Tennis News
At French Open 2013, Paris (red clay)

Mixed Doubles
[R1] (1) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Robert Lindstedt (SWE) l Cara Black (ZIM)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK)26 36

Junior Qualifying
[Q1] Sumit Nagal (IND,78) l (16) Simon Friis Soendergaard (DEN,71) 16 16
[Q1] (13) Snehadevi S Reddy (IND,76) l (WC) Naiktha Bains (AUS,103) 36 46
[Q1] Simran Kaur Sethi (IND,114) l (9) Beatrecia Lombardo (ITA,65) 26 36

Disappointing loss for top-seed Sania and Robert, who managed to win only 5 games in their first round against Cara and Aisam.

Our all junior players lost in the first qualifying round ... Surprised to see this one-sided loss of Sumit against similar ranked Danish opponent ... This 15 yrs old Naiktha Bains looks very talented.
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At $10K India F6 Futures, Chennai

Singles Semi Finals
(3) Vijayant MALIK (IND) bt (1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND) 76(5) 76(6)
Prajnesh GUNNESWARAN (IND) bt (8) Karunuday SINGH (IND) 75 75

Doubles Final
(1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND) bt (3) Toshihide MATSUI (JPN)/ Bumpei SATO (JPN) 61 64

Prajnesh continues with his good run and scored upset win over Karunuday in tight two sets ... Karunuday was showing form as last week he reached the final at Thai futures and this week he defeated 2nd seed Jeevan comfortably but Prajnesh gave more solid performance ... Vijayant also kept his upper-hand over Balaji with another win though this time both sets went to tie-breaks ... So final is between Vijayant and Prajnesh.

In the doubles Balaji and Jeevan lifted the title.
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At $10K Thailand F2 Futures, Bangkok

[SF] (3) Saketh MYNENI (IND,300) bt Jacob GRILLS (AUS,1086) 61 64

[F] (3) Saketh MYNENI (IND,300) vs (Q) Andrew HARRIS (AUS,1598)

Saketh scored another comfortable win over his Aussie opponent in the semis ... In the final he is facing Aussie qualifier Harris, who scored upset win over top-seed Udomchoke in the quarter-final.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Karshi, Uzbekistan

[QF] Sharmada BALU (IND,UNR) l Yi YANG (CHN,1023) 16 46

Sharmada failed to continue with her good run and lost against her Chinese opponent..

Tennis News
At French Open 2013, Paris (red clay)

Junior Qualifying
[Q1] Sumit Nagal (IND,78) vs (16) Simon Friis Soendergaard (DEN,71)
[Q1] (13) Snehadevi S Reddy (IND,76) vs (WC) Naiktha Bains (AUS,103)
[Q1] Simran Kaur Sethi (IND,114) vs (9) Beatrecia Lombardo (ITA,65)

Junior French open qualifying draw is out ... Sumit is facing 16th seed Danish player in the first round and other seeded player in their draw is 8th seed/#59 ranked Tunisian Skander Mansouri.

13th seed Snehadevi is facing talented 15 yrs old Aussie player Naiktha Bains and 5th seed/#59th ranked Russian Alina Silich is another seeded from her draw ... Tough match for Simran against Italian girl.
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At $10K India F6 Futures, Chennai

Singles Quarter Finals
(1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND) bt (6) Bumpei SATO (JPN) 16 63 63
(3) Vijayant MALIK (IND) bt (Q) Garvit BATRA (IND) 60 63
Prajnesh GUNNESWARAN (IND) bt (4) Toshihide MATSUI (JPN) 75 76(3)
(8) Karunuday SINGH (IND) bt (2) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND) 63 63

Doubles Semi Finals
(1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND) bt Fariz MOHAMMED (IND)/ Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND) 62 76(3)
(3) Toshihide MATSUI (JPN)/ Bumpei SATO (JPN) bt (2) Keith-Patrick CROWLEY (RSA)/ Arun-Prakash RAJAGOPALAN (IND) 67(4) 62 10-7

All Indian semi-finals at Chennai ... Expected Karunuday's win over Jeevan but good upset win by Prajnesh over experienced and top-600 Matsui ... Vijayant proved too strong to Garvit and good recovered win by Balaji after losing the first set against Sato.
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At $10K Thailand F2 Futures, Bangkok

[QF] (3) Saketh MYNENI (IND,300) bt (6) Yuichi ITO (JPN,638) 61 64

[SF] (3) Saketh MYNENI (IND,300) vs Jacob GRILLS (AUS,1086)

With another comfortable win Saketh is in the semis ... In the semis he is facing Aussie 17 yrs old Jacob Grills, who upset 2nd seed Adam Feeney in the second round and 5th seed Niki in the quarters.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Karshi, Uzbekistan

[R2] Sharmada BALU (IND,UNR) bt (2) Alyona SOTNIKOVA (UKR,363) 16 64 62

[QF] Sharmada BALU (IND,UNR) vs Yi YANG (CHN,1023)

Sharmada scored superb upset comeback win over top-400 Ukrainian ... That's also on foreign soil.

Tennis News
At French Open 2013, Paris (red clay)

[R2] (Q) Somdev Devvarman (IND,188) l (2) Roger Federer (SUI,3) 26 16 16

As expected Roger came out all cylinders firing ... He broke Buji in 1st game to lead 2-0 ... After losing 8 points in a row Buji won his 1st point of the match on his serve in 3rd game ... Somi hold his serve on love and had couple of break points on Roger's serve but Roger hit couple of big second serve to hold ... Roger again broke Buji in 5th game to lead 4-1 ... After that both players hold their respective service game and Roger won the first set in 23 minutes ... In the second set Somi started with holding his service game but after that it was one way traffic as Roger won eleven games in a row ... He won the second set in 31 minutes ... Somi missed couple of game points in 4th game after leading 40-15 due to unforced errors ... At last Somi managed to win his first game of the third set in 6th game ... Roger won the third set in 28 minutes for one-sided victory.

In this match Federer played his A game ... He showed all range of shots from back of the court ... Played his powerful forehands and sublime backhands ... Roger was looking fit and played high quality tennis ... Roger is in great touch and with favorable draw he will be definitely in the final ... Today Somi wasn't played badly but FedEx was too good ... Somi hit few excellent passing shots and cross-court winners in this match.
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At $10K India F6 Futures, Chennai

Singles Second Round
(1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND) bt (Q) Lakshit SOOD (IND) 63 62
(6) Bumpei SATO (JPN) bt Ronak MANUJA (IND) 64 60
(3) Vijayant MALIK (IND) bt Jatin DAHIYA (IND) 62 62
(Q) Garvit BATRA (IND) bt (7) Vinayak Sharma KAZA (IND) 46 76(2) 76(5)
Prajnesh GUNNESWARAN (IND) bt (5) Keith-Patrick CROWLEY (RSA) 62 64
(4) Toshihide MATSUI (JPN) bt Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND) 64 61
(8) Karunuday SINGH (IND) bt Abhijeet TIWARI (IND) 26 64 61
(2) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND) bt Sidharth RAWAT (IND) 76(4) 64

Doubles Quarter Finals
(1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND) bt Anvit BENDRE (IND)/ Tushar MANDLEKAR (IND) 64 63
Fariz MOHAMMED (IND)/ Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND) bt (4) Vinayak Sharma KAZA (IND)/ Abhijeet TIWARI (IND) 63 62
(3) Toshihide MATSUI (JPN)/ Bumpei SATO (JPN) bt Kunal ANAND (IND)/ Ronak MANUJA (IND) 62 61
(2) Keith-Patrick CROWLEY (RSA)/ Arun-Prakash RAJAGOPALAN (IND) bt Neeraj ELANGOVAN (IND)/ Ajai SELVARAJ (IND) 64 62

Another impressive win by young Garvit in very long match against Kaza, Garvit won last two sets in tie-break after losing the first set ... Prajnesh also scored upset win over South African ... Karunuday lost first set against Abhijeet before recovering.
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At $10K Thailand F2 Futures, Bangkok

[R2] (3) Saketh MYNENI (IND,300) bt (Q) Blake MOTT(AUS,1265) 64 63

[QF] (3) Saketh MYNENI (IND,300) vs (6) Yuichi ITO (JPN,638)

Doubles
[QF] Patrick DAVIDSON (USA)/ Saketh MYNENI (IND) l Elbert SIE (INA)/ David Agung SUSANTO (INA) 46 16

Expected comfortable straight sets win for Saketh against Aussie qualifier ... Next he is facing Japanese opponent.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Karshi, Uzbekistan

[R1] Sharmada BALU (IND,UNR) bt Polina MERENKOVA (UZB,UNR) 63 62

[R2] Sharmada BALU (IND,UNR) vs (2) Alyona SOTNIKOVA (UKR,363)

Good to see Sharmada is playing in Uzbek ... Last week also she scored first round win ... Here also she take advantage of weaker opponent.

Hockey News
The Men's and Women's Teams for World Hockey League Round 3, Rotterdam

Men's Team
Goalkeepers - P R Sreejesh, P T Rao
Defenders - VR Raghunath (Vice-Captain), Sandeep Singh, Rupinder Pal Singh, Harbir Singh Sandhu
Midfielders - Birendra Lakra, Sardar Singh (Captain), Manpreet Singh, Kothajit Singh, Gurmail Singh
Forwards - SV Sunil, Shivendra Singh, Chinglensana Singh, Nithin Thimmaiah, Dharamvir Singh, Akashdeep Singh, Mandeep SinghIndia vs Malaysia

Women's Team
Goalkeepers - Savita, Rajni Etimarpu
Defenders - Deep Grace Ekka, Kirandeep Kaur, Namita Toppo, Sushila Chanu, Sunita Lakra,Manjeet Kaur
Midfielders - Ritu Rani (Captain), Chanchan Devi (Vice-Captain), Navjot Kaur, Vandana Katariya, Lily Chanu
Forwards - Anupa Barla, Poonam Rani, Roselin Dung Dung, Lilima Minz, Ritusha Arya

The Men's Team for World Hockey League Round 3, Rotterdam has been announced ... Few changes in the team ... Shivendra Singh and Sandeep Singh r back in the regular team.

Also the Women's team for World Hockey League Round 3, Rotterdam has been announced.

Tennis News
At French Open 2013, Paris (red clay)

[R1] (9) Jurgen Melzer (AUT)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt (WC) Pierre-Hugues Herbert (FRA)/ Nicolas Renavand (FRA) 63 63
[R1] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) l Tomasz Bednarek (POL)/ Jerzy Janowicz (POL) 57 46

Lee and Jurgen scored comfortable win in 55 minutes over local wild-card pair ... In the first set they broke their French opponents twice and saved a break point on their service game ... In the second set they broke French pair once and saved two break points before completing the victory.

But shocking and disappointing loss of 4th seed Mahesh-Rohan against Polish pair in 76 minutes ... I was hoping good performance by our pair as they reached in the final of Rome Masters ... In the first set our pair converted a single break point but Polish converted two from four break points ... And in the second set our pair failed to create any breaking chance other hand Polish pair converted one from two break point chances.

Tennis News
At French Open 2013, Paris (red clay)

Mixed Doubles
[R1] (1) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Robert Lindstedt (SWE) vs Cara Black (ZIM)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK)
[R1] (7) Casey Dellacqua (AUS)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) vs Anastasia Rodionova (AUS)/ Santiago Gonzalez (MEX)
[R1] Jelena Jankovic (SRB)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Galina Voskoboeva (KAZ)/ Daniele Bracciali (ITA)
[R1] Ashleigh Barty (AUS)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) vs Lucie Hradecka (CZE)/ Frantisek Cermak (CZE)

Interesting pairing in the mixed doubles ... First time Sania is getting top seeding in the grandslam but she is with Robert having tricky first round against Aisam-Cara ... This time Vesnina is playing with mad Max so Lee is pairing with Jelena Jankovic ... Rohan and Mahesh having Aussie partners.
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At $10K India F6 Futures, Chennai

Singles First Round
(1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND) bt (WC) Saurabh PATIL (IND) 61 62
(Q) Lakshit SOOD (IND) bt (WC) Sasi Kumar MUKUND (IND) 60 46 60
Ronak MANUJA (IND) bt Chandril SOOD (IND) 26 76(3) 63
(6) Bumpei SATO (JPN) bt (WC) U M Gugan VERMA (IND) 60 62
(3) Vijayant MALIK (IND) bt Ajai SELVARAJ (IND) 62 61
Jatin DAHIYA (IND) bt (Q) Fariz MOHAMMED (IND) 46 63 62
(Q) Garvit BATRA (IND) bt Neeraj ELANGOVAN (IND) 76(3) 63
(7) Vinayak Sharma KAZA (IND) bt Kunal ANAND (IND) 26 76(1) 64
(5) Keith-Patrick CROWLEY (RSA) bt (Q) Suraj BENIWAL (IND) 61 61
Prajnesh GUNNESWARAN (IND) bt Jui-Chen HUNG (TPE) 64 57 76(2)
Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND) bt (Q) Vigneshwaran RAMESH (IND) 61 62
(4) Toshihide MATSUI (JPN) bt Vignesh VEERABADRAN (IND) 62 75
(8) Karunuday SINGH (IND) bt (Q) Anvit BENDRE (IND) 64 60
Abhijeet TIWARI (IND) bt (Q) Tushar MANDLEKAR (IND) 62 62
Sidharth RAWAT (IND) bt (Q) Sagar AHUJA (IND) 60 62
(2) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND) bt (WC) Shahbaaz KHAN (IND) 62 63

Doubles First Round
(1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND) bt Sagar MANJANNA (IND)/ Vignesh VEERABADRAN (IND) 61 61
Anvit BENDRE (IND)/ Tushar MANDLEKAR (IND) bt Jatin DAHIYA (IND)/ Shahbaaz KHAN (IND) 75 67(4) 10-4
(4) Vinayak Sharma KAZA (IND)/ Abhijeet TIWARI (IND) bt (WC) Kumara P Saradhi ADAVELLY (IND)/ Garry TOKAS (IND) 46 64 10-7
Fariz MOHAMMED (IND)/ Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND) bt Sagar AHUJA (IND)/ Saurabh PATIL (IND) 63 63
Kunal ANAND (IND)/ Ronak MANUJA (IND) bt Suraj R PRABODH (IND)/ Arpit SHARMA (IND) 62 62
(3) Toshihide MATSUI (JPN)/ Bumpei SATO (JPN) bt (WC) Sasi Kumar MUKUND (IND)/ U M Gugan VERMA (IND) 61 62
Neeraj ELANGOVAN (IND)/ Ajai SELVARAJ (IND) bt Chandril SOOD (IND)/ Lakshit SOOD (IND) 46 76(6) 10-8
(2) Keith-Patrick CROWLEY (RSA)/ Arun-Prakash RAJAGOPALAN (IND) bt (WC) Rithvik ANAND (IND)/ Fahad MOHAMMED (IND) 63 62

Hard fought win for Prajnesh ... Also good upset win by 16 yrs old Garvit against Neeraj ... As per draw interesting quarter-final between Karunuday and Jeevan if both win their respective matches.
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At $10K Thailand F2 Futures, Bangkok

[R1] (3) Saketh MYNENI (IND,300) bt Phassawit BURAPHARITTA (THA,UNR) 63 62

[R2] (3) Saketh MYNENI (IND,300) vs (Q) Blake MOTT(AUS,1265)

Doubles
[R1] Patrick DAVIDSON (USA)/ Saketh MYNENI (IND) bt (4) Hiroyasu EHARA (JPN)/ Sho KATAYAMA (JPN) 63 63

[QF] Patrick DAVIDSON (USA)/ Saketh MYNENI (IND) vs Elbert SIE (INA)/ David Agung SUSANTO (INA)

Expected winning start in the singles for Saketh ... In the doubles Saketh with American partner scored upset win over 4th seed Japanese pair.

Tennis News
At French Open 2013, Paris (red clay)

Doubles
[R1] (7) Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) vs Alize Cornet (FRA)/ Virginie Razzano (FRA)
[R1] (9) Jurgen Melzer (AUT)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs (WC) Pierre-Hugues Herbert (FRA)/ Nicolas Renavand (FRA)
[R1] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) vs Tomasz Bednarek (POL)/ Jerzy Janowicz (POL)
[R1] Lukas Dlouhy (CZE)/ Rajeev Ram (USA) vs Aljaz Bedene (SLO)/ Grega Zemlja (SLO)

Doubles draw is out .. Our all pairs and players we r interested r playing in bottom (top) draw. Lee-Jurgen r facing local wild-card pair in the first round ... And they r in same draw with Aisam-Rojer, who can face Rajeev-Lukas in the second round ... Mahesh-Rohan r facing tricky Polish pair in the first round ... They can face 14th seed Italian pair Bracciali-Fognini in 4th round.

Sania-Bethanie r 7th seed and they r in top-draw with 3rd seed Petrova-Srebotnik ... They r also facing local French pair in the first round.

Tennis News
At French Open 2013, Paris (red clay)


[R1] (Q) Somdev Devvarman (IND,188) bt (Q) Daniel Munoz-De La Nava (ESP,145) 63 63 75

[R2] (Q) Somdev Devvarman (IND,188) vs (2) Roger Federer (SUI,3)

Buji continued with terrific run of victories in this French open ... Today's win against Spanish journey man showed us Somi's desire to learn tricks of playing on the clay ... This was his 4th win in a row ... Despite his service struggle he saved 15 break points from 16 he faced ... Next match is tough one as though Federer favor other courts over the clay still he is one of the top 5 best players on the clay.

Somdev won the first set with a single break on a single break point chance and other hand he saved 10 break points on his serve ... In the second set Somi broke Daniel in 7th game and then again broke him 9th game to win the set ... In the third set Daniel take first break in 7th game to lead 4-3 ... But from 3-5 down Somi made excellent comeback he broke Daniel in 10th game when Daniel was serving for the set ... Then after holding his serve in the 11th game Buji again broke Daniel when he was serving for staying in the match ... Somi completed his win in 2 hours and 40 minutes ... And book his next match against THE Roger Federer.

Tennis News
At $10K Thailand F1 Futures, Bangkok

[F] Karunuday SINGH (IND,900) l (4) Benjamin MITCHELL (AUS,373) 36 61 67(2)

Karunuday missed big opportunity of lifting futures title on his pro tour return after almost 4 yrs college break ... After losing the first set he made a strong comeback and won the second set with double break ... In the final set he broke Benjamin in 9th game but chocked up while serving for the match ... He lost his serve after deuce and then Benjamin dominated tie-break for the win ... Still good tournament for Karunuday, he scored two top-300 wins.

Tennis News
At French Open 2013, Paris (red clay)

[Q3] Somdev Devvarman (IND,188) bt (8) Wayne Odesnik (USA,117) 63 64

[R1] (Q) Somdev Devvarman (IND,188) vs (Q) Daniel Munoz-De La Nava (ESP,145)

Terrific performance by Somdev to qualify for French Open with win over clay court specialist American Wayne Odesnik ... In the first set Buji broke Wayne in 5th game and at 4-3, 0-15, there was rain break ... But after that Buji again broke Wayne in 9th game for winning the first set comfortably ... Buji continued to dominate the second set and broke Wayne in 2nd game to lead 3-0 ... Buji lost his concentration in next few games and Wayne take advantage to broke back in 5th game to make it 3-all ... Buji again broke Wayne in 9th game to lead 5-3 but Wayne kept fighting and broke Buji in 9th game when he was serving for the match, 5-4 ... In 10th game Buji created pressure on Wayne's serve and broke his serve for this memorable win in 91 minutes ... In the first round Buji is playing another qualifier Spanish Daniel Munoz-De La Nava and winner between them face Roger Federer in the second round.
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At $690K Brussels Open (WTA Premier), Belgium (Red Clay)

[QF] (1) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Jie Zheng (CHN) bt Liga Dekmeijere (LAT)/ Oksana Kalashnikova (GEO) 62 63

[SF] (1) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Jie Zheng (CHN) l Gabriela Dabrowski (CAN)/ Shahar Peer (ISR) 46 75 7-10

In the quarterfinal Sania and Jie scored comfortable win over Dekmeijere and Kalashnikova losing only 5 games ... But they needed to play their second match of the day after 90 minutes and they lost in the semi-final ... After losing the first set Sania and Jie fought back to won the second but Dabrowski and Peer proved better pair in match tie-break.
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At $10K Thailand F1 Futures, Bangkok

[SF] Karunuday SINGH (IND,900) bt (1) Adam FEENEY (AUS,299) 62 62

[F] Karunuday SINGH (IND,900) vs (4) Benjamin MITCHELL (AUS,373)

Impressive win by Karunuday against top-300 Feeney in one-sided match ... That's also losing only 4 games against very experienced Feeney ... In the final he is facing another Aussie.

Squash News
At $95K British Open Squash Championships 2013, Hull

[R2] (15) Dipika Pallikal (IND,15) l (2) Laura Massaro (ENG,2) 11-7 10-12 9-11 6-11 (45m)

Dipika missed opportunity of huge upset ... After winning the first game Dipika was leading 8-3 and then 10-6 in the second game ... Laura saved 4 game points and won this game winning 6 points in a row ... After that Laura raised her game and won the third game ... Laura controlled the last game from beginning and won match in 45 minutes.

Tennis News
At $25K ITF Women's Tpurnament, Tarakan, Indonesia

[R2] (Q) Ankita RAINA (IND,461) l (Q) Xiaorong DONG (CHN,UNR) 46 36

Young 18 yrs old Chinese girl Dong proved too strong for Ankita.
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At $10K Thailand F1 Futures, Bangkok

[QF] Karunuday SINGH (IND,900) bt (6) Takuto NIKI (JPN,614) 64 62

[SF] Karunuday SINGH (IND,900) vs (1) Adam FEENEY (AUS,299)

Doubles
[SF] Patrick DAVIDSON (USA)/ Saketh MYNENI (IND) l (2) Takuto NIKI (JPN)/ Arata ONOZAWA (JPN) 16 67(7)

Karunuday continued with his excellent restart of pro career after 3 yrs college break and scored another convincing win over his higher ranked Japanese opponent ... Next he is facing top-seed expereinced Aussie Adam Feeney.
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At $10K Spain F11 Futures, Vic

[R2] Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,804) l Miguel-Angel LOPEZ JAEN (ESP,796) 60 36 16

Ramkumar lost after winning the first set 6-0 against his Spanish opponent.

Squash News
At $150K British Open Squash Championships 2013, Hull

[R2] Saurav Ghosal (IND,19) l (4) Grégory Gaultier (FRA,3) 8-11 13-11 7-11 0-11

As per report Saurav gave really spirited performance against WR #3 Greg in first 3 games ... He was retrieving everything from all part of the courts and kept pressure on Greg ... Greg kept his focus and won important points to win 1st and 3rd games ... Saurav won 2nd game in extra points but in 4th game he was looking tired after his retrieving in first 3 games ... He failed to produce any fight in 4th and received the baggle.

Grégory Gaultier - Playing Saurav in those conditions is a real nightmare, with his touch, he keeps retrieving everything, and made it difficult for me to get to the front corners. After losing the 2nd I really had trouble regrouping and starting again, but from 3/3 to 9/3, I tried and volleyed a lot, and made sure that I had such a gap that it would be difficult for him to come back. And he nearly did!

Tennis News
At French Open 2013, Paris (red clay)

[Q2] Somdev Devvarman (IND,188) bt (WC) Quentin Halys (FRA,1068) 76(4) 63

This turned tougher match than Buji expecting against 16 yrs old local boy for entering into the final qualifying round ... Halys came out firing and broke Somi in 2nd game to lead 3-0 in the first set ... Somi broke Halys when he was serving for the set at 3-5 and managed to take the set in tie-break ... In the tie-break Somi was early break down but he immediately take mini-break back ... Somi take crucial mini-break on 9th point to take 5-4 and then won next 2 points on his serve for winning this set ... In the second set Somi broke Halys in 2nd game to lead 2-0 but Halys immediately broke back to bring the set on the serve, 2-all ... Somi take crucial break in 8th game to lead 5-3 and then hold his service game comfortably for winning the set and match in 95 minutes.
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At € 468K Dusseldorf Open, Germany

[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) l Andre Begemann (GER)/ Martin Emmrich (GER) 46 26

Our pair failed to win the first round against German pair.
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At $10K Thailand F1 Futures, Bangkok

[R2] Karunuday SINGH (IND,900) bt (3) Saketh MYNENI (IND,300) 75 64

[QF] Karunuday SINGH (IND,900) vs (6) Takuto NIKI (JPN,614)

Doubles
[QF] Patrick DAVIDSON (USA)/ Saketh MYNENI (IND) bt (ALT) Jaymon CRABB (AUS)/ Dominik HRBATY (SVK) 64 26 10-5

[SF] Patrick DAVIDSON (USA)/ Saketh MYNENI (IND) vs (2) Takuto NIKI (JPN)/ Arata ONOZAWA (JPN)

Big upset win by Karunuday over Saketh in tight two sets ... Next he is facing 6th seed Japanese opponent.

Saketh is in the semis of the doubles with his American partner.

Squash News
At $95K British Open Squash Championships 2013, Hull

[R1] (15) Dipika Pallikal (IND,15) bt Line Hansen (DEN,22) 13-11 14-16 11-6 8-11 11-4 (76m)
[R1] (Q) Joshana Chinappa (IND,26) l (1) Nicol David (MAS,1) 4-11 5-11 4-11 (30m)

[R2] (15) Dipika Pallikal (IND,15) vs (2) Laura Massaro (ENG,2)

Dipika Pallikal overcame Dane Line Hansen in a 76-minute marathon, finishing the match with a typical return of the serve straight into the nick ... First 2 games went into extra points, Dipika won the first game but lost the second game ... Dipika won the third before losing the fourth ... She dominated the fifth and showed her superior fitness ... Next she is facing WR #2 local player Laura Massaro ... WR #1 Nicol David didn't give much chance to Joshana and won the match in 30 minutes.

Tennis News
At French Open 2013, Paris (red clay)

[Q1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,188) bt (21) Matteo Viola (ITA,132) 64 16 64

[Q2] Somdev Devvarman (IND,188) vs (WC) Quentin Halys (FRA,1068)

In the first set Somi was break down at 1-3 but he won next 4 games in that breaking Matteo twice to lead 5-3 ... After that both players hold their respective service game and Somi won the first set ... In the second set Matteo broke Somi in 2nd game to lead 3-0 and then again Matteo broke him in 6th game and won this set comfortably ... In the final set Somi broke Matteo in 3rd game to lead 3-0 but Matteo broke him in 5th game and made it 3-all ... In 7th game Somi saved 3 break points from 0-40 before holding it and take crucial break in 10th game when Matteo was serving for staying in the match ... This was terrific win by Somi against Viola, against him Buji was lost in straight sets at Indian Wells qualifying in March ... Sweet revenge.

Next he is meeting top-40 junior and 16 yrs old local wild-card player Quentin Halys ... Hoping for easy win.
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At $25K ITF Women's Tpurnament, Tarakan, Indonesia

[R1] (Q) Ankita RAINA (IND,461) bt (WC) Deria NUR HALIZA (INA,UNR) 36 62 75

Doubles
[R1] Natasha PALHA (IND)/ Varunya WONGTEANCHAI (THA) l (3) Hao Chen TANG (CHN)/ Ran TIAN (CHN) 36 26

Unranked local player stretched Ankita after winning the first set but importantly Ankita completed fighting win over Deria
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At $10K Spain F11 Futures, Vic

[R1] Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,804) bt Francesco PICCO (ITA,683) 60 76(4)
[R1] (Q) Ashwin VIJAYRAGAVAN (IND,979) l (2) Gerard GRANOLLERS-PUJOL (ESP,287) 36 67(4)

Very good upset win by Ramkumar against higher ranked Italian opponent on the clay ... Also fighting performance by Ashwin against top-300 Spanish player on the clay.
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At $10K Thailand F1 Futures, Bangkok

[R1] (3) Saketh MYNENI (IND,300) bt (Q) Kenny BUM (CAM,1411) 63 60

[R2] (3) Saketh MYNENI (IND,300) vs Karunuday SINGH (IND,900)

Expected easy win for Saketh but next match is tricky one against current American college player Karunuday.

Squash News
At $95K British Open Squash Championships 2013, Hull

[Q1] Joshana Chinappa (IND,26) bt Gaby Huber (SUI,136) 11-8 11-4 6-11 11-1 (50m)
[Q2] Joshana Chinappa (IND,26) bt Deon Saffery (WAL,48) 11-13 11-9 11-9 11-5 (47m)

[R1] (15) Dipika Pallikal (IND,15) vs Line Hansen (DEN,22)
[R1] (Q) Joshana Chinappa (IND,26) vs (1) Nicol David (MAS,1)

Tough draw for Indian players ... Joshna qualify for main-draw at British open but facing WR #1 Malaysian Nicol David in the first round ... Dipika can face WR #2 British player Laura Massaro in the second round.
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At $150K British Open Squash Championships 2013, Hull

[R1] Saurav Ghosal (IND,19) bt (Q) Jonathan Kemp (ENG,45) 11-9 11-6 11-6 (35m)

[R2] Saurav Ghosal (IND,19) vs (4) Grégory Gaultier (FRA,3)

Winning start for Saurav against local qualifier and former top-20 player ... Next he is facing WR #3 French player Grégory Gaultier.

Tennis News
At French Open 2013, Paris (red clay)

[Q1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,188) vs (21) Matteo Viola (ITA,132)

Tough match for Somi as he lost against same opponent at Indian Wells qualifying winning only 4 games.
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At $690K Brussels Open (WTA Premier), Belgium (Red Clay)

[R1] (1) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Jie Zheng (CHN) bt Eva Hrdinova (CZE)/ Lindsay Lee-Waters (USA) 62 64

[QF] (1) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Jie Zheng (CHN) vs Liga Dekmeijere (LAT)/ Oksana Kalashnikova (GEO)

Good winning start for Sania and Jie Zheng ... Next they r facing Dekmeijere and Kalashnikova.
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At $25K ITF Women's Tpurnament, Tarakan, Indonesia

[Q1] (3) Ankita RAINA (IND,461) bye
[Q2] (3) Ankita RAINA (IND,461) bt Sharmada BALU (IND,1019) 63 63

[R1] (Q) Ankita RAINA (IND,461) vs (WC) Deria NUR HALIZA (INA,UNR)

Doubles
[R1] Natasha PALHA (IND)/ Varunya WONGTEANCHAI (THA) vs (3) Hao Chen TANG (CHN)/ Ran TIAN (CHN)

Good to see our girls r trying bigger event in Asia.
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At $10K Spain F11 Futures, Vic

[Q1] (2) Ashwin VIJAYRAGAVAN (IND) bt David SUBIRA TABOADA (ESP,UNR) 61 75
[Q1] (4) Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND,1040) bt Alex MORILLA (ESP,UNR) 61 60
[Q1] Dhruv GOYAL (IND,UNR) l Nicholas BAEZ (USA,UNR) 26 06
[Q1] Nishant GOEL (IND,UNR) l Go Mazhar NAKAMICHI (JPN,UNR) 26 26

[Q2] (2) Ashwin VIJAYRAGAVAN (IND) bt Oriol GARROBE GUILERA (ESP,UNR) 62 60
[Q2] (4) Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND,1040) l David JORDA SANCHIS (ESP,UNR) 46 46

[Q3] (2) Ashwin VIJAYRAGAVAN (IND) bt Olivier DUBERVILLE (FRA,UNR) 36 62 61

[R1] Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,804) vs Francesco PICCO (ITA,683)
[R1] (Q) Ashwin VIJAYRAGAVAN (IND,979) vs (2) Gerard GRANOLLERS-PUJOL (ESP,287)
Doubles Final


This week Ashwin qualify for main-draw in SPanish futures but facing tough match against 2nd seed ... Ramkumar is also having tough match against higher ranked Italian.
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At $10K Thailand F1 Futures, Bangkok

[R1] Karunuday SINGH (IND,900) bt Arata ONOZAWA (JPN,657) 63 62
[R1] (3) Saketh MYNENI (IND,300) vs (Q) Kenny BUM (CAM,1411)

Doubles
[R1] Patrick DAVIDSON (USA)/ Saketh MYNENI (IND) bt Roy HOBBS (SIN)/ Kelsey STEVENSON (CAN) 75 61

[QF] Patrick DAVIDSON (USA)/ Saketh MYNENI (IND) vs (ALT) Jaymon CRABB (AUS)/ Dominik HRBATY (SVK)

Comfortable win for Karunuday against his Japanese opponent ... Saketh is also having winnable match.

Badminton News
At Sudirman Cup 2013, Bukit Jalil, Malaysia

Mixed Team - Level 1 -Group A
(1) China bt India 5-0

[XD] Zhang Nan/ Zhao Yunlei bt Kona Tarun/ Ponnappa Ashwini 21-10 21-13
[MS] Chen Long bt Parupalli Kashyap 21-11 21-9
[MD] Liu Xiaolong/ Qiu Zihan bt Dewalkar Akshay/ Chopra Pranaav Jerry 25-23 21-18
[WS] Wang Yihan bt P.V. Sindhu 19-21 21-16 21-14
[WD] Yu Yang Yu Yang/Wang Xiaoli bt. Ponnappa Ashwini/ Gadre Pradnya 21-18 21-11

Indonesia bt India 4-1
[MD]Pratama Angga/ Saputro Rian Agung bt. Dewalkar Akshay / Chopra Pranaav Jerry 21-13 21-10
[WS] Fanetri Lindaweni bt. P.V. Sindhu 21-15 21-10
[MS] Rumbaka Dionysius Hayom l Parupalli Kashyap 18-21 14-21
[WD] Polii Greysia/Maheswari Nitya Krishinda bt. Ponnappa Ashwini / Gadre Pradnya 21-19 22-20
[XD] Ahmad Tontowi / Natsir Liliyana bt. Vishnu Arun /Balan Aparna 21-13 21-14

Saina skipped this tournament due to hairline fracture to her little toe ... In her absence we had disastrous outing ... After losing Chines 0-5 our challenge came to end this mixed team event with loss against Indonesians, 1-4 ... This turned poor outing in the Sudirman Cup, where we won only one match from ten matches.

Tennis News
At €3.2M Rome Masters, Italy (red clay)

[F] (6) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) l (1) Bob Bryan (USA)/ Mike Bryan (USA) 26 36

Rohan and Mahesh failed to produce much fight against top-seed Bryans, who lifted their 88th doubles title ... In the first set Bryans lost only 4 points on their serve and converted 2 break point chances from four ... In the second set Bryans lost 5 points on their serve and broke Rohan-Mahesh's service game in 8th game for comfortable win in 52 minutes.
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At € 468K Dusseldorf Open, Germany

[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Andre Begemann (GER)/ Martin Emmrich (GER)

This week Rohan is playing with Purav at Dusseldorf Open ... Good initiative by Rohan.

Archery News
At 2013 World Cup Stage 1, Shanghai, China

Recurve Mixed Team Final
India (Deepika Kumari/ Jayanta Talukdar) l USA (Brady Ellison/ Khatuna Lorig) 146-154

Recurve Women Individual Final
Deepika KUMARI (IND) l Ok-Hee YUN (KOR) 4-6 (29-27, 27-28, 29-28, 28-29, 26-27)

Compound Women Team Bronze medal match
India bt Italy 228-223

[SF] India l USA 227-228
[QF] India bt Mexico 230-224
[R1] India bye

Deepika failed to win a gold from two finals ... In the individual final Deepika lost close match against Ok-Hee, where almost each set win by the player by 1 point ... Deepika was leading 4-2 before losing last two sets against Ok-Hee.

In recurve mixed team final American pair proved too strong for Deepika Kumarai and Jayanta Talukdar ... American pair won by 8 points.

Our Compound women team won bronze medal beating Italian girls ... Good result for Trisha Deb, Gagandeep Kaur and P. Lily Chanu ... Before this they defeated Mexican girls in the qurters before losing by 1 point to American girls in the semis.

Chess News
At Norway Tournament 2013,

Round 8 (May 17, 2013) in Sandnes
Magnus Carlsen (NOR,2868) - Wang Hao (CHN,2743) 0-1
Veselin Topalov (BUL,2793) - Levon Aronian (ARM,2813) ½-½
Viswanathan Anand (IND,2783) - Jon Ludvig Hammer (NOR,2608) 1-0
Hikaru Nakamura (USA,2775) - Teimour Radjabov (AZE,2745) 1-0
Peter Svidler (RUS,2769) - Sergey Karjakin (RUS,2767) 1-0

Round 9 (May 18, 2013) in Stavanger
Levon Aronian (ARM,2813) - Magnus Carlsen (NOR,2868) ½-½
Wang Hao (CHN,2743) - Viswanathan Anand (IND,2783) 1-0
Jon Ludvig Hammer (NOR,2608) - Hikaru Nakamura (USA,2775) 0-1
Teimour Radjabov (AZE,2745) - Peter Svidler (RUS,2769) ½-½
Sergey Karjakin (RUS,2767) - Veselin Topalov (BUL,2793) ½-½

In bizzare 8th round four matches had result ... The leader Karjakin lost against Svidler but more shocking result created by Chinese GM Wang Hao, who take advantage of misplay by Carlsen in end game and defeated WR #1 after long 79 moves ... Nakamura also scored win over struggling Radjabov ... In Gruenfeld opening Anand played very attacking game and scored victory in 45 moves where he sacrificed three pawns and a knight ... After this round Anand was only 1/2 point behind leader Karjakin with Carlsen.

In the final round Anand tried for a win but instead he blundered on 14 move and gave big win for Chinese GM Wang Hao in 38 moves ... This loss pushed him down on 6th position in the final standing ... Nakamura finished on 3rd position with another win.

Tennis News
At €3.2M Rome Masters, Italy (red clay)

[QF] (6) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) bt Tomas Berdych (CZE)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) w/o

[SF] (6) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) bt Santiago Gonzalez (MEX)/ Scott Lipsky (USA) 63 76(3)

[F] (6) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) vs (1) Bob Bryan (USA)/ Mike Bryan (USA)

Rohan and Mahesh r in the final at Rome Masters and they will face in-form Bryans ... In the quarters they received bye in the quarters against Czech pair ... In the semis they scored straights sets win though the second set went in tie-break against Gonzalez and Lipsky, who upset Lee and Jurgen in the second round.

Tennis News
At €3.2M Rome Masters, Italy (red clay)

[R2] (6) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) bt Dominic Inglot (GBR)/ Jonathan Marray (GBR) 62 63

[QF] (6) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) vs Tomas Berdych (CZE)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE)

Comfortable straight sets win for Rohan-Mahesh against British pair ... Next they r facing Czech pair.
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At $2.36M Rome WTA Premier Tournament, Italy

[QF] (6) Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) l (1) Sara Errani (ITA)/ Roberta Vinci (ITA) 46 36

Sania and Bethanie gave decent performance against top-seed Italian pair, who proved too strong for them.

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At $10K Czech Republic F1 Futures, Most (clay)

[R2] (Q) Prajnesh GUNNESWARAN (IND,894) l (4) Miloslav MECIR (SVK,280) 26 46

Miloslav Mecir scored comfortable win over Prajnesh.

Archery News
At 2013 World Cup Stage 1, Shanghai, China

Recurve Mixed Team
[R1] India (Deepika Kumari/ Jayanta Talukdar) bt Australia (Semra Ferguson/ Taylor Worth) 143-135
[QF] India (Deepika Kumari/ Jayanta Talukdar) bt Japan (Takaharu Furukawa/ Kaori Kawanaka) 145-143
[SF] India (Deepika Kumari/ Jayanta Talukdar) bt Mexico (Aida Roman/ Juan Rene Serrano) 146-140

[F] India (Deepika Kumari/ Jayanta Talukdar) vs USA (Brady Ellison/ Khatuna Lorig)

Recurve Women Individual
[R1] Deepika KUMARI (IND) bye
[R1] Bombayla Devi LAISHRAM (IND) bye
[R1] Dola BANERJEE (IND) bt Azzaya BAYANDUUREN (MGL) 6-2
[R1] Rimil BURIULY (IND) bye

[R2] Deepika KUMARI (IND) bye
[R2] Bombayla Devi LAISHRAM (IND) l Mackenzie BROWN (USA) 3-7
[R2] Dola BANERJEE (IND) bt Jiaxin WU (CHN) 6-4
[R2] Rimil BURIULY (IND) l Un Ju KANG (PRK) 0-6

[R3] Deepika KUMARI (IND) bt Ming CHENG (CHN) 6-5 (26-28, 28-28, 24-27, 27-26, 28-23, T10-T9)
[R3] Dola BANERJEE (IND) l Jing XU (CHN) 2-6

[PQF] Deepika KUMARI (IND) bt Lisa UNRUH (GER) 6-5 (27-22, 24-27, 25-25, 23-27, 26-25 T8-T5)

[QF] Deepika KUMARI (IND) bt Anastasia PAVLOVA (UKR) 6-4 (25-27, 28-26, 26-25, 25-28, 28-26)

[SF] Deepika KUMARI (IND) bt Hyun-Jung JOO (KOR) 7-3 (26-26, 28-27, 25-27, 29-26, 28-26)

[F] Deepika KUMARI (IND) vs Ok-Hee YUN (KOR)

Recurve Men Individual
[R1] Atanu DAS (IND) bye
[R1] Jayanta TALUKDAR (IND) bye
[R1] Rajib BASUMATARY (IND) l Muhamad Fareez ROSLI (MAS) 0-6
[R1] Rahul BANERJEE (IND) bt Jor Shing CHAN (HKG) 6-2

[R2] Atanu DAS (IND) l Chol JON (PRK) 0-6
[R2] Jayanta TALUKDAR (IND) l Alberto ZAGAMI (ITA) 5-6
[R2] Rahul BANERJEE (IND) bt Bolot TSYBZHITOV (RUS) 6-2

[R3] Rahul BANERJEE (IND) l Seungyun LEE (KOR) 2-6

This year's first World cup at Shanghai again Deepika Kumari is performing like champion ... She is in the final of Recurve Women Individual event scoring some exciting win over Chinese and Korean opponents ... In Round three she was 1-5 down before making amazing comeback to win tie-break ... In pre-quarterfinal also she needed tie-break win against her German archer Lisa Unruh ... Deepika scored dominating win over 2008 Olympics Gold medalist Korean Hyun-Jung Joo ... In the final she is facing another Korean Ok-Hee Yun, who was also multiple medalists at Beijing Olympics.

Deepika Kumari is in the final of mixed recurve team event with Jayanta Talukdar ... In the quarters they won by only 2 points against strong Japanese pair but in the semis they defeated Mexican pair convincingly ... In the final they r facing American pair.

Chess News
At Norway Tournament 2013,

Round 7 (May 15, 2013) in Sør Hidle
Wang Hao (CHN,2743) - Levon Aronian (ARM,2813) ½-½
Jon Ludvig Hammer (NOR,2608) - Magnus Carlsen (NOR,2868) 0-1
Peter Svidler (RUS,2769) - Veselin Topalov (BUL,2793) ½-½
Teimour Radjabov (AZE,2745) - Viswanathan Anand (IND,2783) 0-1
Sergey Karjakin (RUS,2767) - Hikaru Nakamura (USA,2775) 1-0

Teimour Radjabov had a off-day and Anand take advantage of it after winning it in 34 moves ... Anand is sharing 3rd position with Levon Aronian, 4.0, but they r 1½ points behind leader Karjakin ... Karjakin kept his half point lead over Carlsen when he defeated Hikarua Nakamura

Tennis News
At €3.2M Rome Masters, Italy (red clay)

[R2] (8) Jurgen Melzer (AUT)/ Leander Paes (IND) l Santiago Gonzalez (MEX)/ Scott Lipsky (USA) 67(4) 67(3)

Lee's poor results in doubles continues though Lee-Jurgen lost in two tie-breaks ... This is a one of the worst start of the season for Leander, who fail to reach the final of any tournament.
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At $2.36M Rome WTA Premier Tournament, Italy

[R2] (6) Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) bt Francesca Schiavone (ITA)/ Samantha Stosur (AUS) 64 63

[QF] (6) Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) vs (1) Sara Errani (ITA)/ Roberta Vinci (ITA)

Very good straight sets win by Sania and Bethanie against tricky experienced pairing of Schiavone and Stosur ... Next they r facing WR #1 Italian pair in the quarters.
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At $75K+H Busan Challenger, Korea

[R1] (2) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) l Alex Bogomolov Jr. (RUS)/ Dudi Sela (ISR) 36 26

Divij and Purav failed to raise their game against Dudi Sela and his partner in this one-sided loss.
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At $50K Samarkand Challenger, Uzbekistan (Red clay)

[QF] Ti Chen (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) l (2) Radu Albot (MDA)/ Jordan Kerr (AUS) 64 16 4-10

After winning the first set Vishu-Ti failed to keep momentum and 2nd seed pair came back strongly winning next set easily ... Match tie-break also dominated by 2nd seed pair.
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At $10K Spain F14 Futures, Valldoreix (clay)

[R2] Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,804) l Marc LOPEZ JAEN (ESP,713) 64 46 67(2)

Good fighting performance in his loss by Ramkumar.

Chess News
At Norway Tournament 2013,

Round 6 (May 14, 2013) in Sandnes
Magnus Carlsen (NOR,2868) - Teimour Radjabov (AZE,2745) 1-0
Veselin Topalov (BUL,2793) - Wang Hao (CHN,2743) ½-½
Viswanathan Anand (IND,2783) - Sergey Karjakin (RUS,2767) ½-½
Levon Aronian (ARM,2813) - Jon Ludvig Hammer (NOR,2608) 1-0
Hikaru Nakamura (USA,2775) - Peter Svidler (RUS,2769) ½-½

Sergey Karjakin recovered well by holding a difficult position with black against Anand ... Anand came close to win but failed to convert and they drew after 57 moves ... Carlsen scored another win against Teimour Radjabov with White ... Carlsen is becoming champion in long game and this time also he won this long game after 68 moves ... Aronian scored really crushing victory in 24 moves against Hammer ... In other matches Wang Hao with Black hold Topalov and Svidler drew with Nakamura with White.

Tennis News
At $2.36M Rome WTA Premier Tournament, Italy

[R1] (6) Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) bt Shuko Aoyama (JPN)/ Liga Dekmeijere (LAT) 61 63

[R2] (6) Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) vs Francesca Schiavone (ITA)/ Samantha Stosur (AUS)

Expected easy winning start for Sania and Bethanie but next they r facing tough pairing of Stosur and Schiavone.
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At $50K Samarkand Challenger, Uzbekistan (Red clay)

[R1] Vishnu Vardhan (IND,408) l Marc Giner (ESP,261) 36 26

Expected loss in the singles for Vishnu against his Spanish opponent ... In the first set Vishnu broke his Giner twice but other hand Giner broke him thrice ... In the second set Giner broke Vishnu twice but Vishnu failed to broke him despite 4 break point chances.
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At $10K Czech Republic F1 Futures, Most (clay)

[Q1] (2) Prajnesh GUNNESWARAN (IND,894) bye
[Q2] (2) Prajnesh GUNNESWARAN (IND,894) bt Moritz DETTINGER (GER,NR) 62 67(3) 62
[Q3] (2) Prajnesh GUNNESWARAN (IND,894) bt David NOVOTNY (GER,NR) 61 61

[R1] (Q) Prajnesh GUNNESWARAN (IND,894) bt Torsten WIETOSKA (GER,654) 64 61

Prajnesh is coming out of injury and he is really enterprising to select Czech futures on the clay ... He qualified for maindraw and scored creditable win over higher ranked German opponent on the European clay.
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At $10K Spain F14 Futures, Valldoreix (clay)

[R1] Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,804) bt (Q) Ricardo OJEDA LARA (ESP,892) 36 62 64

After three first round losses in Spanish futures Ramkumar scored a win this week ... Happy to see he is keeping his head high despite all those losses.

Chess News
At Norway Tournament 2013,

Round 5 (May 13, 2013) in Sandnes
Hikaru Nakamura (USA,2775) - Veselin Topalov (BUL,2793) ½-½
Jon Ludvig Hammer (NOR,2608) - Wang Hao (CHN,2743) 1-0
Peter Svidler (RUS,2769) - Viswanathan Anand (IND,2783) ½-½
Teimour Radjabov (AZE,2745) - Levon Aronian (ARM,2813) ½-½
Sergey Karjakin (RUS,2767) - Magnus Carlsen (NOR,2868) 0-1

Leader Karjakin lost his first match with White despite taking early initiative in a Ruy Lopez against Carlsen ... He failed to handle complications on the board in end game and lost in 46 moves ... Lower rated local player Jon Ludvig Hammer scored win over Chinese Wang Hao in 49 moves ... Other three games ended in a draw ... Anand decided to stick with a Najdorf but agreed draw after 30 moves.

Tennis News
At €3.2M Rome Masters, Italy (red clay)

[R1] (8) Jurgen Melzer (AUT)/ Leander Paes (IND) bye
[R1] (6) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) bye

Hoping for better Masters for Indian players ... Our both pairs r in bottom draw ... Mahesh-Rohan r in same draw with 4th seed Aisam-Rojer and Lee-Jurgen r in same draw with 2nd seed Granollers-Lopez.
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At $2.36M Rome WTA Premier Tournament, Italy

[R1] (6) Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) vs Shuko Aoyama (JPN)/ Liga Dekmeijere (LAT)

Sania and Bethanie r in top-draw with top-seed Italian pair.
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At $75K+H Busan Challenger, Korea

[R1] (2) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Alex Bogomolov Jr. (RUS)/ Dudi Sela (ISR)

Divij and Purav r 2nd seed at Busan but facing tricky pair in the first round.
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At $50K Samarkand Challenger, Uzbekistan (Red clay)

[R1] Vishnu Vardhan (IND,408) vs Marc Giner (ESP,261)

Doubles
[R1] Ti Chen (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) bt (WC) Temur Ismailov (UZB)/ Sergey Shipilov (UZB) 63 16 10-5

This week only Vishnu is playing at Samarkand Challenger ... Facing tough Spanish opponent on the red clay in the first round ... In the doubles he is playing with Ti Chen and in the first round local wild-card pair stretched them to match tie-break.

Chess News
At Norway Tournament 2013,

Round 4 (May 12, 2013) in Bryne
Magnus Carlsen (NOR,2868) - Peter Svidler (RUS,2769) ½-½
Veselin Topalov (BUL,2793) - Jon Ludvig Hammer (NOR,2608) ½-½
Viswanathan Anand (IND,2783) - Hikaru Nakamura (USA,2775) 0-1
Levon Aronian (ARM,2813) - Sergey Karjakin (RUS,2767) 0-1
Wang Hao (CHN,2743) - Teimour Radjabov (AZE,2745) ½-½

In the fourth round Nakamura upset Anand playing with Black in 39 moves ... In last couple of months this was Nakamura's second win over Anand ... The game was a Ruy Lopez and Nakamura take advantage of mistakes from Anand ... Karjakin continued with his terrific run with win over Aronian with Black after 38 moves ... Svidler hold Carlsen after 43 moves ... Jon Ludvig Hammer opened his account after holding Topalov after 56 moves.

Tennis News
At $15K India F5 Futures, Rohtak


Singles Final
(3) Saketh MYNENI (IND) bt (4) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) 61 62

Saketh completed double crown in this futures in style ... He won back to back title at $15k futures at Chandigarh and Rohtak ... This was his 6th futures title and pointes earned in these two weeks help to push his ranking around top-300.

In the singles final he defeated Ranjeet mere losing 3 games ... Saketh gave dominating performance in this futures, where his opponent failed to win more than 4 games in every match he played ... Now I m really hoping/ wishing that he translate his such winning performance on the challenger level.

Chess News
At Norway Tournament 2013,

Round 3 (May 10, 2013) in Sandnes
Viswanathan Anand (IND,2783) - Veselin Topalov (BUL,2793) 1-0
Hikaru Nakamura (USA,2775) - Magnus Carlsen (NOR,2868) ½-½
Peter Svidler (RUS,2769) - Levon Aronian (ARM,2813) ½-½
Teimour Radjabov (AZE,2745) - Jon Ludvig Hammer (NOR,2608) 1-0
Sergey Karjakin (RUS,2767) - Wang Hao (CHN,2743) 1-0

Anand scored brilliant win over Topalov playing with White after 41 moves ... They played Najdorf, Anand take control of the game with very smart positioning ... After completion of 30 moves he was in position of victory ... Nakamura responded well to sharp game from Carlsen and drew after 38 moves ... Svidler hold Aronian playing with White after 31 moves ... Teimour Radjabov scored win over hapless Jon Ludvig Hammer after 45 moves ... Karjakin continued his incredible run with scoring third win in three matches ... He defeated Wang Hao after 39 moves.

Tennis News
At €3.36M Madrid Masters, Spain (red clay)

[QF] (6) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) l Jeremy Chardy (FRA)/ Lukasz Kubot (POL) 26 46

Mahesh-Rohan lost easily against Chardy-Kubot in straight sets.
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At $125K Kunming Challenger, China,

[SF] (3) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) l (2) Samuel Groth (AUS)/ John-Patrick Smith (AUS) 26 67(5)

Lost against 2nd seed Aussie pair in straight sets ... In the first set Aussie pair broke them thrice and our pair broke them one ... In the second set Aussie pair converted 1 from 4 break point chances and our pair managed to convert only 1 from 9 chances ... In tie-break our pair saved couple of match point on their serve from 3-6 but Aussie converted 3rd match point on their own serve.
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At $50K Karshi Challenger, Uzbekistan

[SF] Prakash Amritraj (IND,370) l (7) Albot Radu (MDA,246) 16 0-3 Retd.

Ka$h had off day and he started with making numerous unforced errors ... Radu kept ball in the play and Ka$h was making errors ... After losing the first set easily Ka$h retired in the second after losing first 3 games.
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At $15K India F5 Futures, Rohtak

Singles Semi Finals
(4) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt (5) Vijayant MALIK (IND) 60 46 61
(3) Saketh MYNENI (IND) bt (2) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND) 62 62

Doubles Final
(1) Saketh MYNENI (IND)/ Arun-Prakash RAJAGOPALAN (IND) bt (2) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) 64 63

Excellent dominated win by Saketh against Jeevan ... Ranjeet also surprised with his win over Vijayant.
Saketh and Arun-Prakash won the doubles title with straight sets victory.

Chess News
At Norway Tournament 2013,

Round 2 (May 9, 2013) in Sandnes
Magnus Carlsen (NOR,2868) - Viswanathan Anand (IND,2783) ½-½
Veselin Topalov (BUL,2793) - Teimour Radjabov (AZE,2745) ½-½
Levon Aronian (ARM,2813) - Hikaru Nakamura (USA,2775) 1-0
Wang Hao (CHN,2743) - Peter Svidler (RUS,2769) 1-0
Jon Ludvig Hammer (NOR,2608) - Sergey Karjakin (RUS,2767) 0-1

In the second round all focus was on the game between Carlsen and Anand ... Both played a Sicilian Moscow variation but middle game mistake from Anand gave advantage to Carlsen ... Carlsen failed to convert this advantage and game drew after 59 moves ... Radjabov hold Topalov after 40 moves ... Aronian defeated Nakamura after long 70 moves ... Hao Wang scored upset win over Svidler after 63 moves ... Karjakin take a lead with 2nd victory in two games beating Hammer in 54 moves.

Tennis News
At €3.36M Madrid Masters, Spain (red clay)

[R2] (8) Jurgen Melzer (AUT)/ Leander Paes (IND) l Tommy Haas (GER)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) 57 16
[R2] (6) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) bt (ALT) Juan Monaco (ARG)/ Horacio Zeballos (ARG) 63 36 10-5

[QF] (6) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) vs Jeremy Chardy (FRA)/ Lukasz Kubot (POL)

Rohan and Mahesh needed match tie-break for a win against Argentine pair ... Next they r facing French-Polish pair, who scored upset win over 4th seed Aisam and Rojer in the second round.

But Lee and Jurgen lost against Lee's previous partner Radek and Tommy Haas in straight sets.
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At $50K Karshi Challenger, Uzbekistan

[QF] Prakash Amritraj (IND,370) bt Denis Matsukevitch (RUS,607) 76(6) 63

[SF] Prakash Amritraj (IND,370) vs (7) Albot Radu (MDA,246)

In the first set both players exchanged early break but after that both hold their respective service games to take the set in tie-break ... In tight tie-break Denis saved a set point at 5-6 on his serve but Ka$h take mini-break on his next serve to take 7-6 lead ... Ka$h won next point on his serve for winning the first set ... In the second set Ka$h take early break and kept that lead till the end for straight sets win ... Next he is facing 7th seed Albot Radu for place in the final.

Now also stakes r high for next 2 matches as Wimbledon qualifying entry depend on these two victories ... Go Ka$h.
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At $15K India F5 Futures, Rohtak

Singles Quarter Finals
(5) Vijayant MALIK (IND) bt (1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND) 62 64
(4) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt (6) Vinayak Sharma KAZA (IND) 61 46 63
(3) Saketh MYNENI (IND) bt Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND) 63 60
(2) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND) bt (Q) Anvit BENDRE (IND) 61 60

Doubles Semi Finals
(1) Saketh MYNENI (IND)/ Arun-Prakash RAJAGOPALAN (IND) bt Lakshit SOOD (IND)/ Abhijeet TIWARI (IND) 64 62
(2) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt Kunal ANAND (IND)/ Ronak MANUJA (IND) 36 61 10-5

Only upset was Balaji's loss against Vijayant but considering Balaji's recent poor form I would not call it upset.

Chess News
At Norway Tournament 2013,

Round 1 (May 8, 2013) in Stavanger
Magnus Carlsen (NOR,2868) - Veselin Topalov (BUL,2793) ½-½
Viswanathan Anand (IND,2783) - Levon Aronian (ARM,2813) ½-½
Hikaru Nakamura (USA,2775) - Wang Hao (CHN,2743) 1-0
Peter Svidler (RUS,2769) - Jon Ludvig Hammer (NOR,2608) 1-0
Sergey Karjakin (RUS,2767) - Teimour Radjabov (AZE,2745) 1-0

Anand and Levon Aronian fought a good game after a very unconventional Ruy Lopez and they drew in 33 moves ... Carlsen tried hard for win but Topalov managed to hold him after 51 moves ... All other matches were having decisive results ... Karjakin defeated Radjabov after 41 moves ... Nakamura defeated Hao in 42 moves and Svidler defeated lower rated local player Hammer in 45 moves.

Tennis News
At €4M Madrid Open, Spian (WTA Premier)

[QF] (5) Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) l Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS)/ Lucie Safarova (CZE) 57 16

Sania and Bethanie failed to continue with their good form and lost in straight sets against Pavlyuchenkova and Safarova.
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At $125K Kunming Challenger, China,

[R1] (3) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Hsin-Han Lee (TPE)/ Hsien-Yin Peng (TPE) 46 63 10-7

[QF] (3) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Marco Chiudinelli (SUI)/ Tatsuma Ito (JPN) w/o

Divij and Purav scored excellent fighting comeback win over Taiwani pair of Hsin-Han Lee and Hsien-Yin Peng ... In the quarters they receive lucky break as their opponents gave walkover due to broken tooth of Ito.
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At $50K Karshi Challenger, Uzbekistan

[R2] Prakash Amritraj (IND,370) bt (2) Amir Weintrub (ISR,185) 64 57 62

[QF] Prakash Amritraj (IND,370) vs Denis Matsukevitch (RUS,607)

Doubles
[QF] Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) l (3) Radu Albot (MDA)/ Oleksandr Nedovyesov (UKR) 26 06

Prakash played to his potential and scored upset win over top-200 Israeli Amir Weintrub in thee sets ... After winning the first set Ka$h lost the second set but made excellent comeback and won the final set with double break ... In the quarters he is facing Russian 600+ ranked Denis Matsukevitch.

But he lost doubles match with Vishnu in one sided match against third seed.
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At $15K India F5 Futures, Rohtak

Singles Second Round
(1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND) bt (WC) Sagar AHUJA (IND) 76(4) 61
(5) Vijayant MALIK (IND) bt Ronak MANUJA (IND) 61 61
(4) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt Vignesh VEERABADRAN (IND) 64 26 62
(6) Vinayak Sharma KAZA (IND) bt (WC) Saurabh PATIL (IND) 60 61
Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND) bt Ajai SELVARAJ (IND) 62 63
(3) Saketh MYNENI (IND) bt Abhijeet TIWARI (IND) 60 63
(Q) Anvit BENDRE (IND) bt (Q) Arpit SHARMA (IND) 63 64
(2) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND) bt (WC) Sagar MANJANNA (IND) 61 60

Doubles Quarter Finals
(1) Saketh MYNENI (IND)/ Arun-Prakash RAJAGOPALAN (IND) bt Arvind Vishnu BESTHA (IND)/ Vignesh VEERABADRAN (IND) 63 62
Lakshit SOOD (IND)/ Abhijeet TIWARI (IND) bt Jatin DAHIYA (IND)/ Shahbaaz KHAN (IND) 63 64
Kunal ANAND (IND)/ Ronak MANUJA (IND) bt Neeraj ELANGOVAN (IND)/ Vinayak Sharma KAZA (IND) 36 63 12-10
(2) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt (WC) Anvit BENDRE (IND)/ Kirksteen REBUYAS (PHI) 60 62

Happy to see young Anvit Bendre take advantage of this weak draw ... Otherwise all expected results.

Chess News
At Norway 2013 - Round-robin Blitz Tournament, Switzerland

Final Standing
1. Sergey Karjakin (RUS,2767) 6.5/9
2. Magnus Carlsen (NOR,2868) 6.0/9
3. Viswanathan Anand (IND,2783) 6.0/9
4. Hikaru Nakamura (USA,2775) 6.0/9
5. Peter Svidler (RUS,2769) 5.5/9
6. Teimour Radjabov (AZE,2745) 5.0/9
7. Jon Ludvig Hammer (NOR,2608) 3.5/9
8. Wang Hao (CHN,2743) 3.0/9
9. Levon Aronian (ARM,2813) 2.5/9
10. Veselin Topalov (BUL,2793) 1.0/9

Before Norway 2013 tournament organizers decided to play blitz tournament to decide pairing for the first round ... Russian Sergey Karjakin won this blitz tournament and Anand tied for the second place with Carlsen and Nakamura ... Carlsen grabbed the second place in tie-break ... From today round-robin Super tournament is beginning ... Anand is facing Levon Aronian in the first round with White and tomorrow in the second round he is facing his World championship challenger and WR #1 Magnus Carlsen with Black ... And in the third round Anand is facing Veselin Topalov with White, so in first 3 rounds he is facing top 3 rating players of the tournament ... Tough pairing for Anand.

Tennis News
At €4M Madrid Open, Spian (WTA Premier)

[R1] (5) Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) bt Daniela Hantuchova (SVK)/ Anabel Medina Garrigues (ESP) 76(3) 46 10-4

Very good win for Sania and Bethanie against tough pairing of experienced Hantuchova and Medina Garrigues ... After winning the first set Sania and Behtanie lost the second but they played perfect match tie-break for excellent win.
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At $50K Karshi Challenger, Uzbekistan

[R1] Vishnu Vardhan (IND,404) l (3) Konstantin Kravchuk (RUS,187) 26 16
[R1] Prakash Amritraj (IND,370) bt Antoine Benneteau (FRA,375) 46 75 61

[R2] Prakash Amritraj (IND,370) vs (2) Amir Weintrub (ISR,185)

Good comeback win by Ka$h after struggling with his service in the first set ... Benneteau broke Prakash in 3rd game but Ka$h immediately broke back to bring the set back on serve ... Benneteau again broke Ka$h in 5th game and take lead but this time also Ka$h broke back, 3-3 ... Benneteau broke Ka$h in 7th game so this was 5th time in a row that server failed to hold his serve ... After that both players hold their respective serves and Benneteau won the first set with one break advantage ... In the second set Ka$h saved 1 break point but both players won their respctive service games till 11th game ... Ka$h take crucial break in 12th game and won the second set ... In the final set Ka$h was serving well and he broke Benneteau in 4th and 6th games for winning this set comfortably ... Next he is facing 2nd seed Israeli Amir Weintrub ... This match is tough one but with consistent serving he can upset Weintrub, Ka$h has game to beat him.

Vishu lost in one-sided match against Kravchuk ... Kravchuk broke Vishnu twice and held his own serve comfortably for winning the first set ... In the second set Vishnu failed to hold his serve from 40-15 in 1st game ... Kravchuk again broke Vishnu in 5th game to take control of the match ... Kravchuk won the match in 61 minutes breaking Vishnu in 7th game.
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At $15K India F5 Futures, Rohtak

Singles First Round
(1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND) bt Lakshit SOOD (IND) 63 64
(WC) Sagar AHUJA (IND) bt (Q) Kirksteen REBUYAS (PHI) 75 61
Ronak MANUJA (IND) bt Jatin DAHIYA (IND) 46 64 63
(5) Vijayant MALIK (IND) bt (Q) Ronit Singh BISHT (IND) 60 61
(4) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt Kelsey STEVENSON (CAN) 76(6) 76(10)
Vignesh VEERABADRAN (IND) bt Fariz MOHAMMED (IND) 62 60
(WC) Saurabh PATIL (IND) bt Vivek SHOKEEN (IND) 36 62 60
(6) Vinayak Sharma KAZA (IND) bt (Q) Saurabh SINGH (IND) 36 61 64
Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND) bt (8) Zach ITZSTEIN (AUS) 63 61
Ajai SELVARAJ (IND) bt Neeraj ELANGOVAN (IND) 64 62
Abhijeet TIWARI (IND) bt Kunal ANAND (IND) 62 64
(3) Saketh MYNENI (IND) bt (Q) Dhruv GOYAL (IND) 60 61
(Q) Anvit BENDRE (IND) bt (7) Austin KAROSI (USA) 36 63 75
(Q) Arpit SHARMA (IND) bt (Q) Aayush MINTRI (IND) 64 63
(WC) Sagar MANJANNA (IND) bt (WC) Garry TOKAS (IND) 61 62
(2) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND) bt (Q) Roy HOBBS (SIN) 61 61

Doubles First Round
(1) Saketh MYNENI (IND)/ Arun-Prakash RAJAGOPALAN (IND) bt Roy HOBBS (SIN)/ Austin KAROSI (USA) 60 75
Arvind Vishnu BESTHA (IND)/ Vignesh VEERABADRAN (IND) bt Jenner STEVENSON (CAN)/ Kelsey STEVENSON (CAN) w/o
Jatin DAHIYA (IND)/ Shahbaaz KHAN (IND) bt (4) Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND)/ Ajai SELVARAJ (IND) 64 36 10-8
Lakshit SOOD (IND)/ Abhijeet TIWARI (IND) bt (WC) Ronit Singh BISHT (IND)/ Ajay YADAV (IND) 46 76(1) 10-7
Neeraj ELANGOVAN (IND)/ Vinayak Sharma KAZA (IND) bt Sagar MANJANNA (IND)/ Saurabh SINGH (IND) 75 61
Kunal ANAND (IND)/ Ronak MANUJA (IND) bt (3) Zach ITZSTEIN (AUS)/ Fariz MOHAMMED (IND) 63 61
(WC) Anvit BENDRE (IND)/ Kirksteen REBUYAS (PHI) bt (WC) Anubhav Chaudhary CHAUDHARY (IND)/ Arpit SHARMA (IND) 62 64
(2) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt Sagar AHUJA (IND)/ Saurabh PATIL (IND) 62 64

Very weak draw in this $15K Rohtak futures ... Australian #1089 ranked Itzstein is 8th seed and #1535 Neeraj Elangovan is last direct accepted entry.

Lots of first time winners and also I think first time we r seeing all 16 players r Indians in the second round of $15K futures.

Tennis News
At €3.36M Madrid Masters, Spain (red clay)

[R1] (8) Jurgen Melzer (AUT)/ Leander Paes (IND) bye
[R1] (6) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) bye

This week at Madrid our both pairs r seeded ... Lee and Jurgen r in top draw with top-seed Bryans ... Mahesh and Rohan r in bottom draw and may face 4th seed Aisam and Rojer in the quarters.

Lee and Jurgen can face Radek Stepanek and Tommy Haas in the second round if Radek and Tommy wins their first round match against big serving pair of Raonic and Dimitrov.
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At €4M Madrid Open, Spian (WTA Premier)

[R1] (5) Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) vs Daniela Hantuchova (SVK)/ Anabel Medina Garrigues (ESP)

WTA Premier tournament is also going on ... Bethanie and Sania r 6th seeded but facing really tricky mach on the clay against experienced Hantuchova and Medina Garrigues.
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At $125K Kunming Challenger, China,

(3) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Hsin-Han Lee (TPE)/ Hsien-Yin Peng (TPE)

This week they r participating in another big $125K challenger at Kunming ... Facing Taipei pair in the first round.
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At $50K Karshi Challenger, Uzbekistan

[R1] Vishnu Vardhan (IND,404) vs (3) Konstantin Kravchuk (RUS,187)
[R1] Prakash Amritraj (IND,370) vs Antoine Benneteau (FRA,375)

Doubles
[R1] Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) bt (WC) Sanjar Fayziev (UZB)/ Nigmat Shofayziyev (UZB)

Vishnu having tough first round against 3rd seed Russian Kravchuk but Ka$h is facing similar ranked French opponent ... Easy winning start for Ka$h and Vishnu against local wild-card pair.

Badminton News
At $120K Malaysia Grand Prix Gold 2013, Kuala Lumpur

Women's Singles Final
(1) Sindhu P. V. (IND,15) bt (5) Juan Gu (SIN,27) 21-17 17-21 21-19

Sindhu lifted her first Grand Prix Gold tournament title at Malaysia ... She defeated Singaporean Juan Gu in long 71 minutes match ... In the first game both were exchanged leads till 11-all ... After that Sindhu opened couple of points lead, which she kept till end and converted second game point ... In the second game both players were neck to neck till 15-all ... This time Juan opened 3 points lead, 18-15, which she kept for winning this game ... In the final game from 3-5 Juan opened 3 points lead after winning 5 points in a row ... Juan extended her lead to 13-7 then 15-10 but after that Sindhu produced excellent fightback ... She won next 4 points to made ir 14-15 and managed to catch Juan at 16-all ... From 17-18 Sindhu won next 3 points and converted 2nd match point for memorable victory.

Tennis News
At $15K India F4 Futures, Chandigarh


Singles Final
(5) Saketh MYNENI (IND) bt (7) Vijayant MALIK (IND) 36 61 64

Saketh scored excellent fighting win despite struggling with his serve ... In the first set Vijayant broke Saketh in 4th game and kept that advantage for winning the first set ... In the second set Saketh broke Vijayant in 2nd game to lead 3-0 and then he again broke Vijayant in 6th game to won this set comfortably ... In the final set Vijayant broke Saketh in 2nd game to lead 2-0 but after that Saketh won next 4 games breaking Vijayant in 3rd and 5th games ... Saketh kept that one break advantage for comeback victory.

Badminton News
At $120K Malaysia Grand Prix Gold 2013, Kuala Lumpur

[SF] (1) Sindhu P. V. (IND,13) bt (3) Sapsiree Taerattanachai (THA,22) 21-17 21-11

[F] (1) Sindhu P. V. (IND,13) bt (5) Juan Gu (SIN,27)

In end Sindhu scored comfortable win in 34 minutes against her Thai opponent Sapsiree Taerattanachai ... In the first game Sapsiree take early lead which she extended to 16-10 but after that Sindhu fought back winning next 9 points and take 19-16 lead first time in this opening game ... She converted 1st game point and won this game ... In the second game Sindhu opened 4-0 lead which she kept increasing and won it comfortably ... In the final she is facing Singapore's Juan Gu, who upset 2nd seed Thai player in straight games.

Sindhu climbs to her personal best WR #13 ranking after last week's semi-finalist at Indian Super series ... This week also she is in the final of Malaysian Gold GP tournament where last year she was semi-finalist ... This performance will help her to reduce points margin between herself and #12 Porntip Buranaprasertsuk.

Tennis News
At €468K Portugal Open, Oeiras

[QF] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Andy Ram (ISR) l (1) Aisam Qureshi (PAK)/ Jean Julien Roger(NED) 64 36 4-10

This time Aisam-Jean Julien Roger managed to beat Rohan with his partner Andy Ram ... Rohan-Andy started well after winning the first set but after that they failed to keep momentum and lost match in one-sided match tie-break.
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At $100K+H Johannesburg Challenger, South Africa,

Doubles Final
Rajeev Ram (USA)/ Prakash Amritraj (IND) bt (2) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) 76(1) 76(1)

Divij-Purav saved early break point and after that both pairs hold their respective service games to take the set in tie-break ... Ka$h and Rajeev dominated tie-break, they won first 6 points in a row and then converted 1st set point .. In the second set Divij-Purav saved 2 break points in 5th game ... They again faced 2 break points in 11th game and this time also they saved it ... Divij-Purav had a set point (their first break point on Ka$h-Rajeeev's serve) in 12th game but they failed to convert it ... Again the first set score repeated in tie-break ... Ka$h- Rajeev won this again losing only a single point.

Congrats to Ka$h-Rajeev for their title win and again Divij-Purav showed consistency in their performance ... Hoping our this pair get chance to play in Wimbledon qualifying.
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At $15K India F4 Futures, Chandigarh

Singles Semi Finals
(7) Vijayant MALIK (IND) bt (8) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) 63 16 76(3)
(5) Saketh MYNENI (IND) bt (4) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) 62 Retd.

Doubles Final
(2) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt (1) Arun-Prakash RAJAGOPALAN (IND)/ Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) 63 64

Saketh won the first set and after that Vishnu retired from the match ... After that Vishnu played the doubles final with Arun-Prakash but they lost in the straight sets against 2nd seeded Sriram balaji and Ranjeet ... In the singles other semi-final Vijayant scored fighting win over Ranjeet where final set went in tie-break.

Badminton News
At $120K Malaysia Grand Prix Gold 2013, Kuala Lumpur

[QF] (11) Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,33) l Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin (MAS,81) 19-21 2-5 Retd.
[QF] (1) Sindhu P. V. (IND,15) bt (7) Hera Desi (INA,41) 21-17 21-17

[SF] (1) Sindhu P. V. (IND,15) vs (3) Sapsiree Taerattanachai (THA,22)

Sindhu scored straight games victory over her Indonesian opponent ... In the semis she is facing Thai Taerattanachai.

Guru retired in the second game after losing the first game against Zainuddin.

Tennis News
At €468K BMW Open, Munich, Germany (red clay)

[QF] (2) Jurgen Melzer (AUT)/ Leander Paes (IND) l Juan Sebastian Cabal (COL)/ Robert Farah (COL) 36 36

One sided loss for Lee and Jurgen against Colombians in 45 minutes ... Our pair failed to create a single break point chance but faced 4 break points and Colombians broke them thrice ... This year Lee is still searching for solid partnership.
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At $100K+H Johannesburg Challenger, South Africa,

[SF] (2) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Michal Przysiezny (POL)/ Denis Zivkovic (USA) 64 64
[SF] Rajeev Ram (USA)/ Prakash Amritraj (IND) bt (3) Mate Pavic (CRO)/ Goran Tosic (MNE) 63 26 10-5

Our both pairs scored contrasting win over their respective opponents ... So final is between Indian citizens against NRIs ... I m rooting for Divij and Purav.
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At $15K India F4 Futures, Chandigarh

Singles Quarter Finals
(7) Vijayant MALIK (IND) bt (1) Yuki BHAMBRI (IND) 64 60
(8) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt (Q) Rakshit RISHI (IND) 75 60
(4) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) bt (6) N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND) 76(5) 64
(5) Saketh MYNENI (IND) bt (2) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND) 62 60

Doubles Semi Finals
(1) Arun-Prakash RAJAGOPALAN (IND)/ Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) bt Zach ITZSTEIN (AUS)/ Ashwin VIJAYRAGAVAN (IND) 62 61
(2) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt (4) Vijayant MALIK (IND)/ Saketh MYNENI (IND) 62 36 11-9

Shocking loss of Yuki against Vijayant, hoping no injury issue .. Saketh scored dominating win over Balaji ... Interesting semis between Vishnu and Saketh, though Saketh is favorite.

Badminton News
At $120K Malaysia Grand Prix Gold 2013, Kuala Lumpur

[R3] (11) Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,33) bt Riichi Takeshita (JPN,70) 21-19 21-16
[R3] Srikanth K. (IND,63) l (3) Daren Liew (MAS,13) 17-21 20-22
[R3] Sameer Verma (IND,190) l Yan Kit Chan (HKG,67) 15-21 19-21

[R2] (1) Sindhu P. V. (IND,15) bt Ngan Yi Cheung (HKG,102) 11-21 21-18 21-10

[QF] (11) Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,33) vs Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin (MAS,81)
[QF] (1) Sindhu P. V. (IND,15) vs (7) Hera Desi (INA,41)

Again Sindhu struggled against lower ranked Cheung ... After losing the first game she worked hard to win the second ... After that comfortably win the decider ... In the quarters she is facing 7th seed Indonesian.

Guru scored expected win against his Japanese opponent in straight games ... Next he is facing local player Zainuddin in the quarters ... Srikanth and Sameer failed to repeat their performance from previous rounds and lost in straight games.

Tennis News
At €468K BMW Open, Munich, Germany (red clay)

[R1] (2) Jurgen Melzer (AUT)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt Christopher Kas (GER)/ Oliver Marach (AUT) 62 16 10-6

[QF] (2) Jurgen Melzer (AUT)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Juan Sebastian Cabal (COL)/ Robert Farah (COL)

Lee and Jurgen needed match tie-break in their first round win but strong comeback in the match tie-break after losing the second set very easily ... Next they r facing Colombian pair.
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At €468K Portugal Open, Oeiras

[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Andy Ram (ISR) bt Jonathan Erlich (ISR)/ Dominic Inglot (GBR) 5-3 Retd.

[QF] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Andy Ram (ISR) vs (1) Aisam Qureshi (PAK)/ Jean Julien Roger(NED)

Easy passage to the quarter-final after their opponents retired in the first set ... Next match is tricky one against top-seed.
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At $100K+H Johannesburg Challenger, South Africa,

[R2] (2) Rajeev Ram (USA,115) bt (WC) Wayne Montgomery (RSA,UNR) 64 62

[QF] (2) Rajeev Ram (USA,115) vs Mate Pavic (CRO,361)

Doubles
[QF] (2) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Fabiano De Paula (BRA)/ Thales Turini (BRA) 63 76(3)
[QF] Rajeev Ram (USA)/ Prakash Amritraj (IND) bt (1) Rik De Voest (RSA)/ Marcelo Demoliner (BRA) 75 64

[SF] (2) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Michal Przysiezny (POL)/ Denis Zivkovic (USA))
[SF] Rajeev Ram (USA)/ Prakash Amritraj (IND) vs (3) Mate Pavic (CRO)/ Goran Tosic (MNE)

Both pairs traded early breaks in the first set but Prakash and Rajeev take crucial break in 12th game for winning this set ... In the second set only break came in 10th game when top-seeds were serving for staying in the match.

Divij and Purav kept showing consistency in their performance and scored straight sets victory over Brazilian pair.
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At $15K India F4 Futures, Chandigarh

Singles Second Round
(1) Yuki BHAMBRI (IND) bt Austin KAROSI (USA) 62 61
(7) Vijayant MALIK (IND) bt Vinayak Sharma KAZA (IND)62 61
(Q) Rakshit RISHI (IND) bt (LL) Sagar AHUJA (IND) 63 46 64
(8) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt (Q) Fariz MOHAMMED (IND) 60 61
(6) N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND) bt (Q) Ronit Singh BISHT (IND) 62 62
(4) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) bt Ashwin VIJAYRAGAVAN (IND) 63 76(1)
(5) Saketh MYNENI (IND) bt Kunal ANAND (IND) 75 62
(2) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND) bt Jatin DAHIYA (IND) 63 63

Doubles Quarter Finals
(1) Arun-Prakash RAJAGOPALAN (IND)/ Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) bt Lakshit SOOD (IND)/ Abhijeet TIWARI (IND) 36 76(2) 10-8
Zach ITZSTEIN (AUS)/ Ashwin VIJAYRAGAVAN (IND) bt (3) Yuki BHAMBRI (IND)/ Vivek SHOKEEN (IND) w/o
(4) Vijayant MALIK (IND)/ Saketh MYNENI (IND) bt Kunal ANAND (IND)/ Ronak MANUJA (IND) 61 63
(2) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt Fariz MOHAMMED (IND)/ Vignesh VEERABADRAN (IND) 75 61

Expected results in the singles and doubles.