Tennis News
At Australian Open 2013, Melbourne

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

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

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

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

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2013, Melbourne

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

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

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2013, Melbourne

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

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

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

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

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2013, Melbourne

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2013, Melbourne

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

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

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

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2013, Melbourne

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2013, Melbourne

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

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

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2013, Melbourne

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

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

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

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

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

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2013, Melbourne

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tennis News
At Australian Open 2013, Melbourne

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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At Australian Open 2013, Melbourne

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

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

Tennis News
At Australian open 2013, Melbourne

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tennis News
At Australian open 2013, Melbourne

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

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

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

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

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