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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[Q3] Prakash Amritraj (IND,549) bt (7) James Ward (GBR,250) 57 64 64
[Q3] (5) Rajeev Ram (USA,132) bt (4) Kenny De Schepper (FRA,119) 76(9) 46 61

[R1] (WC) Yuki Bhambri (IND,217) l (6) Robin Haase (NED,56) 57 36
[R1] (Q) Prakash Amritraj (IND,549) vs Guillaume Rufin (FRA,90)
[R1] (Q) Rajeev Ram (USA,132) vs Dudi Sela (ISR,109)

Doubles
[R1] (WC) Sanam Singh (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) l Benoit Paire (FRA)/ Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI) 26 75 7-10

In the first set Prakash missed break point in 9th game ... Prakash had 2 more break points at 15-40 in 11th game but he missed those ... Ward broke him in 11th game to win the set ... In the second set Prakash broke Ward in 1st game after that Ward created couple of break point chances On Kash's serve ... Kash hold his serves and kept single break advantage for winning this set ... In the final set again Prakash broke Ward in 1st game but Ward immediately broke Kash to make it 1-all ... Prakash again broke Ward in 3rd game to lead 2-1 ... After that both players hold their respective service games ... Prakash converted 3rd match point in 10th game after saving a break point for a win in 2 hours and 23 minutes ... Happy to see at least one Indian qualify for main-draw through qualifying ... Next he is facing Frenchman Guillaume Rufin in the first round ... Go Kash.

Rajeev won the first set in very long and tight tie-break but De Schepper broke him in 7h game of the second set ... That break helped De Schepper to make it one set all ... Rajeev dominated the final set and won it with double break ... Rajeev is facing Israeli Dudi Sela in the first round.

Yuki was matching his game with seeded Robin from the first game ... Both players had few break point opportunities which they failed to convert ... But Robin take crucial break in 12th game to win the first set when Yuki was serving for the remaining in the set ... After winning the first set Robin started to look better player on the court ... Yuki's body language wasn't encouraging ... Until 7th game both players hold their respective services but Robin take crucial break of serve on Yuki's serve in 8th game ... After this Robin hold comfortably with big four services to won this match ... In the second set Yuki failed to raise his game.

In doubles match in the start Sanam was struggling with his service returns, Paire and Wawrinka take full advantage to win the first set ... In the second set our pair was early break down but they came back strongly in the match breaking opponent's serve twice ... In that crucial break came in 12th break ... In match tie-break one time Paire and Wawrinka were leading 2-5 but Vishnu and Sanam fought back to lead 7-6 ... After that Paire and Wawrinka showed their experience to win next 4 points to clinch the match in their favor.
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At $1M Brisbane International 2013, Australia (WTA Premier)

[R1] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA) bt Vera Dushevina (RUS)/ Olga Govortsova (BLR) 64 62

Winning start of new 2013 season for Sania with Bethanie ... They defeated their Russian-Belarus pair in straight sets in Premier event.

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

[Q1] (1) Ruben Bemelmans (BEL,111) bt (WC) Ajai Selvaraj (IND,1127) 61 60
[Q1] Vishnu Vardhan (IND,344) bt Sanam Singh (IND,297) 67(3) 64 63
[Q1] Sidharth Rawat (IND,929) bt (WC) Vignesh Peranamallur (IND,1125) 63 63
[Q1] Vijayant Malik (IND,539) bt N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND,572) 46 63 75
[Q1] Prakash Amritraj (IND,549) bt (3) Yuichi Sugita (JPN,117) 64 36 63
[Q1] Theodoros Angelinos (GRE,502) bt (WC) Neeraj Elangovan (IND,1545) 62 60
[Q1] Saketh Myneni (IND,384) bt Mohit Mayur Jayaprakash (IND,996) 63 64
[Q1] (4) Kenny De Schepper (FRA,119) bt Arjun Kadhe (IND,1106) 61 62
[Q1] N. Sriram Balaji (IND,328) bt (WC) Elwin Antony (IND,1515) 63 64
[Q1] Divij Sharan (IND,1015) bt Ashwin Vijayragavan (IND,812) 75 63
[Q1] (5) Rajeev Ram (USA,132) bt Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,796) 64 61

[Q2] (1) Ruben Bemelmans (BEL,111) bt Vishnu Vardhan (IND,344) 64 46 61
[Q2] Filip Krajinovic (SRB,420) bt Sidharth Rawat (IND,929) 63 62
[Q2] (6) Cedrik-Marcel Stebe (GER,177) bt Vijayant Malik (IND,539) 62 46 75
[Q2] Prakash Amritraj (IND,549) bt Theodoros Angelinos (GRE,502) 64 64
[Q2] (4) Kenny De Schepper (FRA,119) bt N. Sriram Balaji (IND,328) 64 36 61
[Q2] (5) Rajeev Ram (USA,132) bt Divij Sharan (IND,1015) 60 36 61
[Q2] (7) James Ward (GBR,250) bt Saketh Myneni (IND,384) 36 63 64

As expected cracker match between Sanam and Vishnu which lasted for 2 hours and 20 minutes ... Despite struggling with his 1st serve Sanam produced fighting performance against Vishnu ... After a win Vishnu played excellent second qualifying round against top-seed Ruben Bemelmans in first 2 sets before tiredness in the final ... Vijayant also played excellent match against Stebe ... In the fianl set Vijayant was early break down but fought back breaking Stebe in 8th game but Stebe broke him 11th game for a win ... Superb win by Prkash over in-form Sugita in three sets ... In the second qualifying round Prakash scored comfortable straight games with a single break in both sets over Angelinos ... In other match Balaji was break down after losing the first set against De Schepper but Balaji broke back to make it 3-all ... Bala again broke De Schepper in 8th game and won the second set after winning 4 games in a row from 2-3 ... In the final set De Schepper broke Balaji in 2nd game and take 3-0 lead and with another break of serve De Schepper won this set comfortably ... Rajeev started confidently and won the first set without losing a single game against Divij ... Divij fought back in the second and managed to win it despite failing to won a single game in the first set ... In the third Rajeev dominated winning it breaking Divij twice ... Saketh had excellent start against Ward ... He won the first set but then failed to keep momentum in next two sets and lost them with a single break ... In the final set Saketh was up with a break at 4-2 but Ward won next 4 games breaking Saketh's serve twice.

Prakash having a very good chance for qualifying for the main-draw ... In the final qualifying he is facing Britisher James Ward.

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

[Q1] (1) Ruben Bemelmans (BEL,111) vs (WC) Ajai Selvaraj (IND,1127)
[Q1] Vishnu Vardhan (IND,344) vs Sanam Singh (IND,297)
[Q1] Sidharth Rawat (IND,929) vs (WC) Vignesh Peranamallur (IND,1125)
[Q1] (2) Philipp Petzschner (GER,115) vs Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND,518)
[Q1] Vijayant Malik (IND,539) vs N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND,572)
[Q1] (3) Yuichi Sugita (JPN,117) vs Prakash Amritraj (IND,549)
[Q1] Theodoros Angelinos (GRE,502) vs (WC) Neeraj Elangovan (IND,1545)
[Q1] Saketh Myneni (IND,384) vs Mohit Mayur Jayaprakash (IND,996)
[Q1] (4) Kenny De Schepper (FRA,119) vs Arjun Kadhe (IND,1106)
[Q1] N. Sriram Balaji (IND,328) vs (WC) Elwin Antony (IND,1515)
[Q1] Ashwin Vijayragavan (IND,812) vs Divij Sharan (IND,1015)
[Q1] (5) Rajeev Ram (IND,132) vs Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,796)

[R1] (WC) Somdev Devvarman (IND,663) vs Jan Hajek (CZE,106)
[R1] (WC) Yuki Bhambri (IND,217) vs (6) Robin Haase (NED,56)

Doubles
[R1] (1) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Daniel Nestor (IND) vs (WC) N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Jeevan Neduchezhiyan (IND)
[R1] (3) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Rajeev Ram (IND) vs Yen-Hsun Lu (TPE)/ Go Soeda (JPN)
[R1] (WC) Sanam Singh (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) vs Benoit Paire (FRA)/ Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI)
[R1] (2) Leander Paes (IND)/ Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) vs Sanchai Ratiwatana (THA)/ Sonchat Ratiwatana (THA)

Really crap draw for Sanam and Vishnu ... Both had a decent chance of qualifying for main-draw with little favorable draw but now winner between them will face Belgian top-seed Bemelmans in the qualifying second round ... Prakash is having tough qualifying first round against 3rd seed Japanese Sugita.

Somi having decent first round against Jan Hajek but Yuki had tough match against top-60 Robin Haase.

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

The organizers announced wild-cards for singles and doubles ... In the singles Somdev and Yuki r getting deserving wild-cards ... In the doubles Yuki receive wild-card with Vishnu but second wild-card given to local pair Jeevan and Balaji ... I feel injustice for promising pairing of Purav and Divij as both need some encouragement from local associations to push their rankings inside top-100.

In the doubles, Mahesh will be top-seed with Nestor ... Leander is playing with 43rd ranked Frenchman Edouard Roger-Vasselin and they most probably will be 2nd seed ... Rohan is starting his new year with his new partner Rajeev Ram so they will be 3rd seed in the draw.
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At $25K ITF Women's Tournament, Pune, India

Doubles
[SF] (4) Jia Xiang Lu (CHN)/ Jia Jing Lu (Chn) bt Nidhi Chilumula (IND)/ Sheng Nan Sun (CHN) 2-3 Retd.

With this end of the Indian challenge in this tournament.