Tennis News
At $450K Chennai Open 2012 , India

Singles wild-crad went to Vishnu Vardhan and Yuki Bhambri, I think who r deserving candidates for wild-card so kudos to organizers foe selecting them ... Also in a way it is good for Karan that he is playing in qualies, will boost his confidence after winning these matches.

Last year David Goffin qualified for the tournament and defeated Sommy very easily, 62 64 ... In the second round he lost against Stanislas Wawrinka in 2 tie-breaks ... So fair enough that IMG decided to give their wild-card to him.

In doubles Jeevan and Balaji r receiving one of the doubles wild-card ... Hoping second will be given to Purav and Divij.

In singles this time Somdev Devvarman is having direct entry with his current ranking ... In doubles our new pairing Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna will start their 2012 season with this tournament ... Other hand Leander Paes is partnering Serbian Janko Tipsarevic in the doubles draw but after that Lee is partnering Czech Radek Stepanek on the tour in season 2012.
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At the Asia/Oceania zone Group II, Shenzhen, China

Indian Fed Team - Sania Mirza, Rutuja Bhonsle, Isha Lakhani and Prerna Bhambri
Captain - Rohit Rajpal
Coach - Enrico Piperno

AITA announced Fed Cup team for the Asia/Oceania zone Group II which will be held in Shenzhen, China from January 30 to February 4, 2012 ... They removed Poojashree Venkatesha, Rushmi Chakravarthy and Aishwarya Srivastava from last year's team and included national champion Rutuja Bhonsle, Isha Lakhani and Prerna Bhambri in the four-member squad.

Surprised to see Isha's selection considering these days she is not regular on the tour and more having interest in coaching.

Tennis News
At $10K F12 India Futures, Kolkata (clay)

Singles Final
Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND,661) bt N. Sriram Balaji (IND,1016) 62 61

Jeevan lifted his 2nd ITF futures title in 4 weeks ... 2 weeks back he lifted $15K title in Pune and today he lifted this $10K title at Kolkata scoring very dominating win.

Balaji started positively, taking early break he take 2-0 lead but after that it was one-way traffic of Jeevan ... He won 12 games from next 13 games played and in that he won the first set winning 6 games in a row ... Jeevan gave very tough lesson to Balaji in this match.

With this win Jeevan will rise to around 550 in ATP ranking playing just 5 tournaments after his US college ... Good foundation for 2012 season.

Tennis News
At $10K F12 India Futures, Kolkata

[SF] Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND,661) bt (4) Karunuday Singh (IND,662) 64 61
[SF] N. Sriram Balaji (IND,1016) bt (3) N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND,616) 62 61

Doubles Final
(2) N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Kaza Vinayak Sharma (IND) bt (3) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND) 63 46 10-3

Balaji in the line of double after winning doubles title with Kaza ... In the singles final he is facing in-form Jeevan.

In the semis Balaji scored very dominating win over Vijay Sundar ... Jeevan also dominated against Karunuday ... Interesting match to watch.

Tennis News
At $10K F12 India Futures, Kolkata

[QF] Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND,661) bt (1) Junn MItsuhashi (JPN,376) 5-1 Retd
[QF] (4) Karunuday Singh (IND,662) bt (7) Mate Pavic (CRO,909) 64 63
[QF] (3) N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND,616) bt (6) Jaime Pulgar-Garcia (ESP,883) 75 63
[QF] N. Sriram Balaji (IND,1016) bt PC Vignesh (IND,1003) 61 64

Doubles
[QF] PERANAMALLUR (IND)/ WAGH (IND) bt (4) MANUJA (IND)/ VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) 26 75 12-10

[SF] (3) NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND)/ PRASHANTH (IND) bt (1) PAVIC (CRO)/ PULGAR-GARCIA (ESP) 61 75
[SF] (2) BALAJI (IND)/ SHARMA (IND) bt PERANAMALLUR (IND)/ WAGH (IND) 76(9) 62

Great, guaranteed another title for Indian ... :) This 4 weeks of futures turn into memorable one ... Kudos to Indian players for taking advantage of it.

Junn retired from his match after double break down against Jeevan ... Karunuday scored good straight sets win over Croatian ... Balaji scored comfortable win over Vignesh to book his match against Vijay Sundar, who scored straight sets win over Spanish player.

Interesting singles semi-finals ... The first between doubles partners and the second between Balaji and Vijay Sundar.

Tennis News
At $10K F12 India Futures, Kolkata

[R2] (1) Junn MItsuhashi (JPN,376) bt Chandril Sood (IND,1743) 63 46 61
[R2] Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND,661) bt (5) Kaza Vinayak Sharma (IND,810) 62 61
[R2] (4) Karunuday Singh (IND,662) bt Akash Wagh (IND,1338) 16 61 62
[R2] (7) Mate Pavic (CRO,909) bt (WC) Sunil Kumar Sipaeya (IND,1460) 61 26 64
[R2] (6) Jaime Pulgar-Garcia (ESP,883) bt (Q) Hasier Pastor (ESP,UNR) 62 60
[R2] (3) N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND,616) bt (Q) Andre Gaspar Murta (POR,UNR) 64 61
[R2] N. Sriram Balaji (IND,1016) bt (8) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,930) 61 36 62
[R2] PC Vignesh (IND,1003) bt (2) Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND,535) 76(5) 26 60

Doubles Quarter Finals
(1) PAVIC (CRO)/ PULGAR-GARCIA (ESP) bt MAHESHWARI (IND)/ TIWARI (IND) 75 60
(3) NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND)/ PRASHANTH (IND) bt JAYAPRAKASH (IND)/ SIPAEYA (IND) 64 62
PERANAMALLUR (IND)/ WAGH (IND) bt (4) MANUJA (IND)/ VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) 62 4-4 (match abandoned)
(2) BALAJI (IND)/ SHARMA (IND) bt ANAND (IND)/ THAKKAR (IND) 67(5) 63 10-7

Superb dominated win by Jeevan which was expected ... Vignesh scored huge upset beating 2nd seed Ranjeet but I think some fitness issue with Ranjeet as he struggled with fitness in Pune also ... Balaji scored another win over young Ramkumar and having good chance to go deep in this futures.

At $10K F12 India Futures, Kolkata

[R1] (1) Junn MItsuhashi (JPN,376) bt (Q) Rajat Maheswari (IND,UNR) 63 61
[R1] Chandril Sood (IND,1743) bt (Q) Abilash Srivastava (IND,UNR) 61 62
[R1] Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND,661) bt Vignesh Veerabhadran (IND,1625) 61 63
[R1] (5) Kaza Vinayak Sharma (IND,810) bt (WC) Lakshit Sood (IND,UNR) 64 46 64
[R1] (4) Karunuday Singh (IND,662) bt (Q) Arpit Sharma (IND,UNR) 76(3) 61
[R1] Akash Wagh (IND,1338) bt (Q) Yokesh Pagat (IND,UNR) 57 64 60
[R1] (WC) Sunil Kumar Sipaeya (IND,1460) bt Keita Koyama (JPN,1344) 61 63
[R1] (7) Mate Pavic (CRO,909) bt Saurabh Patil (IND,1625) 61 61
[R1] (6) Jaime Pulgar-Garcia (ESP,883) bt (WC) Kunal Anand (IND,1866) 76(3) 46 63
[R1] (Q) Hasier Pastor (ESP,UNR) bt Abhijeet Tiwari (IND,1327) 63 62
[R1] (Q) Andre Gaspar Murta (POR,UNR) bt Neeraj Elangovan (IND,1414) 26 60 62
[R1] (3) N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND,616) bt Mohit Mayur Jayaprakash (IND,1159) 36 63 63
[R1] (8) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,930) bt (LL) Rakshay Thakkar (IND,1625) 62 63
[R1] N. Sriram Balaji (IND,1016) bt (WC) Ajai Selvaraj (IND,UNR) 62 36 60
[R1] PC Vignesh (IND,1003) bt (Q) Ronak Manuja (IND,UNR) 26 64 62
[R1] (2) Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (IND,535) bt (Q) Elwin Antony (IND,UNR) 63 62

Doubles First Round
(1) PAVIC (CRO)/ PULGAR-GARCIA (ESP) bt ANTONY (IND)/ ELANGOVAN (IND) 64 60
MAHESHWARI (IND)/ TIWARI (IND) bt (WC) PHOGAT (IND)/ RAJPUT (IND) 61 63
(3) NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND)/ PRASHANTH (IND) bt GASPAR MURTA (POR)/ GROTEMEYER (USA) 61 46 10-5
JAYAPRAKASH (IND)/ SIPAEYA (IND) bt RAMANATHAN (IND)/ RUIZ-CADENAS (ESP) 61 64
PERANAMALLUR (IND)/ WAGH (IND) bt PATIL (IND)/ SHARMA (IND) 63 62
(4) MANUJA (IND)/ VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt KHAN (IND)/ VEERABADRAN (IND) 63 62
ANAND (IND)/ THAKKAR (IND) bt (WC) MOHAMMED (IND)/ SELVARAJ (IND) 76(4) 62
(2) BALAJI (IND)/ SHARMA (IND) bt (WC) SOOD (IND)/ SOOD (IND) 64 63

Happy to see Ramkumar and Sunil earned their first point of the Indian futures ... Interesting match on clay for Ramkumar and Balaji in the second round.

Mohit Mayur lost opportunity of upsetting Vijay Sundar ... In decider he was up 3-1 before losing 5 games in a row.

Abhijeet Tiwari and Neeraj Elangovan lost against un-ranked European qualifiers ... But good to see Akash managed to grab a point beating qualifier ... Otherwise expected results.

Tennis News
At Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, London, England

[SF] (4) Leander Peas (IND)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) l (8) Mariusz Fyrstenberg (POL)/ Marcin Matkowski (POL) 46 64 6-10

In the first set Polish pair take crucial break in 10th game breaking Mahesh's serve converting 2nd break point to won the first set ... In the second set Poles started positively and broke Lee in 2nd game to take 2-0 lead ... Immediately Lee and Hesh responded breaking Poles twice to take 3-2 lead ... Again both pairs traded break but Indians take crucial break in 9th game breaking Matkowski before Lee hold his serve to won the second set ... In super tie-break Lee and Hesh take 3-0 lead but after that Poles won 9 points from 11 points played to take control and winning this semi-final.
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At $15K F11 India Futures, New Delhi

Singles Final
(2) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND,394) bt (8) Rohan GAJJAR (IND,578) 64 46 64

Vishnu scored hard fought win over Rohan in 3 hrs match despite groin pain ... Both players played good tennis in patches but gave their all in this match ... Vishnu take crucial break in 10th game to won the first set ... After losing the first set Rohan fought back breaking Vishnu in 7th game and then saved 3 break point on his serve in next game to won that ... In desider despite injury Vishnu fought hard ... He saved 4 break points in 7th game before breaking Rohan in 10th game to complete victory.

Tennis News
At Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, London, England

Group B
(4) Leander Peas (IND)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) bt (1) Mike Bryan (USA)/ Bob Bryan (USA) 64 62

In their final tournament before another split, Indian Express delivered ... They defeated top-seed Bryans showing authority in 58 minutes ... Our pair take only break of the first set in 3rd game on Mike's serve when he double faulted ... In the second set Lee and Hesh broke Bob's serve twice in 1st and 5th game to won this match comfortably ... With this win Lee and Hesh evened their career record against the best doubles pair in history (on record) at 3-3.

With this win they qualified for the semis topping the Group A with 2-1 (W-L) record ... In the semis they will face challenge of Poles Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski.

Really sad to think this is their last tournament before split ... Please guys think over ur decision.
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At $35K+H Toyota Challenger, Japan

[QF] Yuki BHambri (IND,384) l (3) Yuichi Sugita (JPN,201) 26 16

Yuki received beating from 3rd seed Yuichi Sugita in one-sided match ... Still good show by Yuki reaching in the quarters as unseeded player in this Japanese challenger.
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At $15K F11 India Futures, New Delhi

[SF] (8) Rohan GAJJAR (IND,578) bt (7) Ranjit VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,563) 76(3) 62
[SF] (2) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND,394) bt (4) Daniel COX (GBR,422) 63 64

Doubles Final
(1) Karan RASTOGI (IND)/ Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) bt N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Vijayant MALIK (IND) 61 63

Vishnu won comfortably with a break in both sets against Cox ... Rohan also scored straight sets win over Ranjeet to enter in his second $15K futures final.

Karan and Vishnu lifted doubles title with convincing win.

Chess News
At 2011 Women's World Chess Championship, Tirana, Albania

Game 8 - Thursday, November 24, 2011
Humpy Koneru (IND) ½-½ Hou Yifan (CHN) (Final score 2½-5½)

In this game Humpy neded victory to stay in the match but Hou Yifan played perfect game to draw match with Black ... And Hou Yifan (China) remains the World Champion defeating Humpy with 5½-2½ score.
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At the 6th Tal Memorial, Moscow, Russia

Round 8 - Thursday, November 24, 2011
Magnus Carlsen ½ ½ Ian Nepomniachtchi
Levon Aronian 1-0 Peter Svidler
Vladimir Kramnik ½ ½ Sergey Karjakin
Vassily Ivanchuk ½ ½ Boris Gelfand
Viswanathan Anand ½ ½ Hikaru Nakamura

Continuous 8th draw for Anand but this time Anand missed chance of taking upperhand ... Levon Aronian scored victory over Svidler to take sole lead ... Now in the final round Aronian need draw to grab the title ... In the last round next Anand is facing Boris Gelfand, his opponent from World Championship match.

Tennis News

It is official now that Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi will split at the end of this season ... And new pairing of Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna will participate in season opener Chennai Open ... Sad to see orginal Indian Express is breaking before 2012 London Olympics.

Leander Paes is thinking of partnering Radek Štěpánek in Chennai Open but personally I feel Lee should give a try with Somdev Devvarman here ... If that clicks then this can be good pairing for London Olympics.
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At Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, London, England

Group A
(5) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) l (8) Mariusz Fyrstenberg (POL)/ Marcin Matkowski (POL) 26 16

Aisam and Rohan received thrashing from Polish team in totally one-sided match ... Polish pair won this match in 49 minutes ... In the first set they lost only 5 points on their serve ... Our pair had 3 break points in 4th game, 15-40, but they failed to convert ... Other hand Polish pair broke them in 3rd and 7th to won the first set ... In the second set they take 4-0 lead without losing a single point on their serve ... They broke Bops 3rd time in the match in 7th game to complete humiliation ... So with that Aisam and Bops ended their debute 0-3 at ATP Tour Finals.
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At $35K+H Toyota Challenger, Japan

[R2] Yuki BHambri (IND,384) bt (8) Jimmy Wang (TPE,287) 57 64 62

[QF] Yuki BHambri (IND,384) vs (3) Yuichi Sugita (JPN,201)

Terrific comeback win by Yuki over former top 100 player ... Jimmy Wang was world-class junior as in 2001 he lost the AO junior singles final to Tipsarevic and the US Open junior final to Giles Muller at that time he was 16 yrs old ... In 2006 he entered into top 100 but last 2 year he was out due to injury and made comeback in 2011 ... So really good win for Yuki against this experienced player in the challenger.

Next he is having tough match against 3rd seed Sugita, who defeated Somdev in our Davis cup tie.
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At $15K F11 India Futures, New Delhi

[QF] (7) Ranjit VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,563) bt (1) Junn MITSUHASHI (JPN,388) 26 61 63
[QF] (8) Rohan GAJJAR (IND,578) bt (WC) Saketh MYNENI (IND,UNR) 36 76(5) 75
[QF] (4) Daniel COX (GBR,422) bt (Q) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,1006) 63 60
[QF] (2) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND,394) bt (5) Vijayant MALIK (IND,490) 61 60

Doubles
[SF] (1) Karan RASTOGI (IND)/ Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) bt Richard BECKER (GER)/ Nikolaus MOSER (AUT) 61 61
[SF] N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Vijayant MALIK (IND) bt (4) Weerapat DOAKMAIKLEE (THA)/ Kirati SIRIBUTWONG (THA) 64 16 10-4

Ranjit scored huge upset beating top-seed in comeback win ... Saketh stretched Rohan but failed to win match in the second set ... In end terrific fighting win for Rohan against in-form Saketh.

Cox won easily against Balaji in the quarters and Vishnu toyed Vijayant in one-sided match.

All Indians final in doubles as Balaji and Vijayant defeated 4th seed Thai pair in the semis.

Tennis News
At Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, London, England

Group A
(4) Leander Peas (IND)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) bt Jurgen Melzer (AUT)/ Philipp Petzschner (GER)

After disappointing first 3 days at last Mahesh and Lee managed to score victory in ATP Tour Finals ... After their one sided loss against Lindstedt and Tecau this was much needed victory for them ... Now for qualifying for the semis they still have herculean task to beat Bryans in their last match.

Indians broke Petzschner in 4th game but Petzschner and Melzer fought back breaking Mahesh's serve in next game ... In 12th game Lee and Mahesh had 4 set points at 0-40 but Petzschner saved 3 of those with big serves but our pair won next on sudden death deuce to win this set ... In the second set Mahesh saved break points in 5th game and then broke Petzschner when hit 2 double faults from 30/30 in 8th game ... Then Mahesh hold her serve to love and completed the victory ... Now Mahesh and Lee having 1-1 (W-L) record in the ATP Tour Finals.
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At $35K+H Toyota Challenger, Japan

[R1] (2) Purav Raja (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) l Peng Gao (CHN)/ Wan Gao (CHN) 76(1) 67(5) 5-10

Very close but tough loss for 2nd seed Purav and Divij against futures level Chinese pair ... They lost super tie-break easily but before that both pairs shared a set in tie-breaks.
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At $15K F11 India Futures, New Delhi

[R2] (1) Junn MITSUHASHI (JPN,388) bt James MARSALEK (GBR,795) 26 76(1) 76(1)
[R2] (7) Ranjit VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,563) bt (Q) Abhijeet TIWARI (IND,1317) 64 62
[R2] (WC) Saketh MYNENI (IND,UNR) bt (SE) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND,1511) 46 62 62
[R2] (8) Rohan GAJJAR (IND,578) bt Richard BECKER (GER,594) 61 75
[R2] (Q) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,1006) bt (6) Nikolaus MOSER (AUT,523) 76(7) 63
[R2] (4) Daniel COX (GBR,422) bt (Q) Weerapat DOAKMAIKLEE (THA,1326) 63 75
[R1] (5) Vijayant MALIK (IND,490) bt Mate PAVIC (CRO,892) 16 62 63
[R2] (2) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND,394) bt (WC) Kunal ANAND (IND,1802) 64 61

Doubles
[QF] (1) Karan RASTOGI (IND)/ Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) bt (WC) Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND)/ Saketh MYNENI (IND) 64 46 10-6
[QF] Richard BECKER (GER)/ Nikolaus MOSER (AUT) bt (3) Rohan GAJJAR (IND)/ Alexander SATSCHKO (GER) 64 63
[QF] (4) Weerapat DOAKMAIKLEE (THA)/ Kirati SIRIBUTWONG (THA) bt Ronak MANUJA (IND)/ Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) 64 63
[QF] N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Vijayant MALIK (IND) bt Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND)/ Sunil-Kumar SIPAEYA (IND) 63 60

After losing the first set Saketh comfortably won next two against last week's $15K futures title winner Jeevan ... Superb upset win by Balaji over Austrian seeded Moser in straight sets ... So 6 Indians r in singles quarters but in doubles only 2 Indian pair in the semis.

Tennis News
At Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, London, England

Group B
(5) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) l (2) Michael Llodra (FRA)/ Nenad Zimonjic (SRB) 67(6) 36

In the first set both pairs traded a single break .. In tie-break our pair was up with mini-break at 4-2 and 6-3 but they failed to push advantage and lost the first set ... In the second set our pair lost serve twice to lose this match and with that their chances of reaching semis ended.
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At $35K+H Toyota Challenger, Japan

[R1] Yuki BHambri (IND,384) bt (LL) Shuichi Sekiguchi (JPN,764) 75 76(1)

[R2] Yuki BHambri (IND,384) vs (8) Jimmy Wang (TPE,287)

Good win by Yuki against local lucky loser on tricky Japanese court ... Next he is having match against experienced Wang.
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At $15K F11 India Futures, New Delhi

[R1] (1) Junn MITSUHASHI (JPN,388) bt Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,909) 62 64
[R1] James MARSALEK (GBR,795) bt Ivan ARENAS-GUALDA (ESP,670) 57 63 61
[R1] (Q) Abhijeet TIWARI (IND,1317) bt Kaza Vinayak SHARMA (IND,820) 63 75
[R1] (7) Ranjit VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,563) bt Jaime PULGAR-GARCIA (ESP,868) 61 1-0 Retd
[R1] (WC) Saketh MYNENI (IND,UNR) bt (3) Karan RASTOGI (IND,400) 57 64 75
[R1] (SE) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND,1511) bt (WC) Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND,1374) 57 62 60
[R1] Richard BECKER (GER,594) bt (Q) Lakshit SOOD (IND,UNR) 63 63
[R1] (8) Rohan GAJJAR (IND,578) bt (Q) Abdulla Maqdas (KUW,973) 64 63
[R1] (6) Nikolaus MOSER (AUT,523) bt Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND,992) 64 62
[R1] (Q) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,1006) bt (Q) Keita KOYAMA (JPN,1334) 60 60
[R1] (Q) Weerapat DOAKMAIKLEE (THA,1326) bt (Q) Sunil-Kumar SIPAEYA (IND,1802) 64 64
[R1] (4) Daniel COX (GBR,422) bt Perakiat SIRILUETHAIWATTANA (THA,777) 62 61
[R1] (5) Vijayant MALIK (IND,490) bt (Q) Ajai SELVARAJ (IND,UNR) 61 62
[R1] Mate PAVIC (CRO,892) bt (LL) Chandril SOOD (IND,1625) 62 61
[R1] (WC) Kunal ANAND (IND,1802) bt (WC) Saurabh SINGH (IND,UNR) 62 76(5)
[R1] (2) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND,394) bt Alexander SATSCHKO (GER,785) 62 63

Doubles
[R1] (1) Karan RASTOGI (IND)/ Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) bt Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND)/ Ranjit VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) 57 64 10-7
[R1] (WC) Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND)/ Saketh MYNENI (IND) bt Saurabh PATIL (IND)/ Vignesh VEERABADRAN (IND) 60 62
[R1] (3) Rohan GAJJAR (IND)/ Alexander SATSCHKO (GER) bt (WC) Rishabdev RAMAN (IND)/ Saurabh SINGH (IND) 61 75
[R1] Richard BECKER (GER)/ Nikolaus MOSER (AUT) bt Keita KOYAMA (JPN)/ Mate PAVIC (CRO) 63 76(5)
[R1] Ronak MANUJA (IND)/ Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) bt (WC) Chandril SOOD (IND)/ Lakshit SOOD (IND) 64 36 10-7
[R1] (4) Weerapat DOAKMAIKLEE (THA)/ Kirati SIRIBUTWONG (THA) bt Kaza Vinayak SHARMA (IND)/ Vivek SHOKEEN (IND) 76(5) 64
[R1] Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND)/ Sunil-Kumar SIPAEYA (IND) bt Kunal ANAND (IND)/ Ankit SACHDEVA (IND) 75 64
[R1] N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Vijayant MALIK (IND) bt (2) Ivan ARENAS-GUALDA (ESP)/ Jaime PULGAR-GARCIA (ESP) 62 62

Expected win by Saketh after he missed the chance of winning in Pune futures ... Interesting match-up between 2 ex-college players, Jeevan and Saketh ... Both will play this second round match with huge confidence after their first title wins in last 2 weeks ... Saketh having advantage with his huge serve and better court coverage but Jeevan can produce surprise with his powerful forehands and smart play .

Tennis News
At Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, London, England

Group A
[R1] (4) Leander Peas (IND)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) l (6) Robert Lindstedt (SWE)/ Horia Tecau (ROU) 67(6) 16

Worst possible start for our pair ... There were 4 breaks of serve in the first set, which Lindstedt and Tecau could have won the set 6-4, but Lindstedt hit a double fault on sudden death deuce ... Lee and Mahesh converted only 2 of 11 break points in this set ... In tie-break our pair had 2 set points at 6-4 but they failed to covert it ... In the second set Mahesh lost his serve twice to and our pair lost this set easily.
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At $15K F11 India Futures, New Delhi

[R1] (1) Junn MITSUHASHI (JPN,388) bt Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,909) 62 64
[R1] James MARSALEK (GBR,795) bt Ivan ARENAS-GUALDA (ESP,670) 57 63 61
[R1] (Q) Abhijeet TIWARI (IND,1317) bt Kaza Vinayak SHARMA (IND,820) 63 75
[R1] Richard BECKER (GER,594) bt (Q) Lakshit SOOD (IND,UNR) 63 63
[R1] (6) Nikolaus MOSER (AUT,523) bt Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND,992) 64 62
[R1] (Q) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,1006) bt (Q) Keita KOYAMA (JPN,1334) 60 60
[R1] (Q) Weerapat DOAKMAIKLEE (THA,1326) bt (Q) Sunil-Kumar SIPAEYA (IND,1802) 64 64
[R1] (WC) Kunal ANAND (IND,1802) bt (WC) Saurabh SINGH (IND,UNR) 62 76(5)

Doubles
[R1] (1) Karan RASTOGI (IND)/ Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) bt Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND)/ Ranjit VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) 57 64 10-7
[R1] (WC) Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND)/ Saketh MYNENI (IND) bt Saurabh PATIL (IND)/ Vignesh VEERABADRAN (IND) 60 62
[R1] (3) Rohan GAJJAR (IND)/ Alexander SATSCHKO (GER) bt (WC) Rishabdev RAMAN (IND)/ Saurabh SINGH (IND) 61 75
[R1] (4) Weerapat DOAKMAIKLEE (THA)/ Kirati SIRIBUTWONG (THA) bt Kaza Vinayak SHARMA (IND)/ Vivek SHOKEEN (IND) 76(5) 64

Disappointing loss of Sunil against fellow Thai qualifier ... Ramkumar is struggling on Indian futures though he was facing top-seed ... Abhijeet scored upset win over Kaza and Kunal earned his first ATP point of Indian futures ... Balaji double bagel Japanese qualifier.

Bad day for Kaza as he lost in doubles first round with Vivek against 4th seed Thai pair ... Jeevan and Ranjeet stretched top-seed Karan and Vishnu in their match but dominated start for Saketh and Mohit Mayur in doubles.

Tennis News
At Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, London, England

Group B
[R1] (5) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) l (3) Max Mirnyi (BLR)/ Daniel Nestor (CAN) 67(2) 6-4 9-11

Mirnyi and Nestor take 2-0 and 4-2 leads but both time Bops and Aisam fought back breaking Nestor's serve ... Bops and Aisam wasted a sudden death set point on Mirnyi's serve at 5-4 ... After that Mirnyi and Nestor take control of tie-break to won the first set ... In the second set Bops and Aisam saved 3 break points from 0-40 on Aisam's serve in 2nd game ... They broke Nestor's serve in 5th game and then kept this advantage to win the second set ... In super tie-break Bops and Aisam take early lead with mini-break, 3-1 ... But when they were leading 6-3 Mirnyi and Nestor came back taking mini-break to level 6-all ... Bops and Aisam again take lead with mini-break, 8-6, but again Mirnyi and Nestor broke back ... Bops and Aisam saved a match point at 8-9 but Mirnyi and Nestor take crucial mini-break on 19th point on Aisam's serve ... Nestor served ace to complete the victory.
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At $35K+H Toyota Challenger, Japan

[R1] Yuki BHambri (IND,384) vs Catalin Gard (ROU,516)

Doubles
[R1] (2) Purav Raja (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) vs Peng Gao (CHN)/ Wan Gao (CHN)

Yuki is in singles and getting favorable draw ... Purav and Divij r 2nd seed in doubles and facing tricky Chinese pair in the first round.
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At $15K F11 India Futures, New Delhi

[R1] (1) Junn MITSUHASHI (JPN,388) vs Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,909)
[R1] Ivan ARENAS-GUALDA (ESP,670) vs James MARSALEK (GBR,795)
[R1] Kaza Vinayak SHARMA (IND,820) vs (Q) Abhijeet TIWARI (IND,1317)
[R1] (7) Ranjit VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,563) vs Jaime PULGAR-GARCIA (ESP,868
[R1] (3) Karan RASTOGI (IND,400) vs (WC) Saketh MYNENI (IND,UNR)
[R1] (SE) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND,1511) vs (WC) Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND,1374)
[R1] Richard BECKER (GER,594) vs (Q) Lakshit SOOD (IND,UNR)
[R1] (8) Rohan GAJJAR (IND,578) vs (Q) Abdulla Maqdas (KUW,973)
[R1] (6) Nikolaus MOSER (AUT,523) vs Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND,992)
[R1] (Q) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,1006) vs (Q) Keita KOYAMA (JPN,1334)
[R1] (Q) Sunil-Kumar SIPAEYA (IND,1802) vs (Q) Weerapat DOAKMAIKLEE (THA,1326)
[R1] (4) Daniel COX (GBR,422) vs Perakiat SIRILUETHAIWATTANA (THA,777)
[R1] (5) Vijayant MALIK (IND,490) vs (Q) Ajai SELVARAJ (IND,UNR)
[R1] Karunuday SINGH (IND,697) vs Mate PAVIC (CRO,892)
[R1] (WC) Kunal ANAND (IND,1802) vs (WC) Saurabh SINGH (IND,UNR)
[R1] (2) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND,394) vs Alexander SATSCHKO (Ger,785)

Unbelievable draw, cruel is an understatement ... Karan, Saketh, Jeevan, Ramkumar and Mohit Mayur r getting worst possible draw.

This week I m hoping upset from Ramkumar as Junn is struggling with his fitness ... Saketh can upset Karan, this is huge match of the first round ... Other hand good opportunity of grabbing their first ranking point of Indian futures for Sunil, Balaji, Kunal and Saurabh.

Tennis News
At $15K F10 India Futures, Pune

Singles Final
(Q) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND,1514) bt (3) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,395) 64 75

Both players serving well from the start ... Jeevan was looking lot better and fitter in long rallies ... Other hand Vishnu was depending mostly on his big serves ... Jeevan take crucial break in 10th game to win the first set.

In the second set again both players were holding their serves easily ... Vishnu was looking tired after long 3 hrs semi-final against Yuki and Jeevan was looking better player on the court ... Vishnu take medical break for tight muscles and little pain due to side stain ... Vishnu had 2 break points on Jeevan's serve in 9th game but Jeevan saved both with solid serves and UFE from Vishnu ... Second time in the match Vishnu failed to hold his serve while serving for staying in the set ... Jeevan take crucial break in 12th game with couple of down the line and couple of UFEs from Vishnu helped him to lift his fitst $15K Futures title in Pune ... Congratulation for Jeevan for this big title win as an qualifier ... Very happy for him.

Vishnu 11 aces and Jeevan 6 aces in the match.

Tennis News
At $50K Salzburg Challenger, Austria

[SF] (4) Purav Raja (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) l (2) Alexander Waske (GER)/ Lovro Zovko (CRO) 57 76(6) 8-10

After losing the first set our pair did excellent comeback to won the second set in tie-break after saving the match point ... In super tie-break our pair was up 8-6 but after that 2nd seed pair take couple of mini-breaks to win this match ... Still creditable performance by our pair against this experienced pair.
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At $15K F10 India Futures, Pune

Singles Semi Finals
(3) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,395) bt (1) Yuki Bhambri (IND,378) 62 67(3) 75
(Q) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND,1514) bt (6) Ranjit Virali-Murugesan (IND,564) 36 64 Retd.

Doubles Final
(2) Rohan Gajjar (IND)/ Alexander Satschko (GER) bt (1) Karan Rastogi (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) 46 76(1) 10-8

Vishnu struggled in the first set ... Made lots of UFEs and his service wasn't working ... Yuki broke him in 1st and 5th to win the first set comfortably ... In the second set both players hold their service games comfortably ... In 11th game Yuki had a break point but Vishnu saved it ... Vishnu won tie-break comfortably with couple of mini-breaks to take match in the decider ... Dog fight in the third set ... Both raised their game and played excellent tennis ... Vishnu take crucial break converting the first match point in 12th game to complete excellent comeback win ... Creditable comeback by Vishnu, who lost in their last 2 meetings at Nationals and Nigerian futures.

Ranjit started well and was better player on the court in the first set ... But after winning the first set he was troubling with shoulder ... Jeevan take full advantage of it breaking him once to won the second set ... After that Ranjit retired due to shoulder injury ... So singles final is between 2 Chennai players, Vishnu and Jeevan.

In doubles Rohan and Satschko scored excellent comeback win over top-seed pair of Karan and Vishnu ... After losing the first set they won the second set in tie-break ... In super tie-break Rohan and Satschko were 6-8 down and from here they won next 4 points to lift the title.

Tennis News
At $50K Salzburg Challenger, Austria

[QF] (4) Purav Raja (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) bt Maximilian Neuchrist (AUT)/ Tristan-Samuel Weissborn (AUT) 62 62

[SF] (4) Purav Raja (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) vs (2) Alexander Waske (GER)/ Lovro Zovko (CRO)

Another comfortable win by Purav and Divij but next tough match against experienced doubles players.
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At $15K F10 India Futures, Pune

[QF] (1) Yuki BHAMBRI (IND,378) bt (8) Richard BECKER (GER,604) 75 75
[QF] (3) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND,395) bt Karunuday SINGH (IND,696) 61 64
[QF] (6) Ranjit VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,564) bt (4) Karan RASTOGI (IND,401) 36 64 61
[QF] (Q) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND,1514) bt (5) Vijayant MALIK (IND,491) 63 61

Doubles
[SF] (1) RASTOGI (IND)/ VARDHAN (IND) bt NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND)/ SINGH (IND) 76(3) 63
[SF] (2) GAJJAR (IND)/ SATSCHKO (GER) bt JAYAPRAKASH (IND)/ MYNENI (IND) 75 36 10-8

Today Vijayant had bad day and Jeevan played according to plan to take advantage of it ... Jeevan scored really dominating win over Vijayant to book place in the semis ... In this futures Vishnu is in good form ... He is producing clinical performances one after another ... Today also he scored comfortable win over Karunuday.

Karan won the first set but Ranjt fought back to win the second ... From the second set onward Karan struggled to read Ranjit's game and his powerful returns ... Ranjit take a break in 4th game and then another break in 6th game to complete his victory ... Ranjit overpowered Karan in the third to win this match.

Yuki take crucial break in 12th game to win the first set .. In the second set also Yuki broke Becker's serve in 12th game to complete the victory.

In doubles top 2 seeds pairs r in the final in contrasting style ... Saketh and Mohit Mayur gave fighting performance against Rohan and Satschko but failed to convert in a win in STB ... But still creditable performance by last week's winner pair.

Tennis News
News update,

Mahesh denied any split report between him and Lee ... Happy to see that ... He tweeted saying - Just fin practice with Leander. Media with cameras perched in the trees and climbing the walls. Freaked out the members! Disappointed them!!
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At $15K F10 India Futures, Pune

[R2] (1) Yuki BHAMBRI (IND,378) bt Yu CHANG (CHN,868) 16 75 76(3)
[R2] (8) Richard BECKER (GER,604) bt (LL) Abdulla Maqdas (KUW,973) 67(6) 63 61
[R2] (3) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND,395) bt Alexander SATSCHKO (GER,775) 62 61
[R2] Karunuday SINGH (IND,696) bt (7) Rohan GAJJAR (IND,592) 76(5) 63
[R2] (6) Ranjit VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,564) bt (WC) Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND,1369) 61 75
[R2] (4) Karan RASTOGI (IND,401) bt (WC) Saketh MYNENI (IND,UNR) 46 76(6) 76(6)
[R2] (5) Vijayant MALIK (IND,491) bt Kaza Vinayak SHARMA (IND,822) 60 61
[R2] (Q) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND,1514) bt Ivan ARENAS-GUALDA (ESP,677) 63 64

Doubles
[QF] (1) RASTOGI (IND)/ VARDHAN (IND) bt SHARMA (IND)/ SHOKEEN (IND) 63 64
[QF] NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND)/ SINGH (IND) bt BALAJI (IND)/ MALIK (IND) 64 64
[QF] JAYAPRAKASH (IND)/ MYNENI (IND) bt (WC) KADHE (IND)/ RAMANATHAN (IND) 76(2) 63
[QF] (2) GAJJAR (IND)/ SATSCHKO (GER) vs CHANG (CHN)/ MARSALEK (GBR)

Vishnu and Vijayant scored very dominating wins ... Sad to see Kaza's one-sided loss against Vijayant ... Ranjit also moved to quarters with striaght sets victory over Mohit ... Jeevan scored straight sets upset win over Spanish player ... After winning the first set in tie-break Karunuday comfortably take the second set.

As expected match of the day played between Karan and Saketh ... Saketh won the first set with a single break ... From the beginning Karan was struggling with adjusting his game with Saketh ... Somehow he managed to control his emotions and take crucial mini-break to won the second set tie-break ... In the third set Saketh take the break in 7th game when Karan committed double fault but while serving for the match at 5-4 Saketh failed to hold his serve ... Karan started 11th game with double fault but managed to hold it ... In tie-break Karan handled his nerve better ... He wasted one match point but converted second to complete remarkable comeback victory ... As per report both played quality tennis ... Saketh showed excellent composure while facing this top-350 type player, I m impressed ... He adjusted really well to higher level of the game against Karan ... Saketh served 25 aces in this match and other hand Karan saved 4 match points ... I think if draw permit then Saketh having good chance to go deeper in next 2 futures.

Yuki started the match with too many flashy shots and missed those ... I think seeing lower ranked Chinese he was bit relaxed from the start and that almost cost him this match ... In the second set also he was struggling on his serve and hold his service games after duece but take crucial break in 12th game ... He also received court violation warning for showing anger on the court ... Yuki saved 2 match points at 5-4 and 40-15 in the second set ... In the third set also Yuki kept repeating same mistakes and Yu Chang take advantage of unforced errors to break in 1st game ... Yu kept that lead until late of the set but Yuki broke Yu when he was serving for the set at 5-4 ... Then both players hold their serves to take this final set in tie-break ... Yuki take early mini-break to lead 4-2 and then he double faulted when serving for the match at 6-2 ... Won next point to complete hard fought victory ... I like the way Yuki digging deep when he wasn't playing well in this match ... Despite bad day at the office he managed to complete the victory.

Karan and Yuki both had a confidence boosting comeback wins in these tough matches ... Despite bad games lots of positives to take from these matches for the future.

Tennis News
At Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, London, England

Group A
Bob Bryan (USA)/ Mike Bryan (USA)
Leander Peas (IND)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)
Robert Lindstedt (SWE)/ Horia Tecau (ROU)
Jurgen Melzer (AUT)/ Philipp Petzschner (GER)

Group B
Michael Llodra (FRA)/ Nenad Zimonjic (SRB)
Daniel Nestor (CAN)/ Max Mirnyi (BLR)
Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK)
Mariusz Fyrstenberg (POL)/ Marcin Matkowski (POL)

Grouping is declared for ATP World Tour Finals ... Rohan and Aisam r in toughest group in their first participation in year-end tournament ... They r with in-form pairs like Llodra-Zimo, Nestor-MadMax and Polish pair ... If Lee and Hesh manage to keep aside their differences then they r having good draw to reach in the semis.
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At $15K F10 India Futures, Pune

[R1] (1) Yuki BHAMBRI (IND,378) bt James MARSALEK (GBR,797) 60 76(6)
[R1] Yu CHANG (CHN,868) bt (LL) Vivek SHOKEEN (IND,1490) 62 64
[R1] (LL) Abdulla Maqdas (KUW,973) bt Roberto ORTEGA-OLMEDO (ESP,610) 75 26 63
[R1] (8) Richard BECKER (GER,604) bt (Q) Weerapat DOAKMAIKLEE (THA,1420) 64 36 61
[R1] (3) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND,395) bt (Q) Shahbaaz KHAN (IND,UNR) 60 62
[R1] Alexander SATSCHKO (GER,775) bt (Q) Sunil-Kumar SIPAEYA (IND,UNR) 16 62 63
[R1] Karunuday SINGH (IND,696) bt (Q) Aditya MADKEKAR (IND,UNR) 61 61
[R1] (7) Rohan GAJJAR (IND,592) bt Perakiat SIRILUETHAIWATTANA (THA,793) 63 61
[R1] (6) Ranjit VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,564) bt Jaime PULGAR-GARCIA (ESP,895) 75 61
[R1] (WC) Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND,1369) bt (WC) Rakshay THAKKAR (IND,UNR) 63 62
[R1] (WC) Saketh MYNENI (IND,UNR) bt (Q) Kunal ANAND (IND,1805) 63 61
[R1] (4) Karan RASTOGI (IND,401) bt (Q) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND,1003) 64 67(1) 64
[R1] (5) Vijayant MALIK (IND,491) bt (Q) Jason JUNG (USA,UNR) 46 64 76(5)
[R1] Kaza Vinayak SHARMA (IND,822) bt Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,917) 64 63
[R1] (Q) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND,1514) bt (WC) Arjun KADHE (IND,UNR) 63 64
[R1] Ivan ARENAS-GUALDA (ESP,677) bt (2) Junn MITSUHASHI (JPN,385) 75 1-0 Retd

Last week's runner-up Marsalek produced fighting performance in the second set against top-seed Yuki after getting bagel in the first set ... Myneni continued with his good run beating qualifier Kunal comfortably ... Balaji gave heck of the fight to Karan showing how much he is improved in last few months ... Jung also gave tough fight to Vijayant but Vijayant showed his fighting qualify after losing the first set ... He needed tie-break in the final set to complete the victory.

Young wild-carders Ramkumar and Arjun gave decent performance but failed to overcome challenge from their seniors.

Tennis News
At $50K Salzburg Challenger, Austria

[R1] (4) Purav Raja (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) bt Florin Mergea (ROU) / Victor-Mugurel Anagnastopol (ROU) 62 64

[QF] (4) Purav Raja (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) vs Maximilian Neuchrist (AUT)/ Tristan-Samuel Weissborn (AUT)

Winning start for Purav and Divij in this Austrian challenger ... Next they r facing local pair.
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News update,

In shocking development rumor is Leander and Mahesh r set for another split ... It has been learnt that Mahesh is set to partner Rohan Bopanna on the Tour next year, while Leander is looking for someone with younger legs to bolster his chances ... As per report Lee wanted to forge partnership with Bops from 2012 season and that triggered the friction ... Don't know truth about it but for fans it is really sad development before 2012 Olympics.