Tennis News
At French Open 2009,

[F] (3) Lukas Dlouhy (CZE)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt Wesley Moodie (RSA)/ Dick Norman (BEL) 36 63 62

Leander lifted his 3rd French Open title (before this he won in 1999 and 2001 with Mahesh) and 5th Grandslam men's doubles title ... This was Lee and Lukas Dlouhy's first Grandslam title playing together ... Very proud moment in life of 35 yrs old Lee.

After losing first set they dominated match and never gave feeling that they were ging to lose ... They were up 5-0 breaking Moodie and Norman's serve after that Lee lost his serve but extra break's cushion was enough to win second set ... In third set they broke Moodie's serve in 3rd game, they saved break point on Lukas's serve in 6th game ... But again they broke Moodie's serve in 7th game and while serving for championship Lee powerfully served ... He served an ace on championship point to lift another French Open title after 8 years.
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At AEGON Championships 2009, Queens Club, London

[Q1] (6) Somdev Devvarman (IND) l Scoville Jenkins (USA) 16 76 36
[Q1] Prakash Amritraj (IND) bt (7) Chris Guccione (AUS) 76 75

[Q2] Prakash Amritraj (IND) lo Kerol Beck (SVK) 26 46

Prakash again defeated Guccione, Guccione served 23 aces and Kash 9 ... But Prkash lost surprisingly cheaply against Beck, this was winnable match ... Som's lost wasn't suprising but what hurted most that he didn't take chances ... In match Jenkins converted 4 of 5 BPs while Som managed to convert only 1 of 12.
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At $10K New Dehli II, India

Singles Final
(1) Ankita BHAMBRI (IND) bt Chun-Yan HE (CHN) 63 62

Atlast Ankita managed to end her title drought with easy victory against Chinese opponent, before this she won ITF title in November 2007 beating Sanaa at Aurangabad ... With that Ankita completed her double crown in this ITF event.

Tennis News
At French Open 2009,

[SF] (3) Lukas Dlouhy (CZE)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt (1) Daniel Nestor (CAN)/ Nenad Zimonjic (SRB) 76(4) 76(5)

[F] (3) Lukas Dlouhy (CZE)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Wesley Moodie (RSA)/ Dick Norman (BEL)
Lee and Lukas scored their first victory over this current WR #1 pair, Nestor and Zimo ... They won this match in almost 2 hours battle ... Though both sets went to tie-breaks still both pair had ample opportunities to break opposite pair services ... Lee/ Lukas had 12 chances and Nestor/Zimo had 9 chances but both managed to break opponent's serve only once ... Match was lot closer as Lee and Lukas won 90 points in the match other hand Nestor and Zimo won 88 ... Terrific hard fought victory for Lee and Lukas ... After 1999 and 2001 titles win this is first time Lee reached final of French Open ... In the final they r facing pairing of South African Wesley Moodie and Belgian Dick Norman, who surprised all to reach final ... They defeated Bryans in the semis in 3 sets after lsong first set 6-0.
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At $50K Nottingham Challenger, Great Britain (on grass)

[R2] Prakash Amritraj (IND,161) bt (7) Chris Guccione (AUS,137) 76(5) 76(4)
[R2] Rajeev Ram (USA,168) l (2) Robert Kendrick (USA,86) 67(1) 46
[R2] (Q) Rohan Bopanna (IND) l Sergei Bubka (UKR) 5-4 walkover due to knee injury

[QF] Prakash Amritraj (IND,161) vs (Q) Joshua Goodall (GBR,217)

Doubles
[QF] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Jim Thomas (USA) l (3) Eric Butorac (USA)/ Scott Lipsky (USA) W.O.

Kash produced exciting win over another grass court specialist ... Superb 2 tie-break sets victory for him ... But Rohan gave walkover to Sergei Bubka and his doubles opponents due to his old knee injury, hoping nothing serious injury scare for Rohan.
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At $10K New Dehli II, India

Singles Quarter Finals
(1) Ankita BHAMBRI (IND) bt (6) Parija MALOO (IND) 75 62
(Q) Soon-Mi SEO (KOR) bt (8) Ying-Ying DUAN (CHN) 60 Retd
Chun-Yan HE (CHN) bt (WC) Rashmi TELTUMBDE (IND) 67(6) 64 61
(2) Anastasia MALHOTRA (JPN) bt Ting LI (CHN) 61 61

Doubles Semi Finals
(1) Sanaa BHAMBRI (IND)/ Ankita BHAMBRI (IND) bt (3) Xi BAI (CHN)/ Ting LI (CHN) 64 57 14(12)
Soon-Mi SEO (KOR)/ Jung-Yoon SHIN (KOR) bt Yue YUAN (CHN)/ Ying-Ying DUAN (CHN) W.O.

Ankita scored straight sets victory over Parija to move into semis ... Young Rashmi also started well winning first set against her Chinese opponent but in last 2 sets her opponent was too strong to handle ... In doubles Bhambris needed to fight hard until last point against Chinese opponents to scripted exciting victory.
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At $10K Egypt F8, Ain Elskhona-Suiz (clay)

[R2] (Q) Ronak MANUJA (IND,1464) l Massimo CAPONE (ITA,1002) 16 26

Doubles
[QF] Ronak MANUJA (IND)/ James LEMKE (AUS) l (4) Mikal STATHAM (NZL)/ Adam EL MIHDAWY (USA) 36 46

Lost easily against Italian clay courter.

Tennis News
At French Open 2009,

[QF] (3) Lukas Dlouhy (CZE)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt (5) Bruno Soares (BRA)/ Kevin Ullyett (ZIM) 62 76(5)

Lee and Lukas were moving towards very convincing win when they were serving for the match at 5-4 in second set against this tricky pair ... They had 3 match points 40-0 but Soares and Ullyett saved 4 match points to broke their serve to make it 5-all ... Then both pairs hold their serve to take set into tie-break.

Tie-break
BS/KU up with early mini-break
1-2 LD/LP broke back to bring it on serve
2-3 but again BS/KU up with mini-break
3-4 again LD/LP broke, again on serve
4-5 with holding both serves LD/LP first-time take lead in tie-break ... 5th match point
6-5 and they converted it to won match in 2 sets
7-5

Both pairs got 5 brak point chances, our pair converted 3 times and but Soares/ Ullyett converted only once ... Lee and Lukas scripted win in almost 1 hour and 30 minutes to move into semis ... In semis they will mostly play this year's hot pair on clay, the top-seed Nestor and Zimo.

Tennis News
At French Open 2009,

[R3] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) l Jose Acasuso (ARG)/ Fernando Gonzalez (CHI) 57 64 46

Mahesh and Mark lost in third round against South Americans in 3 sets ... It always feel bad when doubles specialist pair lost against singles players ... So only Lee is remaining in doubles.
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At $50K Carson Challenger II, California, USA

[F] Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Frederik Nielsen (DEN) bt (2) Carsten Ball (AUS)/ Travis Rettenmaier (USA) 64 64

And this week harsh lifted doubles challenger title after losing last couple of finals ... He and Nielsen scored straight sets victory over 2nd seed pair ... This was Harsh's 4th challenger level doubles title, he won first title in 2003 at Donetsk Challenger, Ukraine and then last year won 2 titles in New Delhi challengers ... This win gives 75 ranking points so guranteed Harsh will re-enter into top-150 in next ranking updates.
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At $50K Nottingham Challenger, Great Britain (on grass)

[Q1] Rohan Bopanna (IND,284) bt Colin O'Brien (IRL,622) 61 62

[Q2] Rohan Bopanna (IND,284) vs Joshua Milton (GBR,703)

[R1] Prakash Amritraj (IND,161) vs (WC) Daniel Evans (GBR,316)
[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,135) vs Qualifier

So our top 3 singles players playing first grass court event of grass season ... Prakash and Som r in maindraw, Rohan is playing qualifying ... Expecting good rsults from Kash and Rohan on their favourite surface but as such no expectation from Som as he is playing first-time on grass in UK.

As expected easy start for Rohan against Irish player, next he is facing British player ... This match can be tricky.
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Golf News
At The European Open 2009, Ash, Kent, England

T5 Jeev Milkha Singh 67 69 71 76 -5 € 73294.06
T46 Shiv Kapur 67 74 75 76 +4 € 9212.94
T46 Jyoti Randhawa 66 73 79 74 +4 € 9212.94

Jeev must be disappointed with his performance as he was leading in 2nd and 3rd rounds ... Today Par round also gave him title as winner won with -7 score.

Tennis News
At French Open 2009,

[R2] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) bt Johan Brunstrom (SWE)/ Jean-Julien Rojer (AHO) 75 67(4) 76(3)

[R3] (3) Lukas Dlouhy (CZE)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt Julien Benneteau (FRA)/ Nicolas Mahut (FRA) 76(4) 63

[R3] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) vs Jose Acasuso (ARG)/ Fernando Gonzalez (CHI)

[QF] (3) Lukas Dlouhy (CZE)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs (5) Bruno Soares (BRA)/ Kevin Ullyett (ZIM)

MXD
[R1] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) l Nathalie Dechy (FRA)/ Andy Ram (ISR) 16 57

[R2] (2) Cara Black (ZIM)/ Leander Paes (IND) l Sybille Bammer (AUT)/ Lukasz Kubot (POL) 06 61 (6)10

Mixed day for our players, in doubles our both pairs won but in mixed doubles our both pairs lost ... Sania and Mahesh lost in the first round of MXD ... 2nd seed pair of Lee and Cara lost in 2nd round which had one sided score in first 2 sets but our pair lost in super tie-break.

Lee and Lukas scored striaght sets victory against local pair to move into quarter-final ... They needed tie-break to won first but in second set they were in control ... In quarter-final they having very tough challenge of 5th seed good clay court pair of Brazilian Soares and Zimbabwian Ullyett.

Mahesh and Mark needed to dig deep to scored tight 3 sets victory over Johan Brunstrom and Jean-Julien Rojer ... Match was too closer than they expected where last 2 sets went to tie-break ... Lucky escape for them.

Tennis News
At French Open 2009,

[R2] (14) Chia-Jung Chuang (TPE)/ Sania Mirza (IND) l Agnieszka Radwanska (POL)/ Urszula Radwanska (POL) 64 67(5) 36

[R1] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) bt Josselin Ouanna (FRA)/ Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) 63 62

[R2] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) vs Johan Brunstrom (SWE)/ Jean-Julien Rojer (AHO)
[R2] (3) Lukas Dlouhy (CZE)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt James Cerretani (USA)/ Sergiy Stakhovsky (UKR) 46 63 62

Mahesh and Mark had easy outing to moved to second round.

Lee and Lukas started slowly ... After losing first set they came into act from 4-3 in second set ... They broke opponent's serve in 8h game to win second set ... In third set they dominated Cerretani and Stakhovsky, broke their serve twice to scored victory.

Radwanska sisters were tough pairing on clay but Sania and Chia-Jung started well after exchanging breaks they grabbed important break to won first set ... In second set also they started well breaking Radwanska sisters serve early but they couldn't keep momentum ... Radwanska sisters won second set in tie-break and they won third set breaking Sania and Chia-Jung's serve twice.
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At $15K Kuwait F1 Futures, Meshref

[SF] (Q) MALIK Vijayant (IND,1315) l (7) JAZIRI Malek (TUN,572) 26 46
[SF] (8) VARDHAN Vishnu (IND,583) l (6) GHAREEB Mohammad (KUW,562) 46 67(4)

Vijayant creditable run as qualifier ended in semis ... Vishnu also lost but he fought hard against local player, who was very experienced.
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At $10K ITF Womens Futures, New Delhi

Semi Finals
Ying-Ying Duan (CHN) bt (Q) Yi Zhong (CHN) 61 63
(6) Rushmi Chakravarthi (IND) l (5) Keren Shlomo (ISR) 36 26

Rushmi lost her singles semi-final but won doubles with her Chinese partner Chun-Yan He ... They easily defeated 2nd seed pair of Keren Shlomo and Australian Kristina Pejkovic, 62 61

Tennis News
At French Open 2009,

MXD
[R1] (2) Cara Black (ZIM)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt Virginie Razzano (FRA)/ Jeff Coetzee (RSA) 63 63

[R2] (2) Cara Black (ZIM)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Sybille Bammer (AUT)/ Lukasz Kubot (POL)

Easy winning start for 2nd seed pair of Cara and Lee in mixed doubles.
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At $50K Carson Challenger II, California, USA

[QF] Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Frederik Nielsen (DEN) bt (4) Brian Battistone (USA)/ Nicholas Monroe (USA) 62 63

[SF] Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Frederik Nielsen (DEN) vs (Q) G.D. Jones (NZL) / Scott Oudsema (USA)

Harsh and Nielsen scored very impressive win over seeded pair ... Next they r facing qualifiers to book place in the final.
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At $50K Carson Tournament, California, USA

[QF] (3) Shikha Uberoi (IND)/ Mashona Washington (USA) bt Gail Brodsky (USA)/ Laura Siegemund (GER) 63 75

[SF] (3) Shikha Uberoi (IND)/ Mashona Washington (USA) vs (2) Monique Adamczak (AUS)/ Nicole Kriz (AUS)

Good to see Shikha and Mashona performed as per their ranking and r in semis.
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At $15K Kuwait F1 Futures, Meshref

[QF] (Q) MALIK Vijayant (IND,1315) bt (1) RIESCHICK Sebastian (GER,454) 76(4) 76(6)
[QF] GAJJAR Rohan (IND,773) l (7) JAZIRI Malek (TUN,572) 64 26 26
[QF] (8) VARDHAN Vishnu (IND,583) bt (3) YSERN Pierrick (FRA,539) 76(4) 63

[SF] (Q) MALIK Vijayant (IND,1315) vs (7) JAZIRI Malek (TUN,572)
[SF] (8) VARDHAN Vishnu (IND,583) vs (6) GHAREEB Mohammad (KUW,562)

Doubles
[SF] NARAYANASWAMY Srirambalaji (IND)/ VIRALI-MURUGESAN Ranjeet (IND) l (4) KONTINEN Henri (FIN)/ RIESCHICK Sebastian (GER) 46 26
[SF] (3) GAJJAR Rohan (IND)/ GHAREEB Mohammad (KUW) l (2) KRKOSKA Jiri (CZE)/ YSERN Pierrick (FRA) 67(2) 46

Vijayant keep impressing with his performance ... Yesterday he scored his first win over top-450 type player in tight 2 tie-breaks ... Vishnu also kept his current good run scoring upset but expected victory over Frenchman.
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At $10K ITF Womens Futures, New Delhi

Quarter Finals
Ying-Ying Duan (CHN) bt Parija Maloo (IND) 63 64
(Q) Yi Zhong (CHN) bt (7) Yoon-Young Jeong (KOR) 57 63 63

(6) Rushmi Chakravarthi (IND) bt Renee Binnie (AUS) 67(3) 63 63
(5) Keren Shlomo (ISR) bt (Q) Soon-Mi Seo (KOR) 61 61

Sad to see no new new name coming up in womens side, Rushmi kept Indian hope alive.

Tennis News
At French Open 2009,

[R1] (14) Chia-Jung Chuang (TPE)/ Sania Mirza (IND) bt Ipek Senoglu (TUR)/ Yanina Wickmayer (BEL) 75 61

[R1] (3) Lukas Dlouhy (CZE)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt Sebastien De Chaunac (FRA)/ Benoit Paire (FRA) 61 63
[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Jonathan Erlich (ISR) l Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP)/ Sergio Roitman (ARG) 46 67(10)
[R1] Rajeev Ram (USA)/ Bobby Reynolds (USA) l Andrei Pavel (ROU)/ Horia Tecau (ROU) 26 57

[R2] (14) Chia-Jung Chuang (TPE)/ Sania Mirza (IND) vs Agnieszka Radwanska (POL)/ Urszula Radwanska (POL)
[R2] (3) Lukas Dlouhy (CZE)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs James Cerretani (USA)/ Sergiy Stakhovsky (UKR)

Sania and Chia-Jung started badly losing their serve but they fought back and dominated second set after winning tight first set ... In second round they r facing Polish Radwanska sisters.

Our 3rd seed pair started with very easy victory without losing much sweat.

But Rohan and Erlich lost their match against clay courters ... They fought hard in second set but couldn't forced third set.
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At $50K Carson Tournament, California, USA

[R1] (Q) Shikha Uberoi (IND,533) l (8) Alexandra Stevenson (USA,263) 76(5) 36 36

Doubles
[R1] (3) Shikha Uberoi (IND)/ Mashona Washington (USA) bt (WC) Kristie Ahn (USA)/ Danielle Lao (USA) 64 63

[QF] (3) Shikha Uberoi (IND)/ Mashona Washington (USA) vs Gail Brodsky (USA)/ Laura Siegemund (GER)

Shikha started well winning first set in tie-break but then she found Stevenson too strong to handle.
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At $15K Kuwait F1 Futures, Meshref

[R2] (Q) MALIK Vijayant (IND,1315) bt (5) LEJNIEKS Karlis (LAT,554) 63 63
[R2] GAJJAR Rohan (IND,773) bt (PR) SHOKEEN Vivek (IND,1202) 62 76(2)
[R2] (8) VARDHAN Vishnu (IND,583) bt (Q) KISLYANSKIY Roman (RUS,1538) 62 61

[QF] (Q) MALIK Vijayant (IND,1315) vs (1) RIESCHICK Sebastian (GER,454)
[QF] GAJJAR Rohan (IND,773) vs (7) JAZIRI Malek (TUN,572)
[QF] (8) VARDHAN Vishnu (IND,583) vs (3) YSERN Pierrick (FRA,539)

Doubles
[QF] NARAYANASWAMY Srirambalaji (IND)/ VIRALI-MURUGESAN Ranjeet (IND) bt (1) FILENKOV Alexei (RUS)/ LEE Hsin-Han (TPE) 61 61
[QF] SHARAN Divij (IND)/ VARDHAN Vishnu (IND) l (4) KONTINEN Henri (FIN)/ RIESCHICK Sebastian (GER) 36 26
[QF] (3) GAJJAR Rohan (IND)/ GHAREEB Mohammad (KUW) bt AL MOUSA Hassan (KUW)/ MUHAMMAD Ahmad Rabeea (KUW) 63 64
[QF] SHOKEEN Vivek (IND)/ SINGH Navdeep (IND) l (2) KRKOSKA Jiri (CZE)/ YSERN Pierrick (FRA) 36 46

[SF] NARAYANASWAMY Srirambalaji (IND)/ VIRALI-MURUGESAN Ranjeet (IND) vs (4) KONTINEN Henri (FIN)/ RIESCHICK Sebastian (GER)
[SF] (3) GAJJAR Rohan (IND)/ GHAREEB Mohammad (KUW) vs (2) KRKOSKA Jiri (CZE)/ YSERN Pierrick (FRA)

Vijaykant scored huge victory in his small career over 5th seed Latvian ... This was his first win over top-550 type player ... Tomorrow as expected our all players having tough matches.
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At $10K ITF Womens Futures, New Delhi

First Round
(1) Ankita BHAMBRI (IND) bt (WC) Ratnika BATRA (IND) 62 60
Ying-Ying DUAN (CHN) bt (Q) Moe KAWATOKO (JPN) 62 63
(Q) Treta BHATTACHARYYA (IND) bt (WC) Aishwarya AGRAWAL (IND) 63 76
Parija MALOO (IND) bt (8) Parul GOSWAMI (IND) 67 76 61
(4) Sanaa BHAMBRI (IND) bt Ting LI (CHN) 64 76
(Q) Yi ZHONG (CHN) bt (WC) Shweta RANA (IND) 64 76
Jung-Yoon SHIN (KOR) bt Shivika BURMAN (IND) 62 64
(7) Yoon-Young JEONG (KOR) bt (WC) Radhika JADHAV (IND) 60 60
(6) Rushmi CHAKRAVARTHI (IND) bt Alisa OGORODOVA (UZB) 61 16 63
Seo-Kyung KANG (KOR) bt Stephanie THEILER (SUI) 60 62
Renee BINNIE (AUS) bt Kumari-Sweta SOLANKI (IND) 62 76
(3) Isha LAKHANI (IND) bt (Q) Sonya DAYAL (IND) 62 61
(5) Keren SHLOMO (ISR) bt (Q) Lisa MARSHALL (RSA) 62 64
(Q) Rushmi TELTUMBDE (IND) bt (Q) Rani Smita JAIN (IND) 61 61
Marisa GIANOTTI (AUS) bt Chun-Yan HE (CHN) 62 61
(Q) Soon-Mi SEO (KOR) bt (2) Anastasia MALHOTRA (JPN) 67 75 75

Second Round
Ying-Ying Duan (CHN) bt (1) Ankita Bhambri (IND) 62 63
Parija Maloo (IND) bt (Q) Treta Bhattacharyya (IND) 63 75
(Q) Yi Zhong (CHN) bt (4) Sanaa Bhambri (IND) 62 63
(7) Yoon-Young Jeong (KOR) bt Jung-Yoon Shin (KOR) 61 60

(6) Rushmi Chakravarthi (IND) bt Seo-Kyung Kang (KOR) 67(4) 75 64
Renee Binnie (AUS) bt (3) Isha Lakhani (IND) 64 60
(5) Keren Shlomo (ISR) bt (Q) Rashmi Teltumbde (IND) 62 63
(Q) Soon-Mi Seo (KOR) bt Marisa Gianotti (AUS) 76(1) 60

Bad outing for Indian girls ... :-(

Tennis News
At French Open 2009,

[R1] Sania Mirza (IND,95) l Galina Voskoboeva (KAZ,81) 46 67(3)

Sania lost match in around 1 hour 30 minutes ... In this match Sania had chances but she couldn't able to convert them ... In first set Voskoboeva broke Sania's serve in 3rd game and that single break was enough to won set ... Sania had 4 break point opportunities but she failed to convert it ... In second set Voskoboeva started with breaking Sania's serve but Sania broke back immediately ... Voskoboeva broke Sania's serve in 7th game and was leading 3-5, Sania broke Voskoboeva's serve when she was serving for the match at 4-5 but in end Voskoboeva was too strong for Sania in tie-break as Sania also helped with 2 double faults ... In complete match Sania served 10 double faults.
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At $50K Carson Tournament, California, USA

[Q3] (1) Shikha Uberoi (IND,533) bt Krista Hardebeck (USA,UNR) 36 64 60

[R1] (Q) Shikha Uberoi (IND,533) vs (8) Alexandra Stevenson (USA,263)

Shikha struggled to beat 14 yrs old American girl ... But in end managed to pull off victory to move into maindraw.
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At $15K Kuwait F1 Futures, Meshref

[R1] (Q) NARAYANASWAMY Srirambalaji (IND,UNR) l LEE Hsin-Han (TPE,612) 57 64 46
[R1] (Q) MALIK Vijayant (IND,1315) bt (Q) MAAROUF Hayan (SYR,1844) 60 63
[R1] GAJJAR Rohan (IND,773) bt (4) KROTIOUK Sergei (RUS,544) 64 61
[R1] (PR) SHOKEEN Vivek (IND,1202) bt RICE David (GBR,884) 36 64 76(6)
[R1] SINGH Navdeep (IND,949) l THORNLEY Sean (GBR,825) 16 06
[R1] VIRALI-MURUGESAN Ranjeet (IND,847) l (3) YSERN Pierrick (FRA,539) 36 26

[R2] (Q) MALIK Vijayant (IND,1315) vs (5) LEJNIEKS Karlis (LAT,554)
[R2] GAJJAR Rohan (IND,773) vs (PR) SHOKEEN Vivek (IND,1202)
[R2] (8) VARDHAN Vishnu (IND,583) vs (Q) KISLYANSKIY Roman (RUS,1538)

Doubles
[R1] SHARAN Divij (IND)/ VARDHAN Vishnu (IND) bt (WC) JANAHI Hamad Abbas (UAE)/ SULTAN Ziad (KUW) 61 62

[QF] SHARAN Divij (IND)/ VARDHAN Vishnu (IND) vs (4) KONTINEN Henri (FIN)/ RIESCHICK Sebastian (GER)

Rohan Gajjar scored dominating win over 4th seed and top-550 Russian player ... Vivek also scored very fighting comeback victory ... Now they r facing eachother in next round.

Tennis News
At French Open 2009,

[R1] Sania Mirza (IND,95) vs Galina Voskoboeva (KAZ,81)

Doubles
[R1] (3) Lukas Dlouhy (CZE)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs Sebastien De Chaunac (FRA)/ Benoit Paire (FRA)
[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Jonathan Erlich (ISR) vs Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP)/ Sergio Roitman (ARG)
[R1] (4) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Mark Knowles (BAH) vs Josselin Ouanna (FRA)/ Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA)
[R1] Rajeev Ram (USA)/ Bobby Reynolds (USA) vs Andrei Pavel (ROU)/ Horia Tecau (ROU)

[R1] (14) Chia-Jung Chuang (TPE)/ Sania Mirza (IND) vs Ipek Senoglu (TUR)/ Yanina Wickmayer (BEL)

Sania having relatively easy opponent in the first round but can face 7th seed Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova in second round if she crosses the first hurdle ... In doubles she is seeded with Chia-Jung Chuang, they can meed second seeded Lisa Raymonds and Kveta Peschke in third round.

Lee and Lukas r in top draw with top seed Nestor and Zimo ... mahesh and Mark r in bottom draw with Bryans ... Rohan get very good partner in former top-5 and 2008 Australian Open doubles champion Israeli Jonathan Erlich ... Rohan and Erlich can meet Mahesh and Mark in thrid round if they wins their first 2 rounds.
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At $50K Carson Challenger II, California, USA

[R1] Harsh Mankad (IND)/ Frederik Nielsen (DEN) vs (WC) Lester Cook (USA)/ Jesse Witten (USA)

Harsh is playing with new partner this week.
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At $15K Kuwait F2 Futures, Meshref

[Q1] (1) MALIK Vijayant (IND,1315) bye
[Q1] (4) TIWARI Abhijeet (IND,1529) bye
[Q1] SOOD Chandril (IND,UNR) bt AL BITAR AbdelRahman (EGY,UNR) 61 61
[Q1] NARAYANASWAMY Srirambalaji (IND,UNR) bt SOOD Lakshit (IND,UNR) 61 61

[Q2] (1) MALIK Vijayant (IND,1315) bt AL ABDULLH Zaki (KSA,UNR) 75 62
[Q2] (4) TIWARI Abhijeet (IND,1529) bt ABBAS Saad (GBR,UNR) 62 62
[Q2] SOOD Chandril (IND,UNR) l (5) KISLYANSKIY Roman (RUS,1538) 26 26
[Q2] NARAYANASWAMY Srirambalaji (IND,UNR) bt ALI Ahmed (KUW,UNR) 63 61

[R1] (Q) NARAYANASWAMY Srirambalaji (IND,UNR) vs LEE Hsin-Han (TPE,612)
[R1] (Q) MALIK Vijayant (IND,1315) vs (Q) MAAROUF Hayan (SYR,1844)
[R1] GAJJAR Rohan (IND,773) vs (4) KROTIOUK Sergei (RUS,544)
[R1] (PR) SHOKEEN Vivek (IND,1202) vs RICE David (GBR,884)
[R1] SINGH Navdeep (IND,949) vs THORNLEY Sean (GBR,825)
[R1] (8) VARDHAN Vishnu (IND,583) vs SHARAN Divij (IND,717)
[R1] VIRALI-MURUGESAN Ranjeet (IND,847) vs (3) YSERN Pierrick (FRA,539)
[R1] (Q) TIWARI Abhijeet (IND,1529) vs (2) GOFFIN David (BEL,521)

Doubles
[R1] SHARAN Divij (IND)/ VARDHAN Vishnu (IND) vs (WC) JANAHI Hamad Abbas (UAE)/ SULTAN Ziad (KUW)
[R1] NARAYANASWAMY Srirambalaji (IND)/ VIRALI-MURUGESAN Ranjeet (IND) vs KROTIOUK Sergei (RUS)/ MANEGIN Anton (RUS)
[R1] (3) GAJJAR Rohan (IND)/ GHAREEB Mohammad (KUW) vs MALIK Vijayant (IND)/ TIWARI Abhijeet (IND)
[R1] SHOKEEN Vivek (IND)/ SINGH Navdeep (IND) vs RICE David (GBR)/ THORNLEY Sean (GBR)

So again 3 Indians qualified for maindraw ... But Yuki is missing from the list due to ankle injury ... Last week in doubles quarter-final he twisted his ankle while playing over head shot, though injury isn't serious but due to this injury he is going to miss Junior French Open 2009 as doctor asked him to took rest for 2 to 3 weeks before playing on the tour.

In between good news r keep coming for Yuki Bhambri ... He recieved invitation of playing with American teen age sensation Ryan Harrison to play with Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras in the Venetian Macao Tennis Showdown, an exhibition event this October.

Yuki Bhambri - “I’ll have to be there to believe it. I think I still wouldn’t believe it if I was right there with them. You dream of watching them play, but to actually play with them is huge.”

Tennis News
At French Open 2009,

[Q3] (26) Somdev Devvarman (IND,138) l (3) Marcos Daniel (BRA,96) 06 16

Som lost in one-sided match against Brazilian No. 1 winning only 1 game in the match in 58 minutes ... After reaching final qualifying round Som increased hopes of his followers but he couldn't do much against his superior clay court opponent ... Daniel didn't give any chance to Som in this match.

But considering his first French Open qualifying I would say satisfying performance to reached final qualifying but in that match scoreline was distrubing.
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At $15K Kuwait F1 Futures, Meshref

[SF] (Q) VIRALI-MURUGESAN Ranjeet (IND,857) l (4) GHAREEB Mohammad (KUW,496) 26 26

[QF] (Q) NARAYANASWAMY Srirambalaji (IND,UNR) l JAZIRI Malek (TUN,572) 26 36
[QF] (Q) VIRALI-MURUGESAN Ranjeet (IND,857) bt GAJJAR Rohan (IND,775) 26 61 64

Doubles
[F] SHOKEEN Vivek (IND)/ SINGH Navdeep (IND) l (3) KONTINEN Henri (FIN)/ RIESCHICK Sebastian (GER) 46 26

[SF] SHOKEEN Vivek (IND)/ SINGH Navdeep (IND) bt (4) BHAMBRI Yuki (IND)/ GAJJAR Rohan (IND) 76(4) 64

[QF] SHARAN Divij (IND)/ VARDHAN Vishnu (IND) l (3) KONTINEN Henri (FIN)/ RIESCHICK Sebastian (GER) 26 57
[QF] (4) BHAMBRI Yuki (IND)/ GAJJAR Rohan (IND) bt AHMADVAND Saeid (IRI)/ AL GHAREEB Ali (KUW) 62 75
[QF] SHOKEEN Vivek (IND)/ SINGH Navdeep (IND) bt (2) FILENKOV Alexei (RUS)/ SLABINSKY Alexander (GBR) 63 62

Ranjeet performed well to reach singles semis as qualifier and our unseeded pair of Vivek Shokeen and Navdeep Singh lost in the doubles final.
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At $10K ITF Womens Futures, Mumbai

Final
Seo-Kyung KANG (KOR) bt (8) Chun-Yan HE (CHN) 61 60

Semi Finals
(8) Chun-Yan HE (CHN) bt (1) Anastasia MALHOTRA (JPN) 67(6) 61 61
Seo-Kyung KANG (KOR) bt (Q) Moe KAWATOKO (JPN) 61 63

Quarter Finals
(1) Anastasia MALHOTRA (JPN) bt (5) Yoon-Young JEONG (KOR) 64 62
(8) Chun-Yan HE (CHN) bt (4) Rushmi CHAKRAVARTHI (IND) 61 76(4)
Seo-Kyung KANG (KOR) bt Alisa OGORODOVA (UZB) 63 61
(Q) Moe KAWATOKO (JPN) bt (2) Isha LAKHANI (IND) 75 75

Indian challenge got over in quarters ... In doubles top-seed pair of Rushmi Chakravarthi and Isha Lakhani won title beating their Chinese-Australian pair in super tie-break, 26 63 10(7)

Tennis News
At French Open 2009,

[Q2] (26) Somdev Devvarman (IND,138) bt Alex Bogdanovic (GBR,198) 62 67(3) 64
[Q2] Rajeev Ram (USA,169) l (4) Victor Crivoi (ROU,99) 46 46

[Q3] (26) Somdev Devvarman (IND,138) vs (3) Marcos Daniel (BRA,96)

Som started well against serve and volleyer Britisher ... In first set Som only face a single break point in 8th game while serving for the set and he broke Bogdanovic's serve twice in 3rd game and 7th game to won it in 30 minutes ... But second set started other way around as Bogdanovic broke Som's serve in 2nd game to take early lead but Som came back breaking Bogdanovic's serve in next game ... But they they again exchanged breaks in next 2 games and then they hold their serves until 6-6 ... Bogdanovic dominated tie-break to won second set in 70 minutes ... In third set Bogdanovic started breaking Som's serve in first game ... Som break back in 4th game but he again got broken but he made another comeback in match breaking Bogdanovic's serve in 8th game to make it 4-all ... After holding his serve in 9th game he created 3 match points on Bogdanovic's serve, 0-40 ... Bogdanovic saved one match point but Som sealed match winning second match point to moved into final qualifying of French Open 2009 ... He won third set on 61 minutes, total almost 2 hours 45 minutes battle.

This is the best performance by Indian on European clay after Lee made the main draw 2nd round in the 1997 French Open ... Tomorrow Som having tough match but when challenge rises somehow Som having tendency of raising his game so in my view upset is on the card.

Tennis News
At French Open 2009,

[Q1] Prakash Amritraj (IND,163) l (3) Marcos Daniel (BRA,96) 46 46
[Q1] (26) Somdev Devvarman (IND,138) bt João Souza (BRA,223) 62 26 75
[Q1] Rajeev Ram (USA,169) bt (WC) Julien Obry (FRA,941) 64 62

[Q2] Rajeev Ram (USA,169) vs (4) Victor Crivoi (ROU,99)
[Q2] (26) Somdev Devvarman (IND,138) vs Alex Bogdanovic (GBR,198)

Very clinical performance from Marcos Daniel, after winning first set in second set his serve was under pressure all the time but he managed to hold his serve ... Other hand Kash's was holding his serve easily but Marcos Daniel take crucial break in 9th game to win this match.

Som started with breaking Souza's serve but Souza broke immediately to make it 1-1 ... But again Som broke Souza's serve to take 2-1 lead ... Som broke again Souza in 7th game to take 2 break lead and won first set 6-2.

In 2nd set from 2-2 once again Som lost his focus and one way traffic for Souza as he won next 4 games to won second set 6-2.

In third set match was on serve until 7 games but in 8th game Souza broke Som's serve and was serving for the match on 5-3 ... But Som had another plan he broke back @ 30 and then saved 1 match point on his own serve to make it 5-5 ... Then 11th game was going for longer time, after couple of duece Som managed crucial break to lead 6-5 ... Souza saved couple of match point from 40-15 but Som converted 3rd match point to score important win.

In 2nd qualifying he is facing Britisher Alex Bogdanovic.
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At $10K ITF Womens Futures, Mumbai

First Round
(1) Anastasia MALHOTRA (JPN) bt Nupur KAUL (IND) 75 63
Rashmi TELTUMBDE (IND) bt Stephanie THEILER (SUI) 76(6) 64
Tanvi SHAH (IND) bt Anushree THAMMANNA (IND) 60 60
(5) Yoon-Young JEONG (KOR) bt Kristina PEJKOVIC (AUS) 75 63
(4) Rushmi CHAKRAVARTHI (IND) bt Jung-Yoon SHIN (KOR) 62 61
Prerna BHAMBRI (IND) bt Ashvarya SHRIVASTAVA (IND) 62 61
Soon-Mi SEO (KOR) bt Sonya DAYAL (IND) 63 63
(8) Chun-Yan HE (CHN) bt Rishika SUNKARA (IND) 64 60
(6) Parul GOSWAMI (IND) bt Treta BHATTACHARYYA (IND) 57 76(6) 63
Seo-Kyung KANG (KOR) bt Adnya NAIK (IND) 62 64
Alisa OGORODOVA (UZB) bt Aishwarya AGRAWAL (IND) 75 61
(3) Keren SHLOMO (ISR) bt Shivika BURMAN (IND) 64 64
(7) Kumari-Sweta SOLANKI (IND) bt Ankita RAINA (IND) 46 63 64
Moe KAWATOKO (JPN) bt Yui-Lynn MIAO (TPE) 26 63 75
Renee BINNIE (AUS) bt Lisa MARSHALL (RSA) 63 60
(2) Isha LAKHANI (IND) bt Marisa GIANOTTI (AUS) 62 46 61

Tennis News
At French Open 2009,

[Q1] (26) Somdev Devvarman (IND,138) vs João Souza (BRA,223)
[Q1] Prakash Amritraj (IND,163) vs (3) Marcos Daniel (BRA,96)

Kash having tough opener against Brazilian No. 1 Marcos Daniel, who is #96 on ATP ranking ... Last week Marcos won Zagreb Challenger on clay and having some good wins in last 2 weeks over players like Ivan Ljubicic, Guillermo Canas, Olivier Rochus, etc.

Som is also playing against Brazilian but winnable match for him ... Though no gurantee with his curren On/ Off playing form.
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At $35K Fergana Challenger, Uzbekistan

[R1] (Q) Purav Raja (IND,922) l Ti Chen (TPE,375) 62 16 26

Doubles
[R1] Purav Raja (IND)/ Samuel Groth (AUS) vs Evgeny Kirillov (RUS)/ Alexandre Kudryavtsev (RUS)

Purav started well against Ti Chen winning first set but it looks then Chen didn't give him any chance in next 2.
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At $15K Kuwait F1 Futures, Meshref

[R1] VARDHAN Vishnu (IND,590) bt (7) LEJNIEKS Karlis (LAT,558) 76(3) 62

Doubles
[R1] VIRALI-MURUGESAN Ranjeet (IND)/ NARAYANASWAMY Srirambalaji (IND) l AL MOUSA Hassan (KUW)/ MUHAMMAD Ahmad Rabeea (KUW) 36 62 (2)10
[R1] SHARAN Divij (IND)/ VARDHAN Vishnu (IND) bt AL TAWEEL Issam (SYR)/ MAAROUF Hayan (SYR) 62 61
[R1] (4) BHAMBRI Yuki (IND)/ GAJJAR Rohan (IND) bt KROTIOUK Sergei (RUS)/ MANEGIN Anton (RUS) 62 63
[R1] SHOKEEN Vivek (IND)/ SINGH Navdeep (IND) bt GHAREEB Mohammad (KUW)/ ORTEGREN Johan (SWE) 64 57 10(8)

[QF] SHARAN Divij (IND)/ VARDHAN Vishnu (IND) vs (3) KONTINEN Henri (FIN)/ RIESCHICK Sebastian (GER)
[QF] (4) BHAMBRI Yuki (IND)/ GAJJAR Rohan (IND) vs AHMADVAND Saeid (IRI)/ AL GHAREEB Ali (KUW)
[QF] SHOKEEN Vivek (IND)/ SINGH Navdeep (IND) vs (2) FILENKOV Alexei (RUS)/ SLABINSKY Alexander (GBR)

So expected start for Vishnu, this upset was on card considering Vishnu's recent good run in Indian futures.