Tennis News

Davis Cup 2014 - Group I,

Davis cup draw is out and India is having home tie against Chinese Taipei but if they win this tie then they r having real test in away match against seeded Koreans.
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At $125K+H Kaohsiung Challenger, Taiwan

[R1] (Q) Yuki Bhambri (IND,476) bt Amir Weintraub (ISR,190) 76(8) 61

[R2] (Q) Yuki Bhambri (IND,476) vs (7) Yuichi Sugita (JPN,146)

Yuki scored upset win over Israeli Davis cupper Amir Weintraub in straight sets ... In the first set Yuki was up with early break, 3-1, but Amir broke back in 8th game to made it 4-all ... In long tie-break Yuki kept his nerve and won it after 18 points ... In the second set Yuki dominated and won it with double break ... In the second round he is facing Japanese top-150 and 7th seed Yuichi Sugita.
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At $15K Canada F8 Futures, Toronto

[R1] (4) Vijayant Malik (IND,446) l George Jecminek (CAN,855) 16 67(3)
[R1] (3) Sanam Singh (IND,375) bt Daniel Chu (CAN,1999) 62 16 63

[R2] (3) Sanam Singh (IND,375) vs Milan Pokrajac (CAN,630)

Surprisingly Sanam stretched to three sets by Canadian journeyman Chu but other hand Vijayant wasn't so lucky and lost in straight sets against lower ranked Canadian ... Sanam is facing another Canadian in the second round.
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At $10K Egypt F24 Futures , Sharm El Sheikh

[R1] Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,UNR) l (Q) Maxim Kravtsov (RUS,UNR) 26 64 57
[R1] (4) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,543) bt Dmitry Surchenko (RUS,1463) 63 62
[R1] (5) Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND,582) l Dariusz Lipka (POL,UNR) 4-4 Retd.

[R2] (4) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,543) vs Sebastian Rivera (ECU,1381)

Prajnesh started with win but Ranjeet got injured in his match ... 16 yrs old Sasi gave fighting performance in his loss.
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At $10K Kuwait F1 Futures, Meshref

[R2] (1) Saketh Myneni (IND,312) bt Jordan Ubiergo (FRA,1491) 64 63
[R2] (Q) Akash Wagh (IND,1787) l Soichiro Moritani (JPN,1990) 26 16

[QF] (1) Saketh Myneni (IND,312) vs Thomas Statzberger (AUT,1313)

Saketh scored straight sets win but Akash's inconsistency in his performance continued.
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At $10K USA F24 Futures, Costa Mesa

[R1] (LL) Ashwin Vijayragavan (IND,1131) l Alex Blumenberg (BRA,708) 06 62 67(5)

After losing the first set without winning a single game Ashwin gave fighting performance in next two sets against higher ranked Brazilian.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Alger, Algeria

[R2] (8) Shivika Burman (IND) bt Fatima Zohra Boukezzi (ALG) 61 60
[R2] (WC) Victoria Chehal (IND) l Mia Nicole Eklund (FIN) 36 57
[R2] (2) Shweta Rana (IND) bt Nikita Deshmukh (IND) 61 60

[QF] (8) Shivika Burman (IND) vs Harmony Tan (FRA)
[QF] (2) Shweta Rana (IND) vs Mia Nicole Eklund (FIN)

Expected wins for Shivika and Shweta ... Next they r facing French and Finnish girls respectively.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt

[R1] Ashmitha EASWARAMURTHI (IND) l Parris TODD (USA) 46 57

Ashmitha lost against American girl in tight two sets.

Tennis News
Davis Cup 2013 - Asia/Oceania Group I - Relegation Play-off, Bangalore, India

India bt Indonesia 5-0


Friday - 5th April
[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,208) bt Wisnu Adi Nugroho (INA,1774) 61 62 62
[R2] Yuki Bhambri (IND,279) bt Christopher Rungkat (INA,250) 63 62 62

Saturday - 6th April
[R3] Leander Paes (IND)/ Sanam Singh (IND) bt Elbert Sie (INA)/ David Agung Susanto (INA) 62 61 64

Sunday - 7th April
[R4] Somdev Devvarman (IND,208) bt David Agung Susanto (INA,1357) 63 61
[R5] Yuki Bhambri (IND,279) bt Wisnu Adi Nugroho (INA,1774) 60 61

Somdev and Yuki completed dominance of Indian team with another solid wins ... Buji lost 4 games in his match but Yuki lost only one game in his win ... Indians gave solid performance in this tie as they lost only 24 games in five matches ... So with this tie win Indians keep their position in Asia/Oceania Group I.
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At $455,775 US Men's Clay Court Championship, Houston

[R1] (PR) Somdev Devvarman (IND,208) vs Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo (ESP,103)

Doubles
[R1] (PR) Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Michael Russell (USA) vs (4) Eric Butorac (USA)/ Jonathan Erlich (ISR)

This is a last tournament for Buji with his protected ranking ... Buji lost against Ruben in the first round of US Open 2012 so this time hoping for reverse result.
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At $100K Guadalajara challenger, Mexico

[Q1] Prakash Amritraj (IND,365) bt (6) Michael Lammer (SUI,339) 61 75

[Q2] Prakash Amritraj (IND,365) bt Manuel Sanchez (MEX,1274) 46 63 62

[Q3] Prakash Amritraj (IND,365) vs Maximillian Neuchrist (AUT,447)

This week Prakash back on court in big Mexican challenger ... In the first round he defeated higher ranked Swiss opponent easily ... In the second round Prakash had slow start and lost the first set against local player ... He comeback strongly and won next two sets ... In the final qualifying he is facing Austrian Neuchrist.
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At $35K+H Leon Challenger, Mexico

[F] (4) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) l Chris Guccione (AUS)/ Matt Reid (AUS) 36 57

Divij and Purav failed to lift the title against Aussie pair, whom they defeated in Koyto challenger final ... After losing the first set Divij and Purav were up with break 5-2 in the second ... But they lost next 5 games to lose the match ... Missed chance for them.

Tennis News
Davis Cup 2013 - Asia/Oceania Group I - Relegation Play-off, Banglore, India

India bt Indonesia 3-0

Friday - 5th April
[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,208) bt Wisnu Adi Nugroho (INA,1774) 61 62 62
[R2] Yuki Bhambri (IND,279) bt Christopher Rungkat (INA,250) 63 62 62

Saturday - 6th April
[R3] Leander Paes (IND)/ Sanam Singh (IND) bt Elbert Sie (INA)/ David Agung Susanto (INA) 62 61 64

Sanam and Leander were cruising for comfortable victory after two sets ... After winning first 2 sets easily in the third 1st three games were stretched little bit but in that our pair take break in 3rd game on David's serve ... In this set our players played lethargically and Lee lost his serve in 7th game with few errors ... In last 2 games our pair again showed same intensity which they showed in first 2 sets ... They broke again David's serve in 10th game this time on luv for dominating win ... This was Lee's 50th Davis cup tie and scored another victory with another new partner, Sanam Singh..

So with this win we r having winning lead in this tie ... Overall expected one-sided tie.
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At $35K+H Leon Challenger, Mexico

[SF] (4) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt (1) Nicolas Monroe (USA)/ Simon Stadler (GER) 64 62

[F] (4) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Chris Guccione (AUS)/ Matt Reid (AUS)

Purav and Divij scored huge straight sets upset win over top-75 pair ... After winning the first set with a single break they dominated the second set ... In the final they r facing unseeded Aussie pair, who upset Ratiwatanas in the first round.

Tennis News
Davis Cup 2013 - Asia/Oceania Group I - Relegation Play-off, Banglore, India

India vs Indonesia 2-0

Friday - 5th April
[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,208) bt Wisnu Adi Nugroho (INA,1774) 61 62 62
[R2] Yuki Bhambri (IND,279) bt Christopher Rungkat (INA,250) 63 62 62

As expected dominating winning start for Buji against lower ranked Indonesian ... Buji lost only 5 games in this match to gave 1-0 lead to India.

Yuki struggled with his serve in the first set ... He saved multiple break points in the first set but with a single break advantage he won the first set ... After that Sanam dominated the match and won next two sets with double break.
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At $35K+H Leon Challenger, Mexico

[QF] (4) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt James Cerretani (USA)/ Adrian Menendez-MacEiras (ESP) 64 60

[SF] (4) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs (1) Nicolas Monroe (USA)/ Simon Stadler (GER)

Another comfortable win for Divij and Purav in the quarters ... In the semis they r facing top-seed pair.
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At $10K Vietnam F2 Futures, Ho Chi Minh City

[QF] (2) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND,401) l (6) Laurent Recouderc (FRA,461) 36 26

Disappointing loss of Jeevan against last week's Vietnam F1 winner.

Tennis News
Davis Cup 2013 - Asia/Oceania Group I - Relegation Play-off, Banglore, India

Friday - 5th March (from 15:00 hrs)
[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,208) vs Wisnu Adi Nugroho (INA,1774)
[R2] Yuki Bhambri (IND,279) vs Christopher Rungkat (INA,250)

Saturday - 6th March (from 17:00 hrs)
[R3] Leander Paes (IND)/ Sanam Singh (IND) vs Elbert Sie (INA)/ David Agung Susanto (INA)

Sunday - 7th March (from 15:00 hrs)
[R4] Somdev Devvarman (IND,208) vs Christopher Rungkat (INA,250)
[R5] Yuki Bhambri (IND,279) vs Wisnu Adi Nugroho (INA,1774)

Buji in playing in the first rubber.

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

Indian Team - Somdev Devvarman (208), Yuki Bhambri (279), Sanam Singh (340) and Leander Paes
Captain - Shiv-Prakash Misra
Coach - Zeeshan Ali

Indonesian Team - Christopher Rungkat (251), Elbert Sie (880), David Agung Susanto (1355) and Wisnu Adi Nugroho (1778)
Captain - Hendri-Susilo Pramono

Indians r favorite as they r fielding strong team ... First-time in India Davis cup matches will be played in floodlight at Bangalore.
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At $35K+H Leon Challenger, Mexico

[R1] (4) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Hsin-Han Lee (TPE)/ Hsein-Yin Peng (TPE)

Tougher draw this week ... Tricky match against similar ranked regular Taipei pair.
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At $10K Vietnam F1 Futures, Ho Chi Minh City

[R1] (2) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND,401) bt Dekel Bar (ISR,933) 62 62

[R2] (2) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND,401) vs Marvin Netuschil (GER,852)

Expected easy win for Jeevan.

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

A group of India's top tennis pros, led by Somdev Devvarman, send a written acceptance to the All-India Tennis Association (AITA)agreeing to play the Asia-Oceania Group One relegation tie against Indonesia, scheduled to be played at Bangalore subject to the players demands are met by the sports' Indian authorities.
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At Fed Cup - Asia/Oceania Group I, Astana, Kazakhstan

Relegation Play-off
India l Korea 0-3

[R1] Rutuja Bhosale (IND,605) l So-Ra Lee (KOR,389) 67(5) 16
[R2] Rishika Sunkara (IND),548) l Sung-Hee HAN (KOR,296) 46 36
[R3] Ankita Raina (IND)/ Kyra Shroff (IND) l Mi Yoo (KOR)/ Seo-Kyung Kang (KOR) walkover

Another expected loss but this loss will be hurt more as with that Indian team relegates to Group II.
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At $547K SAP Open, San Jose, USA

[Q1] Prakash Amritraj (IND,436) l Jason Jung (USA,551) 36 62 26

After his terrific run in Chennai open Kash failed to use that advantage ... After almost 5 weeks he decided to play in SAP qualifying ... Rustiness and lack of match practice was the reason for his loss in first qualifying.

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

India l South Korea 1-4

Friday - 1st February 2013
[R1] Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND,511) l Min Hyeok Cho (KOR,UNR) 16 06 16
[R2] Vijayant Malik (IND,537) l Suk-Young Jeong (KOR,321) 46 57 0-3 Retd.

Saturday - 2nd February 2013
[R3] Leander Paes (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Young-Kyu Lim (KOR)/ Ji Sung Nam (KOR) 64 76(5) 62

Sunday - 3rd February 2013
[R4] Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND,511) l Suk-Young Jeong (KOR,321) 46 46 26
[R5] Vijayant Malik (IND,537) l Ji Sung Nam (KOR,484) 26 46

Today Indian captain decided to stick with Ranjeet in the reverse singles ... Ranjeet saved early break points but Jeong take crucial break in 9th game ... Then hold his serve to won the first set ... In the second set Jeong take early break to lead 3-1 but Ranjeet broke him in 6th game to make it 3-all ... This time also Jeong take crucial break on Ranjeet's serve in 9th game and then hold his serve to won the second set ... In the final set Jeong take early break and then again broke Ranjeet in 7th game to win this set with double break ... In the final dead rubber Vijayant failed to produce any fighting performance against his Korean opponent.

With this India lost their Davis cup tie against South Korea and need to wait for 2 more years for any hope for World group ties ... Before that our tennis body and players need to resolve issue so we can play regular team in our next ties to avoid relegation in Group II.

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

India vs South Korea 1-2

Friday - 1st February 2013
[R1] Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND,511) l Min Hyeok Cho (KOR,UNR) 16 06 16)
[R2] Vijayant Malik (IND,537) l Suk-Young Jeong (KOR,321) 46 57 0-3 Retd.

Saturday - 2nd February 2013
[R3] Leander Paes (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Young-Kyu Lim (KOR)/ Ji Sung Nam (KOR) 64 76(5) 62

After poor first day outing Leander lift young Indian players spirit and defeated Korean pair in straight sets with another debutante Purav Raja ... Lee and Purav were up with early break of Lim's serve but Korean broke back in 7th game breaking Purav's serve, 3-4 ... Indian pair again broke Lim again in 10th game to win the first set ... Koreans fought hard in the second ... They broke Purav in 5th game but Indians fought back breaking Nam's serve in 8th game ... Korean broke Lee's serve in 11th game but again Indian broke Nam's serve to take set in tie-break ... In the tie-break our pair fought back from 0-3 where Lee used his experience to win this set ... After losing the second set Korean failed to raise game so Indians won the third set with double break ... Tomorrow reverse singles will be played.

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

India vs South Korea 0-2

Friday - 1st February 2013
[R1] Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND,511) l Min Hyeok Cho (KOR,UNR) 16 06 16
[R2] Vijayant Malik (IND,537) l Suk-Young Jeong (KOR,321) 46 57 0-3 Retd.

Expecting losses after 9 top players boycott this Davis cup tie but shocking melt-down by Ranjeet against Cho ... Cho won this match in 83 minutes losing only 2 games ... Cho missed tour after 2009 as he joined army for 2 yrs ... Last year he scored upset win over talented Taipei youngster Yang Tsung-Hua, WR #213, in their Davis cup tie ... So Ranjeet match wasn't easy but in end horrible scoreline ... I really hope this was his last Davis cup match.

Other hand Vijayant gave fighting performance against Korean top player Suk-Young Jeong ... First 2 sets he lost after fighting hard but he was early double break down in the third and then got injured ... Hoping no serious injury issue.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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At Australian Open 2013, Melbourne

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

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