(Q) Fariz MOHAMMED (IND) bt Zach ITZSTEIN (AUS) 75 64
(8) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt Vignesh VEERABADRAN (IND) 63 36 60
(6) N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND) bt (WC) Lakshit SOOD (IND) 75 63
(Q) Ronit Singh BISHT (IND) bt Vivek SHOKEEN (IND) 3-0 Retd.
Ashwin VIJAYRAGAVAN (IND) bt (Q) Neeraj ELANGOVAN (IND) 62 2-0 Retd.
(4) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) bt Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND) 76(4) 63
(5) Saketh MYNENI (IND) bt (Q) Saurabh PATIL (IND) 75 61
Kunal ANAND (IND) bt (Q) Gurinder SINGH (IND) 75 75
Jatin DAHIYA (IND) bt (WC) Ojas RATHI (IND) 60 61
(2) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND) bt (WC) Pranav SURI (IND) 62 64

Doubles First Round
(1) Arun-Prakash RAJAGOPALAN (IND)/ Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) bt Deepinder BAINS (IND)/ Anubhav Chaudhary CHAUDHARY (IND) 64 60
Lakshit SOOD (IND)/ Abhijeet TIWARI (IND) bt (WC) Rohit SARWATE (IND)/ Ranjeet SINGH (IND) 60 62
(3) Yuki BHAMBRI (IND)/ Vivek SHOKEEN (IND) bt Neeraj ELANGOVAN (IND)/ Ajai SELVARAJ (IND) 75 64
Zach ITZSTEIN (AUS)/ Ashwin VIJAYRAGAVAN (IND) bt (WC) Ronit Singh BISHT (IND)/ Ajay YADAV (IND) 36 63 10-4
Kunal ANAND (IND)/ Ronak MANUJA (IND) bt Sagar AHUJA (IND)/ Saurabh PATIL (IND) 76(1) 62
(4) Vijayant MALIK (IND)/ Saketh MYNENI (IND) bt (WC) Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND)/ N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND) 61 64
Fariz MOHAMMED (IND)/ Vignesh VEERABADRAN (IND) bt Rutger CRAMER (NED)/ Neishit VAKIL (IND) 62 60
(2) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt Jatin DAHIYA (IND)/ Shahbaaz KHAN (IND) 76(9) 64

Only upset of the first day was from qualifier Rakshit Rishi, who scored upset comeback victory against Selvaraj.

Sanam withdrew from his home futures (may be he is still injured.) ... Only one foreigner is still remain in the draw ... Qualifier Fariz Mohammed scored upset win over Aussie Itzstein ... Vivek, and Neeraj retired from their respective matches ... Vishnu needed tie-break in the first set to win against Vignesh.

Sunday, April 28, 2013

Tennis News
At $795K Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, Stuttgart, Germany (red clay)

[F] Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) l (WC) Mona Barthel (GER)/ Sabine Lisicki (GER) 46 57

Sania and Bethanie failed to win title and lost against local wild-card pair in the final ... German pair won the first set with a single break ... In the second set they take early break but Sania and Bethanie broke back and brought the set on serve ... German pair take crucial break in 11th game and then hold their serve for completing the victory.
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At €468K BMW Open, Munich, Germany (red clay)

[R1] (2) Jurgen Melzer (AUT)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Christopher Kas (GER)/ Oliver Marach (AUT)

Leander and Melzer r playing at BMW open ... They r 2nd seed and facing Kas and Marach.
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At €468K Portugal Open, Oeiras

[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Andy Ram (ISR) vs Jonathan Erlich (ISR)/ Dominic Inglot (GBR)

This week Rohan is playing with Andy Ram and they r facing Ram's previous partner Erlich and Inglot.
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At $100K+H Johannesburg Challenger, South Africa,

[Q1] (3) Purav Raja (IND,995) bye
[Q1] (4) Divij Sharan (IND,1155) bye

[Q2] (3) Purav Raja (IND,995) bt Lance Cohen (RSA,UNR) 61 62
[Q2] (4) Divij Sharan (IND,1155) bt Renier Moolman (RSA,UNR) 61 61

[Q3] (3) Purav Raja (IND,995) bt Phillip De Bruyn (RSA,UNR) 61 75
[Q3] (4) Divij Sharan (IND,1155) bt Ruben Alberts (RSA,UNR) 62 36 61

[R1] Prakash Amritraj (IND,365) vs Mate Pavic (CRO,361)
[R1] (Q) Purav Raja (IND,995) vs Jean Andersen (RSA,755)
[R1] (Q) Divij Sharan (IND,1155) vs (3) Vasek Pospisil (CAN,130)
[R1] (2) Rajeev Ram (USA,115) vs Ruan Roelofse (RSA,506)

Doubles
[R1] (2) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Jean Andersen (RSA)/ Ruan Roelofse (RSA)
[R1] Rajeev Ram (USA)/ Prakash Amritraj (IND) vs Thiago Alves (BRA)/ Augusto Laranja (BRA)

Feeling sad that our other players failed to take advantage of this weak field of this big challenger in South Africa where main-draw cut-off was 758 ... Purav and Divij were high seeds in the qualifying and they performed as per their seeding for qualify in the main-draw.
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At $50K Tallahassee Challenger, USA (green clay)

[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,184) vs (7) Denis Kudla (USA,143)

Hoping better outing in this week's challenger on green clay.
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At $50K An-ning Challenger, China (red clay)

[R1] Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND,390) vs (7) Vincent Millot (FRA,206)

Tough match on the clay for Jeevan against Frenchman.

Saturday, April 27, 2013

Tennis News
At $795K Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, Stuttgart, Germany (red clay)

[SF] Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) bt (WC) Angelique Kerber (GER)/ Andrea Petkovic (GER) 64 75

[F] Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) vs (WC) Mona Barthel (GER)/ Sabine Lisicki (GER)

Sania and Bethanie scored another straight sets victory against local pair ... In the final they r facing another local wild-card pair.
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At 2013 Junior Davis Cup (B16) - Asia/Oceania Final Qualifying, Gimcheon, Korea

3rd Place Match
(4) India l (3) Australia 0-2

Vishu PRASAD l Oliver ANDERSON 06 16
Garvit BATRA l Akira SANTILLAN 16 64 57

Indian team rested Sumit in this final match and our boys lost against Aussie boys in 3rd place match.
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At 2013 Junior Fed Cup (G16) - Asia/Oceania Final Qualifying, Gimcheon, Korea

9th Place Match
(3) India l (8) China 1-2

Vanshika SAWHNEY l Jia-Qi KANG 06 26
Pranjala YADLAPALLI bt Yue-Nv LI 62 61
Pranjala YADLAPALLI/ Vanshika SAWHNEY l Yue-Nv LI/ Si-Qi CAO 63 57 36

Our girls lost against Chinese girls in 9th place match ... They lost their doubles match after almost 3 hours.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Lucknow

Final
(1) Ankita RAINA (IND) l (8) Emi MUTAGUCHI (JPN) 63 67(2) 16

Ankita lost against the Japanese girl in the final ... Another missed chance of finishing match in straight sets but still Ankita is showing consistency in her game.
Badminton News
At $200K India Open, New Delhi (Super Series)

[SF] Anand Pawar (IND,53) l (6) Kenichi Tago (JPN,9) 16-21 11-21
[SF] (8) Sindhu P. V. (IND,15) l (3) Ratchanok Intanon (THA,6) 12-21 6-21

Indian challenge got over in the semis ... Anand lost in straight games but he gave fighting performance in his 44 minutes match ... Sindhu failed to create challenge to Ratchanok and lost in only 32 minutes.
Hockey News
At the tour of the Netherlands,

Goalkeepers - PT Rao, Nanak Singh
Defender - VR Raghunath (vice-captain), Rupinder Pal Singh, Harbir Singh Sandhu, Kothajit Singh, Gurmail Singh, Sandeep Singh
Midfielder - Sardar Singh (captain), Manpreet Singh, Dharamvir Singh, Danish Mujtaba, SK Uthappa
Forwards - S V Sunil, Chinglensana Singh, Nithin Thimmaiah, Akashdeep Singh, Yuvraj Walmiki

Team is announced for the tour of the Netherlands from April 27 to May 9 and surprisingly selectors selected 6 defenders ... Few more changes in the team ... Sandeep Singh is in place of mid-fielder Birendra Lakra, who made himself unavailable for selection due to his college exams, and Yuvraj is in place of injured striker Gurwinder Singh Chandi ... P R Sreejesh is also unavailable for the tour as he is getting married during that time.

Friday, April 26, 2013

Tennis News
At $795K Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, Stuttgart, Germany (red clay)

[QF] Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) bt Liezel Huber (USA)/ Janette Husarova (SVK) 75 64

[SF] Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) vs (WC) Angelique Kerber (GER)/ Andrea Petkovic (GER)

Sania and Bethanie in the semis ... They scored straight sets victory over Huber and Husarova in well contested match ... Next they r facing local wild-card pair.
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At 2013 Junior Davis Cup (B16) - Asia/Oceania Final Qualifying, Gimcheon, Korea

Quarter Finals
(4) India bt China 2-0

Garvit BATRA bt Ting-Hui ZHANG 63 62
Sumit NAGAL bt Yi-Zhou LIU 62 60
Sumit NAGAL/ Garvit BATRA vs Yi-Zhou LIU/ Ting-Hui ZHANG

Semi Finals
(4) India l (1) Korea 0-2

Garvit BATRA l Duck Hee LEE 26 36
Sumit NAGAL l Seong Chan HONG 16 06

Boys won their singles matches comfortably against Chinese opponents ... With this Indian boys qualify for u16 Davis cup World group.

Their semi-final was important for getting seeding at World group ... Top seed Koreans proved too strong for our boys as they managed to win only 6 games in two matches ... That also means our only single team will be seeded in World group, u14 boys.

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At 2013 Junior Fed Cup (G16) - Asia/Oceania Final Qualifying, Gimcheon, Korea

Play-Off 09-16
(3) India bt (2) Chinese Taipei

Vanshika SAWHNEY bt En-Pei HUANG 76(5) 64
Pranjala YADLAPALLI bt Ya-Ting CHANG 36 64 63
Pranjala YADLAPALLI/ Vanshika SAWHNEY vs En-Pei HUANG/ Yi-Chi MA

Girls won their match against 2nd seed Chinese Taipei ... Pranjala scored comeback win over Taipei #1 Ya-Ting Chang.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Lucknow

Semi Finals
(1) Ankita RAINA (IND) bt (4) Shweta RANA (IND) 64 61
(8) Emi MUTAGUCHI (JPN) bt (3) Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND) 63 61

Ankita is in her fourth final in a row with comfortable win but young former top-50 junior Japanese Emi is looking in good form.
Badminton News
At $200K India Open, New Delhi (Super Series)

[QF] (Q) Prannoy H. S. (IND,76) l (1) Chong Wei Lee (MAS,1) 14-21 19-21
[QF] Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,33) l (7) Boonsak Ponsana (THA,11) 12-21 21-11 12-21
[QF] Anand Pawar (IND,53) bt Ajay Jayaram (IND,30) 21-6 21-16
[QF] Sai Praneeth B. (IND,62) l (6) Kenichi Tago (JPN,9) 17-21 21-19 11-21

[QF] (8) Sindhu P. V. (IND,15) bt Yui Hashimoto (JPN,46) 21-16 21-16
[QF] Arundhati Pantawane (IND,92) l (3) Ratchanok Intanon (THA,6) 21-14 7-21 16-21

[SF] Anand Pawar (IND,53) vs (6) Kenichi Tago (JPN,9)
[SF] (8) Sindhu P. V. (IND,15) vs (3) Ratchanok Intanon (THA,6)

Sindhu is in the semis of Indian Super series ... She defeated Japanese Yui in 47 minutes, who upset Saina in the second round ... In the first game Sindhu take early lead and kept increasing the lead ... Yui tried small comeback winning 9 points in a row after 7-19 down but Sindhu won next 2 points and won this game ... In the second game until 14-all both players were neck to neck ... After that Sindhu opened 3 points lead kept that advantage for winning the match ... Next she is facing Thai sensation Ratchanok Intanon.

Tago take early 3/4 points lead and kept through the first game ... In the second game Sai managed to put pressure on Tago ... At onetime he was leading 15-7 but Tago caught him at 17-all but from 19-all Sai won next 2 points and take match into the decider ... Tago proved too strong in the decider but still creditable performance by Sai ... Guru also lost in three games ... Guru made strong comeback in the match after losing the first game easily against Boonsak but he also failed to keep momentum in the decider.

Arundhati started positively against young Ratchanok but after wining the first game she failed to keep momentum ... Ratchanok won next two games for the victory ... Respected score by Prannoy in his loss against WR #1 Chong Wei Lee.

Anand Pawar scored upset win over Ajay ... I m really surprised by this dominating win by Anand in 30 minutes against Ajay ... In the first game Anand lost only 6 points ... Next he is facing Tago ... Hoping third time lucky for Indian player.

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Tennis News
At 2013 Junior Davis Cup (B16) - Asia/Oceania Final Qualifying, Gimcheon, Korea

Group D
(4) India bt (6) Chinese Taipei 2-0

Garvit BATRA bt Chao-Ting HSIEH 63 61
Sumit NAGAL bt Cing-Yang MENG 62 62
Sumit NAGAL/ Garvit BATRA vs Yu-Chang WANG/ Chao-Ting HSIEH

Our boys won their singles easily to top the group and qualify for the quarter-finals ... They r facing unseeded China for place in World group.
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At 2013 Junior Fed Cup (G16) - Asia/Oceania Final Qualifying, Gimcheon, Korea

Play-Off 09-16
(3) India bt Sri Lanka 3-0

Vanshika SAWHNEY bt Thewni DWVARAJA 64 61
Pranjala YADLAPALLI bt Nethmie WADUGE 61 60
Pranjala YADLAPALLI/ Vanshika SAWHNEY bt Kavindya DE SILVA/ Thewni DWVARAJA 75 61

Expected win for Indian girls in 9-16 standing match against Sri Lanka ... Next they r facing 2nd seed Chinese Taipei.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Lucknow

Quarter Finals
(1) Ankita RAINA (IND) bt Sai Samhitha CHAMARTHI (IND) 75 62
(4) Shweta RANA (IND) bt Simran Kaur SETHI (IND) 75 16 61
(3) Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND) bt (6) Eetee MAHETA (IND) 64 60
(8) Emi MUTAGUCHI (JPN) bt (2) Nidhi CHILUMULA (IND) 60 60

Japanese Mutaguchi handed Nidhi double bagel loss.
Badminton News
At $200K India Open, New Delhi (Super Series)

[R2] (Q) Prannoy H. S. (IND,72) bt Taufik Hidayat (INA,26) 26-24 21-9
[R2] Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,35) bt K. Srikanth (IND,64) 21-12 21-16
[R2] Ajay Jayaram (IND,30) bt Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka (INA,28) 21-15 21-12
[R2] Anand Pawar (IND,55) bt (3) Yun Hu (HKG,5) 21-15 15-21 21-10
[R2] Sourabh Varma (IND,38) l (6) Kenichi Tago (JPN,8) 21-19 16-21 14-21
[R2] Sai Praneeth B. (IND,60) bt (Q) Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin (MAS,81) 16-21 29-27 21-16

[R2] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,2) l Yui Hashimoto (JPN,44) 21-13 12-21 20-22
[R2] (8) Sindhu P. V. (IND,16) bt Sun Yu (CHN,83) 19-21 21-19 21-15
[R2] Arundhati Pantawane (IND,95) bt Neha Pandit (IND,150) 21-18 22-20
[R2] (Q) Saili Rane (IND,144) l (5) Yeon Ju Bae (KOR,14) 4-21 10-21

[R2] Manu Attri (IND)/ Sumeeth Reddy B. (IND) l (8) Xiaolong Liu (CHN)/ Zihan Qiu (CHN) 8-21 13-21
[R2] Pranaav Jerry Chopra (IND)/ Akshay Dewalkar (IND) l (3) Sung Hyun Ko (KOR)/ Yong Dae Lee (KOR) 17-21 12-21
[R2] (Q) Surender Rathee (IND)/ Neeraj Vashist (IND) l (2) Kien Keat Koo (KOR)/ Boon Heong Tan (KOR) 13-21 8-21
[R2] Pradnya Gadre (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) l (1) Misaki Matsutomo (JPN)/ Ayaka Takahashi (JPN) 14-21 22-20 12-21

[R2] Abhinav Prakash (IND)/ Kristi Das (IND) l (1) Tontowi Ahmad (INA)/ Liliyana Natsir (INA) 4-21 10-21
[R2] Gaurav Venkat (IND)/ Juhi Dewangan (IND) l Baek Choel Shin (KOR)/ Ye Na Jang (KOR) 9-21 12-21
[R2] Akshay Dewalkar (IND)/ Pradnya Gadre (IND) l (5) Robert Mateusiak (POL)/ Nadiezda Zieba (POL) 16-21 17-21
[R2] Diju V. (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) l (4) Sudket Prapakamol (THA)/ Saralee Thoungthongkam (THA) 17-21 10-21

[QF] (Q) Prannoy H. S. (IND,76) vs (1) Chong Wei Lee (MAS,1)
[QF] Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,33) vs (7) Boonsak Ponsana (THA,11)
[QF] Ajay Jayaram (IND,30) vs Anand Pawar (IND,53)
[QF] Sai Praneeth B. (IND,62) vs (6) Kenichi Tago (JPN,9)

[QF] (8) Sindhu P. V. (IND,15) vs Yui Hashimoto (JPN,46)
[QF] Arundhati Pantawane (IND,92) vs (3) Ratchanok Intanon (THA,6)

In shocking result top-seed Saina lost against her below-40 lower ranked Japanese player Yui Hashimoto in three games ... Saina dominated the first game and won it easily but from the second game Saina struggled ... From 5-all Yui take control of the game and won this losing only 7 more points ... In the final game both players were exchanging lead throughout the game ... From 16-all Saina opened couple of points lead and she had 3 match points at 20-17 ... Saina failed to convert all 3 match points ... She lost the match losing 5 points in a row ... Yui is facing Sindhu in the quarters.

Happy to see other Indians taking advantage of home advantage ... Anand Pawar scored his first top-5 win in his career beating WR #5 Hong Kong's Yun Hu ... In the first game Anand take control after winning 5 points in a row from 10-12 ... From 15-14 again he won 5 points in a row and then converted 2nd game point for winning the first game ... In the second game from 5-all Yun Hu take control and won it comfortably ... In the final game Anand take 4-0 early lead which he kept increasing and won this game losing mere 10 points for excellent victory.

Prannoy also scored huge win over Taufik Hidayat in straight games ... In the first game he take early couple of points lead but Taufik caught with him at 16-all ... Prannoy saved 3 game points before converting his 3rd game point for winning this game ... He dominated second game ... After taking 10-4 lead he never lost the control over the match.

Sai Praneeth needed to dig deep before completing victory over Malaysian qualifier ... After losing the first game Sai was leading 20-14 but Iskandar saved all 6 game points, 20-all ... Sai saved 5 match points before converting 8th game point for winning this second game ... In the final game Sai started with 3-0 which he extended to 8-3 and kept that lead throughout the game and won it comfortably converting 2nd match point.

Sindhu scored her another comeback victory over her Chinese opponent after losing the first game ... In the second game Sindhu was 13-18 down but fought back winning next 6 points to take 19-18 lead and won it ... In the final game Sun Yu take early lead but Sindhu caught with her at 9-all ... And from 15-14 Sindhu won next 5 points before converting 2nd match point.

Ajay Jayaram also scored straight games victory over higer ranked Indonesian Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka.Guru scored comfortable win over K. Srikanth ... Arundhati also scored straight games victory over Neha ... Sourabh started well with winning the first game against Tago but failed to keep momentum and lost next two games ... Bae proved too strong to young Saili Rane.

Ashwini and Pradnya gave fighting performance against WR #2 Japanese pair ... After winning the first game they were down 17-20, Ashwini and Pradnya saved 3 game points but Japanese pair converted 4th game point ... In the final game Japanese pair opened 9-2 lead and won it comfortably.

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Tennis News
At 2013 Junior Davis Cup (B16) - Asia/Oceania Final Qualifying, Gimcheon, Korea

Group D
(4) India bt Philippines 2-1

Garvit BATRA bt Stefan Agustin SUAREZ 61 61
Sumit NAGAL bt Alberto Jr LIM 60 62
Sumit NAGAL/ Garvit BATRA l Alberto Jr LIM/ Eric Jr OLIVAREZ 46 26

Our boys won their tie against Philippines ... Sumit and Garvit won their respective singles losing only 2 games but surprising loss for them in the doubles ... Tomorrow they will face 6th seed Chinese Taipei for deciding group winner.
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At 2013 Junior Fed Cup (G16) - Asia/Oceania Final Qualifying, Gimcheon, Korea

Group C
(3) India l (6) Hong Kong 1-2

Vanshika SAWHNEY l Kwan Yau NG 36 26
Pranjala YADLAPALLI bt Claire Yoonkee Choi SPACKMAN 76(3) 64
Pranjala YADLAPALLI/ Vanshika SAWHNEY l Kwan Yau NG/ Wing Chun LAW 57 63 16

Today Indian team played Vanshika in place of injured Snehadevi ... Vanshika lost her match against Hong Kong #2 Kwan Yau Ng ... After that Pranjala won her match against Hong Kong #1 Claire Yoonkee Choi Spackman but then our pair lost important doubles tie against Hong Kong pair in the third set ... With this loss we fail to qualify quarters.
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At $50K Savannah Challenger, USA (green clay)

[R2] Somdev Devvarman (IND,187) l Facundo Arguello (ARG,193) 36 46

Doubles
[R1] (PR) Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Ilija Bozoljac (SRB) l Tennys Sandgren (USA)/ Rhyne Williams (USA) 36 62 6-10

Turned disappointing challenger for Buji ... He lost in the singles in straight sets against Argentine ... Then in the doubles also Somi lost in the first round with Bozo in match tie-break.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Lucknow

Second Round
(1) Ankita RAINA (IND) bt Preethi UJJINI (IND) 61 60
Sai Samhitha CHAMARTHI (IND) bt Tanvee BOSE (IND) 61 60
(4) Shweta RANA (IND) bt Smriti JOON (IND) 63 64
Simran Kaur SETHI (IND) bt Shreya PASRICHA (IND) 36 64 61
(6) Eetee MAHETA (IND) bt Damini SHARMA (IND) 64 64
(3) Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND) bt Mahitha DADI REDDY (IND) 64 63
(8) Emi MUTAGUCHI (JPN) bt Bhuvana KALVA (IND) 60 63
(2) Nidhi CHILUMULA (IND) bt Sharon Sanchana PAUL (IND) 63 76(5)

Still one seeded Japanese player remains in the draw.
Badminton News
At $200K India Open, New Delhi (Super Series)

[R1] (5) Kashyap Parupalli (IND,7) l Taufik Hidayat (INA,26) 21-13 21-23 18-21
[R1] (Q) Prannoy H. S. (IND,72) bt Suppanyu Avihingsanon (THA,51) 21-17 22-20
[R1] K. Srikanth (IND,64) bt (4) Jan O Jorgensen (DEN,6) 21-7 18-21 21-12
[R1] Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,35) bt Tommy Sugiarto (INA,18) 21-16 21-17
[R1] Ajay Jayaram (IND,30) bt Vladimir Malkov (RUS,58) 21-17 21-17
[R1] Anand Pawar (IND,55) bt Takuma Ueda (JPN,21) 11-21 21-13 21-19
[R1] Sourabh Varma (IND,38) bt (Q) Chetan Anand (IND,99) 21-13 21-8
[R1] (Q) Arvind Bhat (IND,84) l (6) Kenichi Tago (JPN,8) 9-21 9-21
[R1] Sai Praneeth B. (IND,60) bt Kento Momota (JPN,46) 21-17 21-11
[R1] (Q) Subhankar Dey (IND,180) l Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin (MAS,81) 17-21 11-21

[R1] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,2) bt Belaetrix Manuputi (INA,37) 21-12 21-15
[R1] (8) Sindhu P. V. (IND,16) bt Xue Yao (CHN,65) 17-21 21-18 21-14
[R1] Sayali Gokhale (IND,121) l (3) Ratchanok Intanon (THA,8) 8-21 12-21
[R1] Neha Pandit (IND,150) bt (Q) Trupti Murgunde (IND,167) 21-11 11-4 Retd.
[R1] Arundhati Pantawane (IND,95) bt Sapsiree Taerattanachai (THA,20) 21-14 17-21 21-19
[R1] Thulasi P. C. (IND,96) l (6) Eriko Hirose (JPN,12) 7-21 13-21
[R1] (Q) Ruthvika Shivani G. (IND,247) l (4) Minatsu Mitani (JPN,10) 10-21 20-22
[R1] (Q) Saili Rane (IND,144) bt Tanvi Lad (IND,105) 14-21 22-20 21-14
[R1] (Q) Rituparna Das (IND,318) l (2) Juliane Schenk (GER,4) 12-21 15-21

[R1] Rupesh Kumar K. T. (IND)/ Sanave Thomas (IND) l (1) Mathias Boe (DEN)/ Carsten Mogensen (DEN) 9-21 15-21
[R1] Sanjeeth S. (IND)/ Jagadish Yadav (IND) l Ricky Karanda Suwardi (INA)/ Muhammad Ulinnuha (INA) 6-21 13-21
[R1] (Q) Raunaq Muradia (USA)/ Kamaldeep Singh (IND) l (8) Xiaolong Liu (CHN)/ Zihan Qiu (CHN) 14-21 11-21
[R1] Manu Attri (IND)/ Sumeeth Reddy B. (IND) bt Nandagopal K. (IND)/ Sunjith (Jr) S. (IND) 21-11 21-7
[R1] (Q) Kiran Kumar B. (IND)/ Anilkumar Raju M. (IND) l (4) Hiroyuki Endo (JPN)/ Kenichi Hayakawa (JPN) 6-21 5-21
[R1] Manish Gupta (IND)/ Gaurav Venkat (IND) l Hirokatsu Hashimoto (JPN)/ Noriyasu Hirata (JPN) 11-21 18-21
[R1] Ketan Chahal (IND)/ Deepak Khatri (IND) l (7) Thien How Hoon (MAS)/ Wee Kiong Tan (MAS) 2-21 11-21
[R1] Mayank Behal (IND)/ Tanveer Gill (IND) l Angga Pratama (INA)/ Ryan Agung Saputra (INA) 11-21 17-21
[R1] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Arun Vishnu (IND) l Maneepong Jongjit (THA)/ Nipitphon Puangpuapech (THA) 17-21 11-21
[R1] Srujan Nandaluri (IND)/ Vinay Kumar Reddy P. (IND) l Chris Adcock (ENG)/ Andrew Ellis (ENG) 8-21 14-21
[R1] Pranaav Jerry Chopra (IND)/ Akshay Dewalkar (IND) bt (Q) Chaitanya Reddy K. (IND)/ Santosh Ravuri (IND) 21-8 21-14
[R1] Alwin Francis (IND)/ Diju V. (IND) l Takeshi Kamura (JPN)/ Keigo Sonoda (JPN) 18-21 14-21
[R1] (Q) Surender Rathee (IND)/ Neeraj Vashist (IND) bt Jayan James (IND)/ Dilshad K. (IND) 17-21 21-18 21-16

[R1] Pradnya Gadre (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) bt Lauren Smith (ENG)/ Gabrielle White (ENG) 19-21 22-20 21-11
[R1] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Prajakta Sawant (IND) l Misato Aratama (JPN)/ Megumi Taruno (JPN) 19-21 10-21
[R1] Sanyogita Ghorpade (IND)/ Maneesha K. (IND) l (5) Duanganong Aroonkesorn (THA)/ Kunchala Voravichitchaikul (THA) 9-21 20-22
[R1] Aparna Balan (IND)/ Siki Reddy N. (IND) l Yuki Fukushima (JPN)/ Reika Kakiiwa (JPN) 17-21 14-21
[R1] Daksha Gautam (IND)/ Ekta Kalia (IND) l Ye Na Jang (KOR)/ So Young Kim (KOR) 3-21 3-21
[R1] Jamuna Rani Rachapalli (IND)/ Leela Lakshmi Rachapalli (IND) l (7) Narissapat Lam (THA)/ Saralee Thoungthongkam (THA) 8-21 10-21
[R1] Varsha V Belawadi (IND)/ Nischitha G. M. (IND) l Tatjana Bibik (RUS)/ Anastasia Chervaykova (RUS) 5-21 11-21
[R1] Kristi Das (IND)/ Anees Kowsar J. (IND) l (3) Kyung Eun Jung (KOR)/ Ha Na Kim (KOR) 2-21 2-21
[R1] Jagriti Nashier (IND)/ Jyoti Nashier (IND) l (6) Lok Yan Poon (HKG)/ Ying Suet Tse (HKG) 4-21 8-21
[R1] Ruthvika Shivani G. (IND)/ Meghana J. (IND) l Suci Rizky Andini (INA)/ Della Destiara Haris (INA) 10-21 9-21

[R1] Nandagopal K. (IND)/ Meghana J. (IND) l Baek Choel Shin (KOR)/ Ye Na Jang (KOR) 20-22 14-21
[R1] Manu Attri (IND)/ Sanyogita Ghorpade (IND) l Hirokatsu Hashimoto (JPN)/ Miyuki Maeda (JPN) 14-21 15-21
[R1] Harinder Malik (IND)/ Ekta Kalia (IND) l (5) Robert Mateusiak (POL)/ Nadiezda Zieba (POL) 5-21 10-21
[R1] Akshay Dewalkar (IND)/ Pradnya Gadre (IND) bt Andrew Ellis (ENG)/ Lauren Smith (ENG) 16-21 22-20 21-19
[R1] Abhinav Manota (IND)/ Rachita Sachdev (IND) l Kenichi Hayakawa (JPN)/ Misaki Matsutomo (JPN) 6-21 8-21
[R1] Arun Vishnu (IND)/ Aparna Balan (IND) l (8) Chris Adcock (ENG)/ Gabrielle White (ENG) 15-21 16-21
[R1] Diju V. (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) bt Chris Langridge (ENG)/ Heather Olver (ENG) 19-21 21-15 21-16
[R1] Pranaav Jerry Chopra (IND)/ Maneesha K. (IND) l Songphon Anugritayawon (THA)/ Kunchala Voravichitchaikul (THA) 21-19 19-21 16-21
[R1] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) l Sung Hyun Ko (KOR)/ Ha Na Kim (KOR) 16-21 25-23 19-21

[R2] (Q) Prannoy H. S. (IND,72) vs Taufik Hidayat (INA,26)
[R2] Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,35) vs K. Srikanth (IND,64)
[R2] Ajay Jayaram (IND,30) vs Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka (INA,28)
[R2] Anand Pawar (IND,55) vs (3) Yun Hu (HKG,5)
[R2] Sourabh Varma (IND,38) vs (6) Kenichi Tago (JPN,8)
[R2] Sai Praneeth B. (IND,60) vs (Q) Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin (MAS,81)

[R2] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,2) vs Yui Hashimoto (JPN,44)
[R2] (8) Sindhu P. V. (IND,16) vs Sun Yu (CHN,83)
[R2] Arundhati Pantawane (IND,95) vs Neha Pandit (IND,150)
[R2] (Q) Saili Rane (IND,144) vs (5) Yeon Ju Bae (KOR,14)

[R2] Manu Attri (IND)/ Sumeeth Reddy B. (IND) vs (8) Xiaolong Liu (CHN)/ Zihan Qiu (CHN)
[R2] Pranaav Jerry Chopra (IND)/ Akshay Dewalkar (IND) vs (3) Sung Hyun Ko (KOR)/ Yong Dae Lee (KOR)
[R2] (Q) Surender Rathee (IND)/ Neeraj Vashist (IND) vs (2) Kien Keat Koo (KOR)/ Boon Heong Tan (KOR)

[R2] Pradnya Gadre (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs (1) Misaki Matsutomo (JPN)/ Ayaka Takahashi (JPN)

[R2] Abhinav Prakash (IND)/ Kristi Das (IND) vs (1) Tontowi Ahmad (INA)/ Liliyana Natsir (INA)
[R2] Gaurav Venkat (IND)/ Juhi Dewangan (IND) vs Baek Choel Shin (KOR)/ Ye Na Jang (KOR)
[R2] Akshay Dewalkar (IND)/ Pradnya Gadre (IND) vs (5) Robert Mateusiak (POL)/ Nadiezda Zieba (POL)
[R2] Diju V. (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) vs (4) Sudket Prapakamol (THA)/ Saralee Thoungthongkam (THA)

Kashyap failed to score his first win against Taufik ... Kashyap won the first game easily and after that next two games were closely fought ... In the second game Kashyap saved 2 game points and then had a match point but failed to convert it ... In the third game Kashyap was leading 18-16 before losing next 5 points and match.

But most shocking result of the day was from young 19 yrs old Indian K. Srikanth, who scored upset win over WR #6 Danish player Jan O Jorgensen ... His next match is against Guru ... Few Indians used home advantage for upset wins ... Guru scored his first win over Indonesian Tommy Sugiarto, against him before this he lost his last 2 matches ... Arundhati Pantawane and Anand Pawar also scored upset win over top-20 players ... Prannoy and Sai Praneeth also defeated higher ranked opponents ... Saina scored straight games victory ... Sindhu needed fightback after losing the first game against her Chinese opponent.

Sindhu is facing ane after another Chinese test ... In the second round she is facing Sun Yu ... Tough matches for Prannoy, Anand Pawar, Sourabh and Saili.

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Tennis News
At $795K Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, Stuttgart, Germany (red clay)

[R1] Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) bt (2) Nadia Petrova (RUS)/ Katarina Srebotnik (SLO) 76(3) 75

Sania and Bethanie scored tight two sets victory over 2nd seed Petrova and Srebotnik in the first round.
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At $50K Savannah Challenger, USA (green clay)

[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,187) bt (LL) Nikoloz Basilashvili (GEO,252) 64 Retd.

[R2] Somdev Devvarman (IND,187) vs Facundo Arguello (ARG,193)

Somi's opponent retried from the match due to stomach cramps after losing the first set ... Next match is tricky against 20 yrs. old Argentine Facundo Arguello.
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At 2013 Junior Fed Cup (G16) - Asia/Oceania Final Qualifying, Gimcheon, Korea

Group C
(3) India l Japan 0-2

Pranjala YADLAPALLI l Shiori FUKUDA 16 61 67(7)
Snehadevi REDDY l Nozomi OHYA 63 67(4) 1-2 Retd.
Pranjala YADLAPALLI/ Vanshika SAWHNEY vs Nozomi OHYA/ Ayaka HIGASHI

Indian girls lost against Japanese girls ... As Pranjala lost in the first rubber in close tie-break in the final set ... Snehadevi retired in the third set in her match against Japanese #1 Ohya.
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At $15K Uzbekistan F2 Futures, Andijan

[R1] Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,526) l (1) Konstantin KRAVCHUK (RUS,188) 26 36

Lost against top-seed Russian in the first round.
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At $10K Spain F10 Futures, Les Franqueses Del Valles

[R1] Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,778) l. (Q) Edualdo BONET-DE GISPERT (ESP,1317) 46 36

Ramkumar back in training at Spain but lost in the first round against local qualifier.
Badminton News
At $200K India Open, New Delhi (Super Series)

[Q1] Sameer Verma (IND,181) bt Mayank Behal (IND,396) 15-21 21-8 21-14
[Q1] Chetan Anand (IND,99) bt Abhimanyu Singh (IND,199) 21-17 21-12
[Q1] Oscar Bansal (IND,252) bt (4) Joachim Persson (DEN,65) w/o
[Q1] Subhankar Dey (IND,180) bt Rohit Yadav C. (IND,201) 19-21 21-18 21-13
[Q1] Arvind Bhat (IND,84) bt Poodchalat Pisit (THA,100) 22-20 21-19
[Q1] Aditya Prakash (IND,241) bt Prakash Jolly (IND,389) 21-11 Retd.
[Q1] Anup Sridhar (IND,109) bt Mohit Kamat (IND,218) 21-11 21-12
[Q1] Prannoy H. S. (IND,72) bt Vikas Harsha P. (IND,310) 21-9 1-0 Retd.

[Q1] Rituparna Das (IND,318) bt Nischitha G. M. (IND,UNR) 21-10 18-21 21-11
[Q1] Mohita Sahdev (IND,178) bt Yamini Sharma (IND,547) 21-12 21-15
[Q1] (3) Trupti Murgunde (IND,167) bt Riya Pillai (IND,503) 21-14 8-21 21-18
[Q1] Anastasia Chervaykova (RUS,242) bt Dhanya Nair (IND,162) 21-10 20-22 21-14
[Q1] Ruthvika Shivani G. (IND,247) bt (4) Mudra Dhainje (IND,175) 17-21 21-10 21-13
[Q1] Varsha V Belawadi (IND,787) bt Asmaa Badie Tawfeek (EGY,679) 21-19 21-14
[Q1] Saili Rane (IND,144) bt Nisha Karamchand (IND,UNR) 19-21 21-12 21-10
[Q1] Jacqueline Rose Kunnath (IND,316) bt Juhi Dewangan (IND,289) 21-10 21-16

[Q2] Chetan Anand (IND,99) bt Sameer Verma (IND,181) 22-20 11-21 21-13
[Q2] Subhankar Dey (IND,180) bt Oscar Bansal (IND,252) 21-23 21-10 21-16
[Q2] Arvind Bhat (IND,84) bt Aditya Prakash (IND,241) 20-22 21-14 21-18
[Q2] Prannoy H. S. (IND,72) bt Anup Sridhar (IND,109) 21-17 21-14

[Q2] Rituparna Das (IND,318) bt Mohita Sahdev (IND,178) 21-16 21-11
[Q2] (3) Trupti Murgunde (IND,167) bt Anastasia Chervaykova (RUS,242) 21-19 21-19
[Q2] Ruthvika Shivani G. (IND,247) bt Varsha V Belawadi (IND,787) 21-11 21-11
[Q2] Saili Rane (IND,144) bt Jacqueline Rose Kunnath (IND,316) 21-15 21-14

[R1] (5) Kashyap Parupalli (IND,7) vs Taufik Hidayat (INA,26)
[R1] (Q) Prannoy H. S. (IND,72) vs Suppanyu Avihingsanon (THA,51)
[R1] Srikanth K. (IND,64) vs (4) Jan O Jorgensen (DEN,6)
[R1] Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,35) vs Tommy Sugiarto (INA,18)
[R1] Ajay Jayaram (IND,30) vs Vladimir Malkov (RUS,58)
[R1] Anand Pawar (IND,55) vs Takuma Ueda (JPN,21)
[R1] Sourabh Varma (IND,38) vs (Q) Chetan Anand (IND,99)
[R1] (Q) Arvind Bhat (IND,84) vs (6) Kenichi Tago (JPN,8)
[R1] Sai Praneeth B. (IND,60) vs Kento Momota (JPN,46)
[R1] (Q) Subhankar Dey (IND,180) vs Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin (MAS,81)

[R1] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,2) vs Belaetrix Manuputi (INA,37)
[R1] (8) Sindhu P. V. (IND,16) vs Xue Yao (CHN,65)
[R1] Sayali Gokhale (IND,121) vs (3) Ratchanok Intanon (THA,8)
[R1] Neha Pandit (IND,150) vs (Q) Trupti Murgunde (IND,167)
[R1] Arundhati Pantawane (IND,95) bt Sapsiree Taerattanachai (THA,20)
[R1] Thulasi P. C. (IND,96) vs (6) Eriko Hirose (JPN,12)
[R1] (Q) Ruthvika Shivani G. (IND,247) vs (4) Minatsu Mitani (JPN,10)
[R1] Tanvi Lad (IND,105) vs (Q) Saili Rane (IND,144)
[R1] (Q) Rituparna Das (IND,318) vs (2) Juliane Schenk (GER,4)

[R1] Rupesh Kumar K. T. (IND)/ Sanave Thomas (IND) vs (1) Mathias Boe (DEN)/ Carsten Mogensen (DEN)
[R1] Sanjeeth S. (IND)/ Jagadish Yadav (IND) vs Ricky Karanda Suwardi (INA)/ Muhammad Ulinnuha (INA)
[R1] (Q) Raunaq Muradia (USA)/ Kamaldeep Singh (IND) vs (8) Xiaolong Liu (CHN)/ Zihan Qiu (CHN)
[R1] Manu Attri (IND)/ Sumeeth Reddy B. (IND) vs Nandagopal K. (IND)/ Sunjith (Jr) S. (IND)
[R1] (Q) Kiran Kumar B. (IND)/ Anilkumar Raju M. (IND) vs (4) Hiroyuki Endo (JPN)/ Kenichi Hayakawa (JPN)
[R1] Manish Gupta (IND)/ Gaurav Venkat (IND) vs Hirokatsu Hashimoto (JPN)/ Noriyasu Hirata (JPN)
[R1] Ketan Chahal (IND)/ Deepak Khatri (IND) vs (7) Thien How Hoon (MAS)/ Wee Kiong Tan (MAS)
[R1] Mayank Behal (IND)/ Tanveer Gill (IND) vs Angga Pratama (INA)/ Ryan Agung Saputra (INA)
[R1] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Arun Vishnu (IND) vs Maneepong Jongjit (THA)/ Nipitphon Puangpuapech (THA)
[R1] Srujan Nandaluri (IND)/ Vinay Kumar Reddy P. (IND) vs Chris Adcock (ENG)/ Andrew Ellis (ENG)
[R1] Pranaav Jerry Chopra (IND)/ Akshay Dewalkar (IND) vs (Q) Chaitanya Reddy K. (IND)/ Santosh Ravuri (IND)
[R1] Alwin Francis (IND)/ Diju V. (IND) vs Takeshi Kamura (JPN)/ Keigo Sonoda (JPN)
[R1] Jayan James (IND)/ Dilshad K. (IND) vs (Q) Surender Rathee (IND)/ Neeraj Vashist (IND)

[R1] Pradnya Gadre (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs Lauren Smith (ENG)/ Gabrielle White (ENG)
[R1] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Prajakta Sawant (IND) vs Misato Aratama (JPN)/ Megumi Taruno (JPN)
[R1] Sanyogita Ghorpade (IND)/ Maneesha K. (IND) vs (5) Duanganong Aroonkesorn (THA)/ Kunchala Voravichitchaikul (THA)
[R1] Aparna Balan (IND)/ Siki Reddy N. (IND) vs Yuki Fukushima (JPN)/ Reika Kakiiwa (JPN)
[R1] Daksha Gautam (IND)/ Ekta Kalia (IND) vs Ye Na Jang (KOR)/ So Young Kim (KOR)
[R1] Jamuna Rani Rachapalli (IND)/ Leela Lakshmi Rachapalli (IND) vs (7) Narissapat Lam (THA)/ Saralee Thoungthongkam (THA)
[R1] Varsha V Belawadi (IND)/ Nischitha G. M. (IND) vs Tatjana Bibik (RUS)/ Anastasia Chervaykova (RUS)
[R1] Kristi Das (IND)/ Anees Kowsar J. (IND) vs (3) Kyung Eun Jung (KOR)/ Ha Na Kim (KOR)
[R1] Jagriti Nashier (IND)/ Jyoti Nashier (IND) vs (6) Lok Yan Poon (HKG)/ Ying Suet Tse (HKG)
[R1] Ruthvika Shivani G. (IND)/ Meghana J. (IND) vs Suci Rizky Andini (INA)/ Della Destiara Haris (INA)

[R1] Abhinav Prakash (IND)/ Kristi Das (IND) bt Ivan Sozonov (RUS)/ Tatjana Bibik (RUS) w/o
[R1] Gaurav Venkat (IND)/ Juhi Dewangan (IND) bt (6) Muhammad Rijal (INA)/ Debby Susanto (INA) w/o
[R1] Nandagopal K. (IND)/ Meghana J. (IND) vs Baek Choel Shin (KOR)/ Ye Na Jang (KOR)
[R1] Manu Attri (IND)/ Sanyogita Ghorpade (IND) vs Hirokatsu Hashimoto (JPN)/ Miyuki Maeda (JPN)
[R1] Harinder Malik (IND)/ Ekta Kalia (IND) vs (5) Robert Mateusiak (POL)/ Nadiezda Zieba (POL)
[R1] Akshay Dewalkar (IND)/ Pradnya Gadre (IND) vs Andrew Ellis (ENG)/ Lauren Smith (ENG)
[R1] Abhinav Manota (IND)/ Rachita Sachdev (IND) vs Kenichi Hayakawa (JPN)/ Misaki Matsutomo (JPN)
[R1] Arun Vishnu (IND)/ Aparna Balan (IND) vs (8) Chris Adcock (ENG)/ Gabrielle White (ENG)[R1] Diju V. (IND)/ Jwala Gutta (IND) vs Chris Langridge (ENG)/ Heather Olver (ENG)
[R1] Pranaav Jerry Chopra (IND)/ Maneesha K. (IND) vs Songphon Anugritayawon (THA)/ Kunchala Voravichitchaikul (THA)
[R1] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs Sung Hyun Ko (KOR)/ Ha Na Kim (KOR)

[R2] Abhinav Prakash (IND)/ Kristi Das (IND) vs (1) Tontowi Ahmad (INA)/ Liliyana Natsir (INA)

Lots of Indians r playing in this home Super series ... All qualifiers r Indians in men's and women's draw ... So many doubles pair .........

Interesting to see how many Indians manage tot take home advantage against their higher ranked opponents in the singles ... Crap draw for Kashyap, who is facing Taufik Hidayat in the first round ... Kashyap having 0-6 win-loss record against former WR #1 ... Guru is also having top-20 Indonesian Tommy Sugiarto with 0-2 win-loss record ... Saina is having tricky draw and Sindhu is facing lower ranked Chinese opponent in the first round.

Monday, April 22, 2013

Tennis News
At 2013 Junior Davis Cup (B16) - Asia/Oceania Final Qualifying, Gimcheon, Korea

Group D
(4) India bt Indonesia 3-0

Garvit BATRA bt Muhammad Iqbal ANSHORI 62 61
Sumit NAGAL bt Ignatius Anthony SUSANTO 62 60
Sumit NAGAL/ Garvit BATRA bt Muhammad Iqbal ANSHORI/ Tio Juliandi HUTAHARUK 64 60

Expected wining start for Indian boys against Indonesian boys.
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At 2013 Junior Fed Cup (G16) - Asia/Oceania Final Qualifying, Gimcheon, Korea

Group C
(3) India bt Singapore 3-0

Pranjala YADLAPALLI bt Joanne, Wei Ling KOH 62 60
Snehadevi REDDY bt Geraldine ANG 60 63
Pranjala YADLAPALLI/ Vanshika SAWHNEY bt Geraldine ANG/ Angela Shan Min LIM 64 61

Our girls also having winning start against Singapore ... Next they r facing Japanese girls, who today scored upset win over 6th seed Hong Kong.
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At $795K Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, Stuttgart, Germany (red clay)

[R1] Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) vs (2) Nadia Petrova (RUS)/ Katarina Srebotnik (SLO)

This week Sania is playing with Bethanie at Stuttgart open ... They r facing 2nd seed Petrova and Srebotnik in the first round.
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At $100K Sarasota Open, USA


Doubles Final
(Q) Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Ilija Bozoljac (SRB) bt Steve Johnson (USA)/ Bradley Klahn (USA) 67(5) 76(3) 11-9

Somi and Bozo lifted the doubles title in very tight match ... This was Somi's first challenger doubles title ... After losing the first set in tie-break Buji and Bozo won the second set in tie-break ... They needed extra points in match tie-break to lift the title beating Johnson and Klahn.
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At $50K Savannah Challenger, USA (green clay)

Doubles
[R1] (PR) Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Ilija Bozoljac (SRB) vs Tennys Sandgren (USA)/ Rhyne Williams (USA)

This week also Somi and Bozo r playing doubles and facing local pair in the first round.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Lucknow

First Round
(1) Ankita RAINA (IND) bt Anushka BHARGAVA (IND) 60 61
Preethi UJJINI (IND) bt Victoria CHEHAL (IND) 75 76(3)
Tanvee BOSE (IND) bt Arushi BHASIN (IND) 75 06 64
Sai Samhitha CHAMARTHI (IND) bt (5) Natasha PALHA (IND) 57 63 64
(4) Shweta RANA (IND) bt Shubhi DWIVEDI (IND) 61 61
Smriti JOON (IND) bt Niku AMIN (IND) 63 60
Shreya PASRICHA (IND) bt Seema KUMARI (IND) 61 3-0 Retd
Simran Kaur SETHI (IND) bt (7) Angelique SVINOS (AUS) 63 75
(6) Eetee MAHETA (IND) bt Riya BHATIA (IND) 76(7) 26 64
Damini SHARMA (IND) bt Protiksha SHARMA (IND) 61 61
Mahitha DADI REDDY (IND) bt Anjana KOMPALLY (IND) 63 36 60
(3) Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND) bt Amrita MUKHERJEE (IND) 63 63
(8) Emi MUTAGUCHI (JPN) bt Angella RAMAN (IND) 61 60
Bhuvana KALVA (IND) bt Vaniya DANGWAL (IND) 61 75
Sharon Sanchana PAUL (IND) bt Xi-Yao WANG (CHN) 64 63
Nidhi CHILUMULA (IND) bt Eeshita PANDE (IND) 61 61

Last week's finalist Natasha Palha and semi-finalist Australian Angelique Svinos lost in the first round ... Otherwise expected results.
Tennis News
At $100K Sarasota Open, USA

[SF] (ALT) Somdev Devvarman (IND,205) l (Q) Alex Kuznetsov (USA,271) 63 16 36

It was bad day at the office or Kuznetsov was playing in zone ... Not a bad week for Buji but I m disappointed as expecting double crown.

Somi started positively and won the first set easily but at that time Kuznetsov take medical break ... After that Kuznetsov was playing on different level and Somi struggled on the court ... He lost last 2 sets easily for surprising loss.

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At $50K Savannah Challenger, USA (green clay)

[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,205) vs Qualifier

Next week's draw is out and Somi is playing qualifier in the first round.

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Tennis News
At $100K Sarasota Open, USA

[QF] (ALT) Somdev Devvarman (IND,205) bt Mischa Zverev (GER,152) 64 62

[SF] (ALT) Somdev Devvarman (IND,205) vs (Q) Alex Kuznetsov (USA,271)

Doubles
[SF] (Q) Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Ilija Bozoljac (SRB) bt (3) Nicholas Monroe (USA)/ Simon Stadler (GER) 64 61

[F] (Q) Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Ilija Bozoljac (SRB) vs Steve Johnson (USA)/ Bradley Klahn (USA)

In the first set Buji was leading 5-2 when Mischa take medical break which broke Buji's rhythm ... Buji lost his serve in 8th game but hold his serve in 10th game to won this set ... Somi gave more dominating performance in the second and broke Mischa twice to won it comfortably ... Next he is facing qualifier Alex Kuznetsov, who is also looking in good form.

Somi and Bozo scored comfortable win over 3rd seed Monroe and Stadler ... In the final they r facing unseeded American pair of Johnson and Klahn.

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At Asia/Oceania final qualifying for World Junior Tennis 14/u- Girls, Kuching, Malaysia

For 3rd Place
(3) India bt (5) Thailand 2-1

Pranjala YADLAPALLI bt Priyachanok SUKKANHA 62 60
Mihika YADAV bt Yinglak JITTAKOAT 62 62
Sruta Kirti GUNUGANTI/ Mihika YADAV l Yinglak JITTAKOAT/ Pichayatida JANDAENG 26 06

Well deserving third place finish for our girls with easy singles win by Pranjala and Mihika ... This was decent efforts by our girls, who performed as per their seeding ... Until August these girls having good chance to make some improvement in their games which will help them on the clay.
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At $15K USA F10 Futures, Little Rock

[R2] (6) Saketh Myneni (IND,434) l (Q) Jean-Yves Aubone (USA,1354) 16 Retd.

An injury struck at bad time when Saketh was showing some consistency in his results.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Chennai

Singles Final
(1) Ankita RAINA (IND) bt (6) Natasha PALHA (IND) 63 61

Deserving title win for Ankita ... This was her 3rd final in $10K tournament in a row so at last she managed to lift the title.

Friday, April 19, 2013

Badminton News
At $200K Badminton Asia Championships 2013, Chinese Taipei

[QF] Sindhu P. V. (IND,16) l (7) Eriko Hirose (JPN,12) 19-21 21-16 11-21

Sindhu lost in three games against Eriko ... After losing the first game Sindhu fought back in the second ... Eriko take control of the final game from 5-all and in end won it convincingly.
Tennis News
At € 2.65M Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, Monaco


[QF] Jurgen Melzer (AUT)/ Leander Paes (IND) l Bob Bryan (USA)/ Mike Bryan (USA) 64 36 5-10

In the first set Lee and Jurgen broke Bryans twice and lost their service game once ... Crucial break came in 9th game and then our pair hold for winning the set ... Bryans won the second break with single service break in 4th game ... Bryans dominated match tie-break ... Lee and Melzer struggled with their 1st serve percentage in 2nd set, only 42% after solid 75% in the first set and Bryans take full advantage of it.
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At $100K Sarasota Open, USA

[R2] (ALT) Somdev Devvarman (IND,205) bt (Q) Ilija Bozoljac (SRB,332) 64 64

[QF] (ALT) Somdev Devvarman (IND,205) vs Mischa Zverev (GER,152)

Doubles
[QF] (Q) Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Ilija Bozoljac (SRB) bt Alex Bogomolov Jr. (RUS)/ Cedrik-MarcelStebe (GER) 63 64

[SF] (Q) Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Ilija Bozoljac (SRB) vs (3) Nicholas Monroe (USA)/ Simon Stadler (GER)

Somdev take first break in 3rd game to lead 3-1 but Bozo broke back in 6th game to make it 3-all ... After missing few opportunities Somi take crucial break in 9th game and after that hold to won the first set ... In the second set Somi take crucial break in 3rd game and kept that one break advantage for completing the win in straight sets ... Next he is facing German Mischa Zverev.

In the doubles Buji and Bozo scored comfortable win ... In end easy straights sets win in the singles and the doubles for Buji ... In the doubles they r facing 3rd seed Monroe and Stadler in the semis.

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At Asia/Oceania final qualifying for World Junior Tennis 14/u- Girls, Kuching, Malaysia

[SF] (3) India l (1) Australia 0-3

Pranjala YADLAPALLI l Seone MENDEZ 57 46
Mihika YADAV l Aiava DESTANEE 36 16
Sruta Kirti GUNUGANTI/ Pranjala YADLAPALLI l Jaimee FOURLIS/ Seone MENDEZ 36 36

Australian side defeated Indian girls in the semis ... In the first match Pranjala lost against Aussie #2 Seone Mendez ... Pranjala gave fighting performance in 1 hour 45 minutes match ... Aussie #1 Aiava Destanee proved too strong for Mihika Yadav ... So Indian girls play Thai girls for 3rd position
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At $35K+H Mexico City challenger, Mexico

[QF] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) l (2) James Cerretani (USA)/ Adil Shamasdin (CAN) 26 64 1-10

Failed to overcome challenge of 2nd seed ... After losing the first set Purav and Divij won the second but Cerretani and Shamasdin proved too strong in match tie-break ... So with that Mexican challenger series is over for our pair.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Chennai

[SF] (1) Ankita RAINA (IND) bt (7) Barbara BONIC (SRB) 62 76(3)
[SF] (6) Natasha PALHA (IND) bt Angelique SVINOS (AUS) 62 62

Excellent win by Ankita and Natasha over foreign players ... They r in well deserving title match.

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Badminton News
At $200K Badminton Asia Championships 2013, Chinese Taipei

[R2] (4) Kashyap Parupalli (IND,7) bt Han Chou Chu (TPE,189) 21-17 21-19
[R2] Sai Praneeth B. (IND,59) l (6) Zhengming Wang (CHN,9) 15-21 16-21
[R2] Sindhu P. V. (IND,16) bt (3) Shixian Wang (CHN,6) 21-15 14-21 22-20

[R2] Pradnya Gadre (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) l Lok Yan Poon (HKG)/ Ying Suet Tse (HKG) 15-21 11-21

[R3] (4) Kashyap Parupalli (IND,7) l (15) Huan Gao (CHN,24) 19-21 15-21

[QF] Sindhu P. V. (IND,16) vs (7) Eriko Hirose (JPN,12)

Sindhu lost in long 62 minutes match against Shixian ... Both players shared first 2 games which both players won leading from early ... In the final game Sindhu take charge from 8-7 ... She take 17-8 lead but from here Shixian tried fightback winning 8 points in a row to make it 16-17 ... Shixian had a match point at 20-19 but she failed to convert and Sindhu won next 3 points for excellent win over Shixian ... Her first win over Wang ... Next she is facing Eriko Hirose in the quarters, Hirose is leading 1-0 but that match was very close at China Super Series.

Expected win for Kashyap over Han Chou Chu but in end score was lot closer ... Next he faced Chinese test, Huan Gao ... Both shared 1-1 win but both matches went in 3 games but here Kashyap lost easily in two games ... Disappointing result.

Sai lost in straight games against WR #9 Zhengming ... Ashwini and Pradnya lost easily against Hong Kong pair.
Tennis News
At € 2.65M Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, Monaco

[R1] Jurgen Melzer (AUT)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt (6) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) 62 63

[QF] Jurgen Melzer (AUT)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Bob Bryan (USA)/ Mike Bryan (USA)
Lee and Jurgen scored comfortable win over Mahesh and Rohan ... In the quarters they r facing Bryans.
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At Asia/Oceania final qualifying for World Junior Tennis 14/u- Girls, Kuching, Malaysia

[QF] (3) India bt (7) Philippines 3-0

Pranjala YADLAPALLI bt Monica Therese CRUZ 61 60
Mihika YADAV bt Meredith JONES 60 60
Sruta Kirti GUNUGANTI/ Pranjala YADLAPALLI bt Monica Therese CRUZ/ Rafaella Jean VILLANUEVA 60 61

Indian girls qualified for the World group with very dominating win over Philippines ... They lost only 2 games in three matches ... Real test in the semis as we r facing another in-form team top-seed Australia.
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At $100K Sarasota Open, USA

[R1] (Q) Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Ilija Bozoljac (SRB) bt (2) Jamie Murray (GBR)/ John Peers (AUS) 36 61 10-4

[QF] (Q) Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Ilija Bozoljac (SRB) vs Alex Bogomolov Jr. (RUS)/ Cedrik-MarcelStebe (GER)

Buji and Bozoljac scored excellent upset win over 2nd seed ATP level pair ... After losing the first set they came back strongly winning the second set easily and then dominated match tie-break ... Next they r facing Bogomolov and Stebe for place in the semis.
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At $35K+H Mexico City challenge, Mexico

[R1] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt (WC) Miguel Gallardo-Valles (MEX)/ Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela (MEX) 76(6) 63

[QF] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs (2) James Cerretani (USA)/ Adil Shamasdin (CAN)

Expected winning start for Divij and Purav, though they struggled in the first set ... Next tough match against 2nd seeds.
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At $15K Uzbekistan F1 Futures, Namangan

[QF] Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,527) l Sarvar IKRAMOV (UZB,576) 57 16

Doubles
[SF] Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND)/ N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND) l Ti CHEN (TPE) / Marek SEMJAN (SVK) 46 06

But lost against local player Sarvar Ikramov and in the doubles also they lost in the semis.
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At $15K USA F10 Futures, Little Rock

[R1] (6) Saketh Myneni (IND,434) bt (Q) Spencer Feldman (USA,UNR) 63 61

[R2] (6) Saketh Myneni (IND,434) vs (Q) Jean-Yves Aubone (USA,1354)

Easy win for Saketh and next he is facing another qualifier.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Chennai

[R2] (1) Ankita RAINA (IND) bt Manya NAGPAL (IND) 60 60
[R2] (8) Eetee MAHETA (IND) bt Sansitha NANDAKUMAR (IND) 61 62
[R2] (4) Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND) bt Anjana KOMPALLY (IND) 64 61
[R2] (7) Barbara BONIC (SRB) bt Smriti JOON (IND) 75 62
[R2] (6) Natasha PALHA (IND) bt Vaniya DANGWAL (IND) 60 62
[R2] Mahitha DADI REDDY (IND) bt Sharon Sanchana PAUL (IND) 36 64 63
[R2] Angelique SVINOS (AUS) bt (5) Shweta RANA (IND) 76(7) 16 62
[R2] Xi-Yao WANG (CHN) bt Varunya CHANDRASHEKAR (IND) 60 61

[QF] (1) Ankita RAINA (IND) bt (8) Eetee MAHETA (IND) 46 64 64
[QF] (7) Barbara BONIC (SRB) bt (4) Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND) 36 64 61
[QF] (6) Natasha PALHA (IND) bt Mahitha DADI REDDY (IND) 62 63
[QF] Angelique SVINOS (AUS) bt Xi-Yao WANG (CHN) 16 64 60

In the quarters Eetee stretched Ankita and Aussie Angelique defeated Chinese girl ... Expected win for Natasha but Prarthana lost after winning the first set.

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Badminton News
At $200K Badminton Asia Championships 2013, Chinese Taipei

[Q1] Sayali Gokhale (IND,119) bt Kavindi Ishandika Sirimannage (SRI,353) 21-16 21-14
[Q2] Sayali Gokhale (IND,119) l (4) Ya Ching Hsu (TPE,123) 23-21 10-21 10-21

[R1] (4) Kashyap Parupalli (IND,7) bt Ji Hoon Hong (KOR,106) 18-21 21-15 22-20
[R1] Sai Praneeth B. (IND,59) bt Mohamed Ajfan Rasheed (BAN,229) 21-10 21-12
[R1] Sindhu P. V. (IND,16) bt Tsz Ka Chan (HKG,31) 21-18 21-19

[R1] Pranaav Jerry Chopra (IND)/ Akshay Dewalkar (IND) l Hung Ling Chen (TPE)/ Chia Pin Lu (TPE) 17-21 17-21
[R1] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Arun Vishnu (IND) l Bao Duc Duong (VIE)/ Hoang Nam Nguyen (VIE) 24-22 19-21 16-21
[R1] Manu Attri (IND)/ Sumeeth Reddy B. (IND) l (7) Xiaolong Liu (CHN)/ Zihan Qiu (CHN) 18-21 19-21
[R1] Pradnya Gadre (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) bt Pei Rong Wang (TPE)/ Kuo YU Wen (TPE) 21-12 30-29
[R1] Aparna Balan (IND)/ Siki Reddy N. (IND) l Hsiao Huan Chen (TPE)/ Chia Wen Lai (TPE) 16-21 17-21
[R1] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) l Liu Yi (SIN)/ Lei Yao (SIN) 14-21 21-16 18-21
[R1] Arun Vishnu (IND)/ Aparna Balan (IND) l Sheng Mu Lee (TPE)/ Wen Hsing Cheng (TPE) 16-21 21-14 14-21
[R1] Akshay Dewalkar (IND)/ Pradnya Gadre (IND) l (4) Markis Kido (INA)/ Pia Zebadiah Bernadeth (INA) 10-21 12-21

[R2] (4) Kashyap Parupalli (IND,7) vs Han Chou Chu (TPE,189)
[R2] Sai Praneeth B. (IND,59) vs (6) Zhengming Wang (CHN,9)
[R2] Sindhu P. V. (IND,16) vs (3) Shixian Wang (CHN,6)

[R2] Pradnya Gadre (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs Lok Yan Poon (HKG)/ Ying Suet Tse (HKG)

After the first round only expected names remain in the draw ... Kashyap had tough time against Korean Hong ... In the third game he won 4 points in a row from 16-19 and then converted 2nd match point ... Sai scored comfortable win and Sindhu also scored straight games win ... Pradnya and Ashwini needed extra point to win the second game.
Tennis News
At $100K Sarasota Open, USA

[R1] (ALT) Somdev Devvarman (IND,205) bt (5) Jesse Levine (CAN,93) 67(4) 63 64

[R2] (ALT) Somdev Devvarman (IND,205) vs (Q) Ilija Bozoljac (SRB,332)

In the first set both players were holding their service games though Jesse was holding more comfortably ... In tie-break Buji take 3-0 lead but after that he choked up and lost 7 points from next 8 points to lose the set ... In the second set Buji stepped up his game and won the set with double break ... In the final set Jesse broke Buji in 3rd game but Buji immediately broke back to make it 2-all ... Buji take important break in 8th game to lead 5-3 but failed to hold when serving for the set, 5-4 ... Buji again broke Jesse in 10th game and completed another good comeback win against another top-100 player ... Next he is having interesting match against his Serbian doubles partner.

Interestingly Somi's top draw is wide open as all seeded players lost in the first round ... In the second round only 2 seeded players r remaining 6th seed Argentine Guido Pella and 8th seed American Wayne Odesnik ... Good opportunity for Buji to lift the title here.

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At $15K Uzbekistan F1 Futures, Namangan

[R1] Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,527) bt (Q) Timur KHABIBULIN (KAZ,1926) 64 63
[R1] N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND,504) bt (WC)Batyr SAPAEV (UZB,1298) 67(7) 76(5) 62

[R2] Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,527) bt (6) Kento TAKEUCHI (JPN,461) 63 61
[R2] N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND,504) l (1) Konstantin KRAVCHUK (RUS,188) 36 36

[QF] Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,527) vs Sarvar IKRAMOV (UZB,576)

Doubles
[R1] Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND)/ N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND) bt Sanjar FAYZIEV (UZB)/ Shonigmatjon SHOFAYZIYEV (UZB) 36 63 10-8

[QF] Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND)/ N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND) bt (3) Egor GERASIMOV (BLR) / Andrei VASILEVSKI (BLR) 63 63

[SF] Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND)/ N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND) vs Ti CHEN (TPE) / Marek SEMJAN (SVK)

Winning start for Vijay Sundar and Ranjeet in the singles but next they had tough matches against seeded opponents.

Ranjeet scored dominating upset win over 6th seed Takeuchi ... Next he is facing local experienced player Ikramov, who upset 2nd see Ti Chen in the second round ... In the doubles also Ranjeet and Vijay Sundar scored upset win over 3rd seed pair.

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At $15K USA F10 Futures, Little Rock

[R1] Saketh Myneni (IND)/ Patrick Davidson (USA) l (3) Ryan Rowe (USA)/ Artem Sitak (NZL) 63 46 10-12

Saketh lost in close match tie-break against 3rd seed with his new partner Davidson.
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At Asia/Oceania final qualifying for World Junior Tennis 14/u, Kuching, Malaysia

Group D

(3) India bt (6) Korea 3-0
Pranjala YADLAPALLI bt Mijeong PARK 61 62
Mihika YADAV bt Soomin KIM 61 61
Sruta Kirti GUNUGANTI/ Pranjala YADLAPALLI bt Soomin KIM / Juhui PARK 62 62

Our u-14 girls scored another dominating win over 6th seed Korean girls and topped the group ... In the quarter-final they r facing 7th seed Philippines.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Chennai

(1) Ankita RAINA (IND) bt Rushmi CHKRAVARTHI (IND) 16 63 63
Manya NAGPAL (IND) bt Ann-Christin NILSSON (GER) 75 36 61
Sansitha NANDAKUMAR (IND) bt Zainab ALI SAJJAD (IND) 63 63
(8) Eetee MAHETA (IND) bt Neharika RAMA (IND) 62 64
(4) Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND) bt Victoria CHEHAL (IND) 60 61
Anjana KOMPALLY (IND) bt Nithya Raj BABU RAJ (IND) 63 75
Smriti JOON (IND) bt Amrita MUKHERJEE (IND) 63 62
(7) Barbara BONIC (SRB) bt Bhuvana KALVA (IND) 64 57 63
(6) Natasha PALHA (IND) bt Sai Samhitha CHAMARTHI (IND) 62 75
Vaniya DANGWAL (IND) bt Nandini GUPTA (IND) 61 63
Mahitha DADI REDDY (IND) bt Vasavi GANESAN (IND) 62 61
Sharon Sanchana PAUL (IND) bt (3) Nidhi CHILUMULA (IND) 26 60 64
(5) Shweta RANA (IND) bt Ashmitha EASWARAMURTHI (IND) 61 62
Angelique SVINOS (AUS) bt Megha SEHRAWAT (IND) 60 62
Varunya CHANDRASHEKAR (IND) bt Likitha SHETTY (IND) 62 64
Xi-Yao WANG (CHN) bt (2) Kyra SHROFF (IND) 61 61

Surprising loss of Nidhi against Sharon ... From her loss against Chinese player shows that Kyra is still not recovered from her injury.

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Tennis News
At € 2.65M Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, Monaco

[R1] Jurgen Melzer (AUT)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt (WC) Benjamin Balleret (MON)/ Guillaume Couillard (MON) 63 75

[R2] (6) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) vs Jurgen Melzer (AUT)/ Leander Paes (IND)

As expected Lee and Jurgen won their first round match and next they r facing Mahesh and Rohan.
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At $100K Sarasota Open, USA

Doubles
[Q2] Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Ilija Bozoljac (SRB) bt (2) Roman Borvanov (MDA)/ Marek Michalicka (CZE) 62 63

[R1] (Q) Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Ilija Bozoljac (SRB) vs (2) Jamie Murray (GBR)/ John Peers (AUS)

Buji qualified for main-draw doubles draw with comfortable win over 2nd seed with Bozoljac.
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At $15K USA F10 Futures, Little Rock

[R1] (6) Saketh Myneni (IND,434) vs (Q) Spencer Feldman (USA,UNR)

Doubles
[R1] (3) Saketh Myneni (IND)/ Patrick Davidson (USA) vs (3) Ryan Rowe (USA)/ Artem Sitak (NZL)

In the first round Saketh is facing local qualifier ... In the doubles last week's finalist r playing opposite side of the net with different partners.
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At Asia/Oceania final qualifying for World Junior Tennis 14/u, Kuching, Malaysia

Group D

(3) India bt Sri Lanka 3-0
Pranjala YADLAPALLI bt Medira SAMARASINGHE 61 62
Mihika YADAV bt Rukshika WIJESURIYA 60 62
Pranjala YADLAPALLI/ Mihika YADAV bt Medira SAMARASINGHE/ Rukshika WIJESURIYA 61 60

(3) India bt Vietnam 3-0
Pranjala YADLAPALLI bt Phuong NGUYEN 60 60
Mihika YADAV bt Tiffany NGUYEN 61 62
Pranjala YADLAPALLI/ Mihika YADAV bt Phuong NGUYEN / Tiffany NGUYEN 60 62

This week our under 14 girls r playing in Asia/Oceania final qualifying ... They r seeded third and are in Group D along with #6 Korea, Vietnam and Sri Lanka.

On the first day our girls defeated Sri Lanka easily and on the second day they scored more dominant win over Vietnamese girls ... Next match against Koreans is important for placing in the quarters.

Monday, April 15, 2013

Tennis News
At € 2.65M Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, Monaco

[R1] Jurgen Melzer (AUT)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs (WC) Benjamin Balleret (MON)/ Guillaume Couillard (MON)
[R1] (6) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) bye

This week Leander is playing Jurgen Melzer ... They r unseeded and facing local wild-card pair in the first round ... In the second round they can face Mahesh and Rohan.

Rohan and Mahesh r in top-draw with Bryans but before them they can face Lee and Jurgen Melzer in the second round.

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At $100K Sarasota Open, USA

Doubles
[Q1] Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Ilija Bozoljac (SRB) bt (1) Christian Harrison (USA)/ Michael Venus (NZL) 64 64

[Q2] Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Ilija Bozoljac (SRB) vs (2) Roman Borvanov (MDA)/ Marek Michalicka (CZE)

Buji is playing in doubles qualifying with Serbian Ilija Bozoljac ... They defeated top-seed in the first round and facing 2nd seed in the final qualifying.
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At $35K+H Mexico City challenge, Mexico

[Q2] (2) Prakash Amritraj (IND,366) l Gianni Mina (FRA,812) 36 67(5)

Doubles
[R1] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs (WC) Miguel Gallardo-Valles (MEX)/ Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela (MEX)

Disappointed loss against former JR WR #1 for Kash ... He need to play US $15K futures or Indian $15 K futures series to move his ranking around top-300 before concentrating only on the challengers.

This week Divij and Purav r facing local wild-card pair in the first round but can face 2nd seed James Cerretani and Adil Shamasdin in the quarters.

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Tennis News
At $100K Sarasota Open, USA

[R1] (ALT) Somdev Devvarman (IND,210) vs (5) Jesse Levine (CAN,96)

Good opportunity for Buji of opening the draw with upset win over Canadian Jesse Levine.
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At $35K+H Mexico City challenger, Mexico

[Q1] (2) Prakash Amritraj (IND,366) bt Carsten Ball (AUS,706) w/o

[Q2] (2) Prakash Amritraj (IND,366) vs Gianni Mina (FRA,812)

Carsten Ball gave walkover to Prakash due to stomach bug.
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At $15K USA F9 Futures, Oklahoma City

[SF] (8) Saketh Myneni (IND,433) l (4) Alex Bogdanovic (GBR,301) 67(3) 67(2)

Saketh had good opportunity of scoring upset win over Bogdanovic ... In both sets he was up with break 4-1 and 3-1 but gave chance to Bogdanovic for fightback ... Bogdanovic broke back to leavel and won both tie-breaks convincingly ... Still creditable performance by Saketh in this US futres.

Saturday, April 13, 2013

Tennis News
At Asia/Oceania final qualifying for World Junior Tennis 14/u, Kuching, Malaysia

Final
(2) India l (4) Australia 0-2

Alex Solanki l Alex De Minaur 64 46 36
Nitin Kumar Sinha l Alexei Popyrin 62 26 36

After good performance I was also hoping for title ... Still creditable performance by our boys as they performed as per their seeding ... In the final they lost after winning the first set and both matches went for 2 hours and more ... They will definitely seeded for the World group but now between 5th to 8th seeds.
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At $100K Guadalajara challenger, Mexico

[SF] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) l Marin Draganja (CRO)/ Mate Pavic (CRO) 67(2) 46

Divij and Purav failed to overcome big serving Croatian pair ... They lost in close match against Croatians.
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At $15K USA F9 Futures, Oklahoma City

[QF] (8) Saketh Myneni (IND,433) bt (Q) Tucker Vorster (RSA,1044) 75 62

[SF] (8) Saketh Myneni (IND,433) vs (4) Alex Bogdanovic (GBR,301)

Doubles
[SF] (3) Saketh MYNENI (IND)/ Artem SITAK (NZL) bt Sekou Bangoura (USA)/ Eric Quigley (USA) 75 61

[F] (3) Saketh MYNENI (IND)/ Artem SITAK (NZL) l Jean-Yves Aubone (USA)/ Dennis Nevolo (USA) 16 57

Saketh continues with his good run and enter into his first semi-final in US futures ... Next he has tough challenger level match against top-300 type player ... In the doubles he lost in the final with Sitak.
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At $10K Qatar Futures, Doha

Singles Final
(2) Yuki Bhambri (IND,279) l (4) Marek Semjan (SVK,345) 63 6-6 (8-9) Retd.

In the first set Yuki take important break in 8th game which helped him for winning the first set ... In the second set Yuki take break in 5th game but Marek immediately broke back, 3-all ... In the tie-break Yuki was 6-4 up but wasted both match points ... Then he had couple of more match points Marek saved both ... At 8-9 Yuki got injured and retired from the match ... He had a chance to finished it earlier but now I m hoping nothing serious injury threat..

Friday, April 12, 2013

Tennis News
At Asia/Oceania final qualifying for World Junior Tennis 14/u, Kuching, Malaysia

[SF] (2) India bt (1) Japan 3-0

Alex Solanki bt Daisuke Sumizawa 61 61
Nitin Kumar Sinha bt Yunosuke Tanaka 36 61 62
Alex Solanki/ Vasisht Vinod Cheruku bt Daisuke Sumizawa/ Yunosuke Tanaka 62 64

Our boys r in the final with upset dominating win over top-seed Japanese team and with that they secure seeding in World group at Czech Republic.

In the semis first match Alex Solanki gave us positive winning start with dominating win over Japanese Daisuke Sumizawa losing only two games ... After that Nitin Kumar completed tie victory for Indians after scoring comeback win over Japnese #1 Yunosuke Tanaka ... Our boys won their doubles match comfortably ... In the final they r facing 4th seed Australia.

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At $10K Qatar Futures, Doha

[SF] (2) Yuki Bhambri (IND,279) bt (7) Joris De Loore (BEL,565) 64 76(4)

[F] (2) Yuki Bhambri (IND,279) vs (4) Marek Semjan (SVK,345)

Loore gave tough opposition for Yuki before losing the semis ... In the final Yuki is facing Semjan.
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At $10K Vietnam F3 Futures, Ho Chi Minh City

[QF] (3) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND,406) l (Q) Joshua Ward-Hibbert (GBR,1120) 57 67(3)

Really disappointing performance by Jeevan in these two weeks of Vietnam futures ... He need to improve his abroad record if he want to improve his ranking inside top-300.
Badminton News
At $50K New Zealand GP Open, Auckland

[QF] (3) Ajay Jayaram (IND,30) l Xue Song (CHN,216) 12-21 10-15 Retd.
[QF] (13) Arvind Bhat (IND,100) l (2) Jen Hao Hsu (TPE,29) 6-21 17-21

[R3] (3) Ajay Jayaram (IND,30) bt (12) Ji Hoon Hong (KOR,106) 14-21 28-26 21-13
[R3] (13) Arvind Bhat (IND,100) bt (6) Andre Kurniawan Tedjono (INA,46) 21-19 21-10

Both lost in the quarters ... Ajay retired from the match in middle of the second game after losing the first game easily ... Arvind defeated Hsu in their last meeting but today he failed to produce challenge.

Before that Ajay needed to dig deep before completing this comeback win over Korean in the third round ... After losing the first game easily Ajay was again behind in the second game ... From 10-16 down Ajay fought back and caught with Hong at 19-all after winning 3 points in a row from 16-19 ... In extra points Ajay saved 3 match points before converting 4th game point ... In the third game both players were exchanging lead but from 11-13 down Ajay won next 10 points and completed hard fought win after 69 minutes ... Next he is facing Chinese Song.

In their previous two meetings in 2012 Arvind lost against Tedjono but this time he managed to turn table on him ... Arvind scored convincing win after winning close first game ... In the first game both players exchanged lead but were together till end ... Arvind won 3 points in a row from 18-19 for winning the first game ... In the second game Arvind take control from the beginning and won it comfortably ... Next he is facing Taipei's 2nd seed Jen Hao Hsu.

Next tournament for our players is Indian Super Series.
Tennis News
At $455,775 US Men's Clay Court Championship, Houston

[R1] (PR) Somdev Devvarman (IND,208) l Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo (ESP,103) 67(5) 06

Somi's struggled against Ruben continue ... In the first set Ruben was double break up, 4-1 ... Somi broke Ruben in 6th game and then again broke him in 10th game when Ruben was serving for the set ... In tie-break Somi was up 5-3 but lost next 4 points for losing the set ... In the second set Ruben proved too strong and won the set without losing a single game ... Disappointing loss for Somi against 100 ranked player.
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At $100K Guadalajara challenger, Mexico

[QF] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt (3) Benjamin Becker (GER)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) 64 36 10-8

[SF] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Marin Draganja (CRO)/ Mate Pavic (CRO)

Huge win by Divij and Purav over ATP caliber pair ... Rajeev is ranking top-50 in the doubles and Benjamin was ranked inside top-60 few months back ... Much needed confidence boosting win for Purav and Divij.

Next they r facing Croatian pair in the semis, who upset top-seed Ratiwatanas in the first round.

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At Asia/Oceania final qualifying for World Junior Tennis 14/u, Kuching, Malaysia

[QF] (2) India bt (7) Chinese Taipei 3-0

Alex SOLANKI bt Pang Shuo YIN 61 62
Nitin Kumar SINHA bt Tsung Hao HUANG 63 36 61
Vasisht Vinod CHERUKU/ Alex SOLANKI bt Hsiang Chien WANG/ Pang Shuo YIN 64 63

Indian boys qualified for the world group at Prostějov, Czech Republic in August after reaching the semis ... In the quarters they scored 3-0 win over Chinese Taipei team ... But first time in the tournament we lost set in a match, our #1 Nitin Kumar lost 2nd set against Taipei #1 Tsung Hao Huang.

For us next match is important as top 3 teams from Asia/Oceania receive seeding in the final ... But we r having tough task as we r facing top-seed Japanese team, who lost in group stage against Hong Kong.

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At $15K USA F9 Futures, Oklahoma City

[R2] (8) Saketh Myneni (IND,433) bt Ryan Rowe (USA,743) 63 75

[QF] (8) Saketh Myneni (IND,433) vs (Q) Tucker Vorster (RSA,1044)

Doubles
[QF] (3) Saketh MYNENI (IND)/ Artem SITAK (NZL) bt Keith-Patrick Crowley (RSA)/ Matheson Klein (AUS) 64 62

[SF] (3) Saketh MYNENI (IND)/ Artem SITAK (NZL) vs Sekou Bangoura (USA)/ Eric Quigley (USA)

Good win by Saketh over former college top-10 player Rowe ... Next he is facing South African qualifier, who upset top-seed in the previous round.
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At $10K Qatar Futures, Doha

[R2] (2) Yuki Bhambri (IND,279) bt Jeroen Vanneste (BEL,745) 62 64

[QF] (2) Yuki Bhambri (IND,279) bt Daniel Cox (GBR,614) 62 64

[SF] (2) Yuki Bhambri (IND,279) vs (7) Joris De Loore (BEL,565)

Doubles
[QF] Kunal ANAND (IND)/ Ashwin VIJAYRAGAVAN (IND) l (4) Peter HELLER (GER)/ Dominik SCHULZ (GER) 16 67(2)
[QF] Sagar MANJANNA (IND)/ Ronak MANUJA (IND) bt Rudy COCO (FRA)/ Jules MARIE (FRA) w/o

[SF] Sagar MANJANNA (IND)/ Ronak MANUJA (IND) l (3) Joris DE LOORE (BEL) / Riccardo MAIGA (SUI) 67(5) 06

Yuki scored comfortable back to back wins and he is in the semis.
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At $10K Vietnam F3 Futures, Ho Chi Minh City

[QF] (3) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND,406) vs (Q) Joshua Ward-Hibbert (GBR,1120)

Doubles
[SF] (3) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Torsten Wietoska (GER) l (2) Joshua Ward-Hibbert (GBR)/ Andrew Fitzpatrick (GBR) 36 62 8-10

Lost close match in the doubles.
Badminton News
At $50K New Zealand GP Open, Auckland

[R2] (14) Chetan Anand (IND,95) l Parinyawat Thongnuam (THA,173) 21-17 17-21 12-21
[R2] (3) Ajay Jayaram (IND,30) bt Marius Myhre (NOR,125) 24-22 21-5
[R2] (5) Anand Pawar (IND,48) l Chia-Hsin Wan (TPE,121) 16-21 14-21
[R2] (4) Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,36) l Beryno Jiann Tze Wong (MAS,176) 18-21 21-13 19-21
[R2] (13) Arvind Bhat (IND,100) bt (Q) Kirtesh Dhindhwal (IND,UNR) 21-16 21-12

[R1] Sarada Jasti (IND,146) l (Q) Vicki Copeland (NZL,UNR) 21-18 17-21 17-21

[R3] (3) Ajay Jayaram (IND,30) vs (12) Ji Hoon Hong (KOR,106)
[R3] (13) Arvind Bhat (IND,100) vs (6) Andre Kurniawan Tedjono (INA,46)

Disappointing losses of all Indian players against their lower ranked opponents ... Shocking losses of Guru and Anand ... They need to overcome inconsistent performances to move ahead in the ranking ... Other hand Ajay and Arvind scored expected victories.

Table Tennis News

At $70K ITTF Challenge Plus Oman Open 2020 , Muscat, Oman [R32] Harmeet Desai (IND,87) bt Jeremy Hazin (CAN,164) 4-0 (12-10, 11-8, 11-4,...