Chess News
At the 8th Tal Memorial Chess Tournament, Moscow, Russia


,Round 01 – June 13 2013
Dmitry Andreikin (RUS,2713) ½-½ Alexander Morozevich (2760)
Viswanathan Anand (IND,2786) 0-1 Fabiano Caruana (ITA,2774)
Boris Gelfand (ISR,2755) ½-½ Sergey Karjakin (RUS,2782)
Magnus Carlsen (NOR,2864) 1-0 Vladimir Kramnik (RUS,2803)
Hikaru Nakamura (USA,2784) 0-1 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE,2753)

Round 02 –June 14 2013
Alexander Morozevich (RUS,2760) ½-½ Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE,2753)
Vladimir Kramnik (RUS,2755) 0-1 Hikaru Nakamura (USA,2784)v Sergey Karjakin (RUS,2782) ½-½ Magnus Carlsen (NOR,2864)
Fabiano Caruana (ITA,2774) 0-1 Boris Gelfand (ISR,2755)
Dmitry Andreikin (RUS,2713) ½-½ Viswanathan Anand (IND,2786)

Round 03 – June 15 2013
Viswanathan Anand (IND,2786) 1-0 Alexander Morozevich (RUS,2760)
Boris Gelfand (ISR,2755) ½-½ Dmitry Andreikin (RUS,2713)
Magnus Carlsen (NOR,2864) 0-1 Fabiano Caruana (ITA,2774)
Hikaru Nakamura (USA,2784) 1-0 Sergey Karjakin (RUS,2782)
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE,2753) ½-½ Vladimir Kramnik (RUS,2803)

Anand started badly as he lost against Italian hot-shot Caruana in 1st game ... Then lower rated Russian player os the tournament, Dmitry Andreikin hold Anand in 2nd game ... In the third game Anand defeated Morozevich and he is on 6th position with 1.5 pts.

Hockey News
At Hockey World League Semi-Final - Women, Rotterdam, Netherlands

Pool B
India l Germany 1-7 (0-3)
Goal Scorers - Vandana Katariya (IND) PC 43' and Janne Müller-Wieland (GER) PC 14', Maike Stöckel (GER) 21' and 44', Marie Mävers (GER) 35', Jennifer Plass (GER) PC 49', Lydia Haase (GER) PC 54', Hannah Krüger (GER) PC 67'

New Zealand bt Belgium 4-2 (3-0)

Another disappointing and dis-oriented performance by our girls ... German scored dominating win over us ... In this match also most of the time we failed to complete 3/4 passes continuously ... So we ended on the last place of the Pool and facing host Netherlands in the quarter-final ... I m not convinced by coaching of Australian Neil Hawgood ... In this match I think we can face most embarrassing defeat from Netherlands.

Tennis News
At €526K Eastbourne Open, Great Britain

[R1] (3) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) vs Ivan Dodig (CRO)/ Marcelo Melo (BRA)

Lee and Radek r playing together first time after Australian open and after Radek's neck surgery ... Interesting to see how they perform in coming tournaments.
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At $10K Spain F17 Futures, Martos

Singles Final
Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,800) l (1) Steven Diez (CAN,267) 57 76(4) 46

Ramkumar was unlucky to failed to win the title in this almost 3 hours match ... All three sets were closely fought where Ramkumar served really well as he hit 16 aces ... After losing the first set Ramkumar fought back to win the second in tie-break ... In the final set at 3-all Ramkumar broke Steven in 7th game to lead 4-3 but after that Steven won next 3 games and breaking Ramkumar in 8th and 10th games ... Still fighting performance against top-275 ranked Canadian by young Ramkumar.

Hockey News
At Hockey World League Semi-Final - Men, Rotterdam, Netherlands

Pool B
India l Netherlands 0-2 (0-2)
Goal Scorers - Billy Bakker (NED) 2', Jeroen Hertzberger (NED) 17'

New Zealand bt Ireland 4-2 (1-1)

The Netherlands men started positively and take lead within two minutes through Billy Bakker ... After that Dutch side was kept attacking but Sreejesh was very good under goalpost, who saved many attacks ... On clumsy defending Dutch earned penalty stroke in 16 minutes which Jeroen Hertzberger converted ... Indians earned penalty corner in 20th minute but failed to convert ... First half dominated by Dutch team ... From the second half our team was looking little threatening but again our age-old poor finishing inside D helped Dutch team ... In this half we earned 3 more penalty corners which our three penalty corner specialists failed to convert ... So after that we r staying at bottom of Pool B.

Tennis News
At €780K Queens Open, London, Great Britain

[SF] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) l (1) Bob Bryan (USA)/ Mike Bryan (USA) 46 26

Mahesh-Rohan failed to raise their game against Bryans and lost in straight sets.
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At $75K Nottingham-2 Challenger, Great Britain (grass)

Doubles Final
(4) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) l (2) Sanchai Ratiwatana (THA)/ Sonchat Ratiwatana (THA) 67(5) 76(3) 8-10

Heart-breaking loss for Purav-Divij against Ratiwatanas after 100 minutes match ... In this match both pairs failed to break service of opponents ... Our pair had 7 break point chances and Ratiwatanas had 5 ... Ratiwatanas won the first set in tie-break ... In the second set Purav-Divij dominated tie-break to win it ... Again very close match tie-break which Ratiwatanas won it ... Still good match practice on the grass before Wimbledon qualifying.,
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At $10K India F8 Futures, Coimbatore

Singles Final
(2) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND) bt (3) Vijayant MALIK (IND) 62 5-1 Retd.

In end comfortable title victory for Jeevan ... After winning the first set easily Jeevan was up 5-1 when Vijayant conceded match due to injury.
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At $10K Spain F17 Futures, Martos

[SF] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,800) bt Jose Checa-Calvo (ESP,260) 76(5) 5-0 Retd.

[F] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,800) vs (1) Steven Diez (CAN,267)

Doubles Final
(2) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND)/ Ashwin Vijayragavan (IND) bt (4) Roberto Ortega-Olmedo (ESP)/ Ricardo Villacorta-Alonso (ESP) 63 57 11-9

Ramkumar scored huge win of his career when he defeated top-275 Spanish player Jose Checa-Calvo in the semis and facing top-seed Canadian in the final ... After winning closely fought first set in tie-break Ramkumar was 5-0 leading when Jose retired due to injury.

Afterwards Ramkumar-Ashwin lifted doubles title beating 4th seed Spanish pair in match tie-break ... After winning the first set our pair lost the second set ... Both pairs fought hard in match tie-break but our pair won it in extra points.

Squash News
At World Teams 2013, Mulhouse, France

For 5-8 Positions
(8) India l (6) Germany 0-2

Saurav Ghosal 2-3 Simon Rosner 11/3 8/11 12/10 9/11 5/11
Harinderpal Sandhu 2-3 Raphael Kandra 9/11 12/14 11/5 11/3 12/14

For 7th Position
(8) India bt (5) Malaysia 2-0

Mahesh Mangoankar 3-0 Muhd Asyraf Azan 14/12 11/4 11/7
Saurav Ghosal 3-2 Ong Beng Hee 6/11 7/11 12/10 11/7 11/9

Indian men finished creditable 7th position in this World team championship ... For 7th position match they defeated higher seeded Malaysian team ... In the first match young Mahesh Mangoankar won the first game in extra points but after that he controlled the match and won next two games more comfortably ... In the second match Saurav lost first 2 games against higher ranked Ong Beng Hee but from the third game he fought back ... He won the third game after saving match ball ... He kept fighting and won closely fought last two games for memorable victory.

Before this India lost against Germany in very close match ... In the first match Saurav started well and was 2-1 up after third game ... But after that he messed up things committing many unforced errors and Rosner take advantage of it after winning next two games ... In next match Harinder lost closely fought first 2 games ... Then he made strong comeback and won next two games comfortably against Kandra ... In decider he failed to take advantage of the momentum and lost the game in extra points after missing match ball.

Badminton News
At $700K Djarum Indonesia Open 2013, Jakarta (Superseries Premier)

[SF] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,2) l Juliane Schenk (GER,3) 21-12 13-21 14-21

Juliane scored upset win over Saina in 52 minutes ... Saina failed to stable against Juliane ... In the first game from 6-all Juliane won next 6 points to lead 12-6 but after that Saina won next 15 points in a row to won this game ... In the second game Juliane opened 6-0 lead which she kept increasing and won this game comfortably ... In the final game from 6-5 Juliane take 12-6 lead ... After that Saina tried reduce the lead and she managed to came close to 14-16 but after that Juliane won next 5 points and completed the victory.

Hockey News
At Hockey World League Semi-Final - Women, Rotterdam, Netherlands

Pool B
India dw Belgium 1-1 (0-1)
Goal Scorers - Anupa Barla (IND) 38' and Erica Coppey (BEL) 4'

Germany bt New Zealand 3-2 (2-0)

After dismissal yesterday's performance this was welcome result for our girls but nothing positive about performance ... Belgium take early lead through Coppey and after that they dominated the proceedings ... They had numerous chances of doubling the lead but they struggled inside Indian D and also with excellent goal-keeping by Savita ... Indians equalized in early stage of second half ... After that also Belgium had chances of winning the match which they failed to convert.

Tennis News
At €780K Queens Open, London, Great Britain

[QF] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) bt (5) Colin Fleming (GBR)/ Jonathan Marray (GBR) 76(5) 46 10-4

[SF] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) vs (1) Bob Bryan (USA)/ Mike Bryan (USA)

Our pair in the semis with match super tie-break win over local pair ... After winning the first set in tie-break Rohan-Mahesh lost the second with a single break ... Our pair dominated match tie-break, which they won losing only 4 points ... In the semis they r facing in-form Bryans.
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At $75K Nottingham-2 Challenger, Great Britain (grass)

[SF] Somdev Devvarman (IND,140) l Steve Johnson (USA,120) 36 46

Doubles
[QF] (4) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Go Soeda (JPN)/ Ruan Roelofse (RSA) 76(5) 75

[SF] (4) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt (1) Marcelo Demoliner (BRA)/ Nicholas Monroe (USA) 67(8) 63 10-8

[F] (4) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs (2) Sanchai Ratiwatana (THA)/ Sonchat Ratiwatana (THA)

Match between two 2 times NCAA champions didn't live as per expectations ... Johnson won the first set with a single break ... In the second set also Johnson broke Buji in 1st game and then take another break to lead 4-1 ... When Johnson was serving for the match at 5-2 Buji tried fightback ... He broke Johnson in 8th game and then hold his serve ... But he wasn't third time lucky for another comeback and Johnson hold his serve for a win ... Still creditable performance by Buji in last two weeks, he reached in the semis of big challengers on clay and grass ... From next week he will try his luck at Wimbledon qualifying.

Divij-Purav completed quarter-final win and then they played semis late in evening against top-seed pair ... After losing the first set in tie-break they made strong comeback to won the second ... They managed to keep momentum in match tie-break and won this tight tie-break ... Good win against good grass court players ... In the final they r facing Ratiwatanas.
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At $10K India F8 Futures, Coimbatore

Singles Semi Finals
(3) Vijayant MALIK (IND) bt (1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND) 75 61
(2) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND) bt (5) Karunuday SINGH (IND) 63 63

Doubles Final
(2) Keith-Patrick CROWLEY (RSA)/ Arun-Prakash RAJAGOPALAN (IND) bt Fariz MOHAMMED (IND)/ Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND) 63 62

Jeevan scored very good win over Karunuday ... Vijayant kept his upperhand over Bala ... In the doubles Arun-Prakash managed to lift his first doubles title of this future series.
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At $10K Spain F17 Futures, Martos

[QF] Ashwin Vijayragavan (IND,980) l (1) Steven Diez (CAN,267) 26 46
[QF] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,800) bt Matthieu Roy (FRA,861) 62 63

[SF] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,800) vs Jose Checa-Calvo (ESP,260)

Doubles
[SF] (2) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND)/ Ashwin Vijayragavan (IND) bt Alejandro Augusto Bueno (ESP)/ Marcos Giraldi Requena (ESP) 64 16 10-4

[F] (2) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND)/ Ashwin Vijayragavan (IND) vs (4) Roberto Ortega-Olmedo (ESP)/ Ricardo Villacorta-Alonso (ESP)

Ramkumar scored another comfortable win over Frenchman and enter into the semis ... He is facing top ranked player of the tournament Jose Checa-Calvo ... Ashwin produced decent fight against top-seed Canadian.

Ashwin-Ramkumar r in the doubles final ... In the semis they scored match tie-break victory over Spanish pair ... In the final they r facing 4th seed Spanish pair.

Badminton News
At $700K Djarum Indonesia Open 2013, Jakarta (Superseries Premier)

[QF] Ajay Jayaram (IND,28) l Marc Zwiebler (GER,22) 16-21 15-21
[QF] Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,23) l Tommy Sugiarto (INA,20) 21-19 11-21 10-21
[QF] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,2) bt Carolina Marin (ESP,27) 21-16 21-19

[SF] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,2) vs (4) Juliane Schenk (GER,3)

Saina scored straight games victory but Spanish girl Marin stretched her ... In the first game both players exchanged lead till 12-all ... After that Saina opened couple of points lead and which she increased for winning this game ... In the second game Carolina opened 7-2 lead but Saina caught with her at 10-all ... But again Carolina take 13-10 lead and she kept her lead till 19-15 ... After that Saina won last 6 points and completed win in 39 minutes ... Next she is facing German Juliane Schenk.

Ajay failed to raise his game against Zwiebler and loss in straight games ... Guru started well against Tommy Sugiarto and won the first game but after that Tommy proved too strong ... He won the last two games comfortably.

At World Teams 2013, Mulhouse, France

[QF] (8) India l (1) Egypt 0-2

Harinderpal Sandhu 0-3 Karim Darwish 7/11 4/11 2/11 (28m)
Saurav Ghosal 1-3 Ramy Ashour 7/11 9/11 11/4 11/13 (61m)

Top-seed Egypt scored expected victory over India ... Harinderpal played well in the first game but after losing that he failed to produce any challenge to Karim.

The second match between Saurav and Ramy called match of the day by experts ... Saurav kept running and returning everything which Ramy was playing ... Ramy won well fought 1st game ... In the second game Saurav played well and take advantage of Ramy's mistakes ... He was leading 9-5 but Ramy cut down his errors and played excellent game winning next 6 points to won this game ... In the third Saurav dominated and won it comfortably ... In fourth game also both kept playing quality squash ... Ramy 2 match balls at 10-8 but Saurav saved both and had a game ball at 11-10 but Ramy won next 3 points for hard fought win.

Tennis News
At $75K Nottingham-2 Challenger, Great Britain (grass)

[QF] Somdev Devvarman (IND,140) bt Donald Young (USA,157) 36 76(4) 64

[SF] Somdev Devvarman (IND,140) vs Steve Johnson (USA,120)

Slow start for Buji in the first set, he was 5-2 down before losing the first set ... In the second set both players hold their respective serves till 4-all ... Donald broke Buji in 9th game to lead 5-4 but again Buji showed his fighting spirit ... He broke Donald when he was serving for the match at 15 ... In tie-break both players exchanged early mini-breaks but at 5-4 Buji won next 2 points on Donald's serve to won this set ... In the final set only break came in 5th game when Buji broke Donald to lead 3-2 ... In 6th game Buji saved 3 break points before holding his serve but after that both players hold their respective serve without any problem ... So Buji completed his another comeback win ... Next he is facing another American, Steve Johnson, who was also NCAA champion in 2011 and 2012 ... So interesting match between 2 former NCAA two-time champions.
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At $10K Spain F17 Futures, Martos

[R2] Ashwin Vijayragavan (IND,980) bt (7) Pol Toledo Bague (ESP,660) 67(3) 62 64
[R2] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,800) bt Emilien Firmin (FRA,787) 76(2) 64

[QF] Ashwin Vijayragavan (IND,980) vs (1) Steven Diez (CAN,267)
[QF] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,800) vs Matthieu Roy (FRA,861)

Doubles
[QF] (2) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND)/ Ashwin Vijayragavan (IND) bt Eduard Esteve Lobato (ESP)/ David Vega Hernandez (ESP) 75 62

[SF] (2) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND)/ Ashwin Vijayragavan (IND) vs Alejandro Augusto Bueno (ESP)/ Marcos Giraldi Requena (ESP)

Very good comeback win by Ashwin over top-700 Spanish player ... Next he is facing top-seed Canadian ... Ramkumar also continued with his good form and scored straight sets win over similar ranked Frenchman ... Next he is facing another unseeded Frenchman.

Ashwin-Ramkumar r also in the doubles semi with straight sets win over Spanish pair.

Hockey News
At Hockey World League Semi-Final - Men, Rotterdam, Netherlands

Pool B
India dw Ireland 4-4 (1-2)
Goal Scorers - Akashdeep Singh (IND) 21', Rupinder Pal Sigh (IND) PC 40' and PC 66', Shivender Singh (IND) 47' and Alan Sothern (IRL) 25', Paul Gleghorne (IRL) 30', Conor Harte (IRL) PC 57', Andrew McConnel (IRL) 64'

Netherlands dw New Zealand 3-3

We were lucky in the end as we managed draw against spirited Irish team, who was looking better on the field ... Need improvement in defending and finishing inside the circle against Kiwis and Dutch side.

Match was evenly fought early and Akashdeep gave lead to India but Irish team responded with 2 goals in 5 minutes and take control of the match ... After end of first-half Irish team was leading 2-1 ... Rupinder Pal converted 2nd penalty corner in 40th minute and then Shivendra Singh deflected the ball in goal and gave lead to India ... But due to mistake by Raghu and Gurmail inside D we conceded first penalty corner and Irish team converted through Harte ... After 7 minutes Irish Andrew McConnel scored goal of the match with a diagonal hit from 25-yard, Sreejesh couldn't do anything with this goal ... Indians earned another penalty corner in 2 minutes and Rupinder Pal scored to equalized ... In last 4 minutes Irish team made numerous circle penetration but failed to score and match ended in a draw.

Tennis News
At €780K Queens Open, London, Great Britain

[R2] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) bt Nicolas Mahut (FRA)/ Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) w/o

Mahesh-Rohan won match as French pair gave them walkover.
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At $75K Nottingham-2 Challenger, Great Britain (grass)

[R2] Somdev Devvarman (IND,140) bt (5) Jack Sock (USA,102) 16 67(5) 63

[QF] Somdev Devvarman (IND,140) vs Donald Young (USA,157)

Doubles
[QF] (4) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Go Soeda (JPN)/ Ruan Roelofse (RSA)

Yesterday match was suspended due to rain when Buji was leading 3-2 in the third and 30-all on Sock's serve ... Today immediately Buji broke him to lead 4-2 ... After that both players hold their respective service games comfortably and within 15 minutes Buji completed his match ... Next he is facing Donald Young in the quarters.
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At $10K India F8 Futures, Coimbatore

Singles Quarter Finals
(1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND) bt Jui-Chen HUNG (TPE) 67(3) 63 75
(3) Vijayant MALIK (IND) bt (7) Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND) 62 61
(5) Karunuday SINGH (IND) bt (4) Keith-Patrick CROWLEY (RSA) 62 57 63
(2) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND) bt (Q) Abdullah SHAIKH (IND) 62 60

Doubles Semi Finals
Fariz MOHAMMED (IND)/ Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND) bt (1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND) 62 60
(2) Keith-Patrick CROWLEY (RSA)/ Arun-Prakash RAJAGOPALAN (IND) bt Neeraj ELANGOVAN (IND)/ Ajai SELVARAJ (IND) 64 76(3)

This is Karunuday's 4th semi-final in fourth tournament in a row ... Surprising tough match for Bala.

Surprising loss of top-seed pair of Jeevan-Balaji, who were champion in last two weeks, against unseeded pair ... This loss mostly due to tiredness of Bala after his long singles quarter-final match against Taipei player.

Badminton News
At $700K Djarum Indonesia Open 2013, Jakarta (Superseries Premier)

[R2] (Q) Sai Praneeth B. (IND,55) l (1) Chong Wei Lee (MAS,1) 18-21 12-21
[R2] Sourabh Varma (IND,37) l (3) Pengyu Du (CHN,3) 16-21 6-21
[R2] Ajay Jayaram (IND,28) bt (4) Sony Dwi Kuncoro (INA,5) 22-20 21-12
[R2] Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,23) bt (Q) Kazumasa Sakai (JPN,39) 21-12 9-21 21-19
[R2] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,2) bt Sayaka Takahashi (JPN,24) 21-13 21-19

[R2] Pradnya Gadre (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) l Anneke Feinya Agustin (INA)/ Della Destiara Haris (INA) 13-21 19-21
[R2] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) l (7) Robert Mateusiak (POL)/ Nadiezda Zieba (POL) 14-21 21-17 13-21

[QF] Ajay Jayaram (IND,28) vs Marc Zwiebler (GER,22)
[QF] Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,23) vs Tommy Sugiarto (INA,20)
[QF] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,2) vs Carolina Marin (ESP,27)

Guru and Saina in quarter finals with contrasting victories ... After winning the first game easily Guru lost the second game against Kazumasa cheaply ... In decider Kazumasa 7 points in a row from 8-10 to lead 15-10 ... Guru fought back winning 5 points in a row from 12-16 and then converted 3rd match point ... Next he is facing local player, Tommy Sugiarto.

Saina started confidently and won the first game comfortably ... In the second game Sayaka opened lead of 4 points from 11-all ... Saina managed to catch her at 18-all and then won 3 points in a row from 18-19 and completed straight games win ... Next she is facing surprising quarter-finalist Spanish girl Carolina Marin.

Ajay scored cracking win over local favorite and WR #5 Sony Dwi Kuncoro in straight games ... In the first game whenever Ajay opened 3/4 points lead Sony was catching him ... Ajay had game points at 20-18 but Sony saved both ... Again Ajay created 3rd game point which he converted ... After winning the first game in extra points Ajay dominated the second from the start ... He was leading 7-2 one time but Sony reduced it to 11-12 ... After that Ajay gave him only one more point and won the game easily for 38 mins victory ... Next he is facing unseeded German Zwiebler for place in the semis.

Sai gave fighting performance against WR #1 Lee ... In the first game Lee take 10-6 lead but Sai fought back to made it 11-all ... From 14-all Lee take lead but after 15-20 down Sai saved 3 game points before losing the game ... In the second game Lee take early 7-3 lead which he kept increasing but Sai managed decent score line in his 38 mins loss.

Sourabh gave fighting performance in the first game against Chinese Pengyu Du but Du proved too strong him in the second ... Ashwini lost her women's doubles and mixed doubles matches with her respective partners but in mixed doubles she and Tarun managed to stretch seeded Polish pair.

Squash News
At World Men's Teams 2013, Mulhouse, France

[PQF] India bt Hong Kong 2-1
Saurav Ghosal 3-1 Max Lee 11/3 11/8 7/11 11/6 (61m)
Ramit Tandon 3-0 Yip Tsz Fung 11/9 11/5 11/9 (38m)
Harinderpal Sandhu 1-2 Leo Au 9/11 11/7 4/11 (25m)

Pool H
India bt Venezuela 3-0
Mahesh Mangaonkar 3-0 Miguel Vallennilla 11/1 11/2 11/7 (16m)
Harinderpal Sandhu 3-1 Gabriel Teran 11/3 6/11 11/8 11/5 (23m)
Ramit Tandon 3-0 Miguel Mendez 11/2 11/2 11/3 (17m)

India bt Finland 3-0
Ramit Tandon 3-1 Henrik Mustonen 11/4 11/6 11/13 11/4 (38m)
Mahesh Mangaonkar 3-0 Matias Tuomi 11/4 11/7 11/7 (28m)
Saurav Ghosal 3-1 Olli Tuominen 11/7 11/2 7/11 11/9 (51m)

India bt Argentina 2-1
Harinderpal Sandhu 2-3 Roberto Pezzota 9/11 11/2 11/6 11/13 6/11 (99m)
Saurav Ghosal 3-0 Hernan D'Arcalengo 11/7 11/8 11/2 (44m)
Mahesh Mangaonkar 3-1 Leandro Romiglio 8/11 11/5 11/6 11/8 (51m)

As per seeding 8th seed Indian team is in the quarters of World Men's Teams championship in France ... Our players dominated Pool H for winning it and in pre-quarter finals they defeated Hong Kong ... Saurav Ghosal is giving very solid performance ... In the quarter final we r facing #1 Egyptian side.

Hockey News
At Hockey World League Semi-Final - Women, Rotterdam, Netherlands

Pool B
India l New Zealand 0-7 (0-4)
Goal Scorers - Charlotte Harrison (NZL) 8' and 52', Own goal (IND) 16', Katie Glynn (NZL) 26' and 69', Sian Fremaux (NZL) 31', Krystal Forgesson (NZL) 52'

Germany bt Belgium 3-0 (2-0)

This match showed us what we can expect from THIS Indian women team ... They played like bunch of school girls against formidable New Zealand women team ... The Kiwis overpowered our girls ... In the first-half we were totally dis-oriented and lucky that Kiwi girls missed few easy chances ... In the second-half we were little better but over girls failed in Kiwi's Circle penetrations, Kiwis penetrated 62 times and our girls only 15 times ... Shots on the goal were 3 from us and other hand Kiwi girls had 15 shots.

Tennis News
At €780K Queens Open, London, Great Britain

[R2] (LL) Rohan Bopanna(IND,NR) l Kenny De Schepper (FRA,86) 46 36

Lucky break for Rohan as he entered straight into second round as 8th seed Kevin Anderson who had a first round bye pulled out ... But Rohan lost his serve in 7th game and lost the first set with single break ... Rohan struggled with his 1st serve and Schepper take full advantage of it and broke Rohan twice to completed victory ... So Rohan failed to capitalise on this opportunity.
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At $75K Nottingham-2 Challenger, Great Britain (grass)

[R2] Somdev Devvarman (IND,140) vs (5) Jack Sock (USA,102) 16 76(5) 3-2

Doubles
[QF] (4) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Go Soeda (JPN)/ Ruan Roelofse (RSA) 6-6 (4-3)

Buji started disastrously and lost his serve thrice to lose the first set ... In the second set also he was 2-5 down and was facing one-sided loss but made amazing comeback ... He broke Sock twice when he was serving for the match at 5-2 and 5-4 ... Then again Sock broke Somi in 11th game but this time also Somi broke back and then won the tie-break ... In the final set when Somi was leading 3-2 on the serve and 30-all on Sock's serve when match suspended due to rain.

Divij-Purav were 6-6 and leading 4-3 in tie-break when their match also suspended.
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At $25K ITF Women's Tournament, Bukhara, Uzbekistan

[R2] (Q) Sharmada BALU (IND,UNR) l (7) Mari TANAKA (JPN,328) 26 06
Doubles
[QF] Ankita RAINA (IND)/ Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND) l (3) Margarita GASPARYAN (RUS)/ Polina PEKHOVA (BLR) 16 67(4)

Shamada failed to produce challenge to her Japanese opponent ... In the doubles Ankita-Prarthana gave fighting performance in the second set after losing the first set easily against 3rd seed.
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At $15K Germany F5 Futures, Essen (clay)

[R1] N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND,517) l (3) Nils Langer (GER,311) 67(5) 64 26
[R1] Vishnu Vardhan (IND,421) l Michael Venus (NZL,395) 26 46

Doubles
[R1] N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND,421) l (1) Christian Harrison (USA)/ Michael Venus (NZL) 64 67(3) 6-10

Vijay Sundar gave fighting performance against 3rd seed German before losing this match ... But other hand Vishnu's struggle on the tour continues ... In the doubles also Vijay Sundar-Vishnu lost close match in match tie-break against top-seed pair.
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At $10K India F8 Futures, Coimbatore

Singles Second Round
(1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND) bt (WC) Vigneshwaran RAMESH (IND) 61 76(5)
Jui-Chen HUNG (TPE) bt (8) Chandril SOOD (IND) 63 63
(3) Vijayant MALIK (IND) bt Neeraj ELANGOVAN (IND) 61 62
(7) Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND) bt Ajai SELVARAJ (IND) 62 63
(5) Karunuday SINGH (IND) bt Rakshit RISHI (IND)62 64
(4) Keith-Patrick CROWLEY (RSA) bt (Q) Saurabh PATIL (IND) 62 62
(Q) Abdullah SHAIKH (IND) bt Fariz MOHAMMED (IND) 63 61
(2) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND) bt (Q) Tushar MANDLEKAR (IND) 60 62

Doubles Quarter Finals
(1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND) bt (WC) Sumeet SHINDE (IND)/ U M Gugan VERMA (IND)62 63
Fariz MOHAMMED (IND)/ Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND) bt Jatin DAHIYA (IND)/ Shahbaaz KHAN (IND) 76(4) 57 10-8
Neeraj ELANGOVAN (IND)/ Ajai SELVARAJ (IND) bt (4) Chandril SOOD (IND)/ Lakshit SOOD (IND) 76(3) 67(5) 13-11
(2) Keith-Patrick CROWLEY (RSA)/ Arun-Prakash RAJAGOPALAN (IND) bt Kunal ANAND (IND)/ Sagar MANJANNA (IND) 64 76(4)

Sheikh Abdullah scored another win but next facing Jeevan ... Frankly expected loss of Chandril against Taipei player.
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At $10K Spain F17 Futures, Martos

[R1] Ashwin Vijayragavan (IND,980) bt (Q) Hasier Pastor (ESP,1163) 64 36 64
[R1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,800) bt (Q) Pedro Dominguez Alonso (ESP,1702) 61 64

[R2] Ashwin Vijayragavan (IND,980) vs (7) Pol Toledo Bague (ESP,660)
[R2] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,800) vs Emilien Firmin (FRA,787)

Doubles
[R1] (2) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND)/ Ashwin Vijayragavan (IND) bt Philipp Aleksanyan (RUS)/ Ivan Gakhov (RUS) 63 46 10-8

[QF] (2) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND)/ Ashwin Vijayragavan (IND) vs Eduard Esteve Lobato (ESP)/ David Vega Hernandez (ESP)

Ashwin won his first round match in 3 sets against Spanish qualifier ... Next he is facing young 18 yrs old talented Pol Toledo Bague ... Ramkumar also started with comfortable win ... Next he is facing similar ranked Frenchman, who upset seeded countryman in the first round.

In the doubles Ramkumar-Ashwin started with close win over Russian pair.

Badminton News
At $700K Djarum Indonesia Open 2013, Jakarta (Superseries Premier)

[R1] (Q) Sai Praneeth B. (IND,55) bt Taufik Hidayat (INA,35) 15-21 21-12 21-17
[R1] Kashyap Parupalli (IND,10) l Sho Sasaki (JPN,19) 7-21 8-21
[R1] Sourabh Varma (IND,37) bt Hans-Kristian Vittinghus (DEN,15) 19-21 21-14 21-15
[R1] Ajay Jayaram (IND,28) bt (Q) Riyanto Subagja (INA,71) 22-20 8-21 21-12
[R1] Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,25) bt Andre Kurniwan Tedjono (INA,53) 22-20 21-16

[R1] Pradnya Gadre (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) bt Mingtian Fu (SIN)/ Lei Yao (SIN) 21-16 15-21 22-20
[R1] (Q) Aparna Balan (IND)/ Siki Reddy N. (IND) l Gebby Ristiyani Imawan (INA)/ Tiara Rosalia Nuraidah (INA) 12-21 17-21

[R2] (Q) Sai Praneeth B. (IND,55) vs (1) Chong Wei Lee (MAS,1)
[R2] Sourabh Varma (IND,37) vs (3) Pengyu Du (CHN,3)
[R2] Ajay Jayaram (IND,28) vs (4) Sony Dwi Kuncoro (INA,5)
[R2] Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,25) vs (Q) Kazumasa Sakai (JPN,39)

[R2] Pradnya Gadre (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs Anneke Feinya Agustin (INA)/ Della Destiara Haris (INA)

Sai scored comeback win over Indonesian legend Taufik Hidayat in his last competitive match as this was his last tournament ... After losing the first game Sai dominated the second before winning the third winning crucial points ... Terrific win for Sai.

Sourabh also scored big win over top-15 Danish player Vittinghus in three games ... He also lost the first game before winning next two games comfortably ... Next matches r tough for Sai and Sourabh against WR #1 and WR #3 respectively.

Shocking one-sided loss of Kashyap in 31 minutes, where he managed to win only 15 points in the match.

Ajay recovered well in the final game after losing the second game easily against local qualifier ... Next he is facing Indonesia's top player and WR #5 Sony Dwi Kuncoro ... Guru also scored good win against former top-20 Indonesian player Tedjono in straight games ... Next he is facing Japanese qualifier, who scored upset win over 7th seed Danish player.

Ashwini-Pradnya scored tight win over experienced Singaporean pair ... In the final game Singaporean pair were leading by 2-3 points but our pair caught them at 14-all from 11-14 ... After that our pair had 19-16 lead but this time Singaporean pair made it 19-all ... Ashwini-Pradnya played kept their focus and converted 2nd match point ... Next they r facing local pair, who upset 6th seed Thai pair.

Tennis News
At $75K Nottingham-2 Challenger, Great Britain (grass)

[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,140) bt (Q) Brydan Klein (GBR,253) 76(2) 64

[R2] Somdev Devvarman (IND,140) vs (5) Jack Sock (USA,102)

Both players exchanged early breaks and then Buji saved couple of set points in 10th game ... In tie-break when Buji was leading 5-2 when match stopped due to rain ... After returning Buji won next two points for winning the set ... In the second set both players played another tight games but Buji take crucial break in 10th game when Brydan was serving for staying in the match ... Good win for Buji in his first match of the grass season against better grass court player, who was played few matches on the grass before this match ... Next Buji is playing against young 5th seeded American Jack Sock.
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At $25K ITF Women's Tournament, Bukhara, Uzbekistan

[R1] (Q) Ankita RAINA (IND,430) l (Q) Indy DE VROOME (NED,467) 67(3) 16
[R1] (Q) Sharmada BALU (IND,UNR) bt (WC) Arina FOLTS (UZB,UNR) 62 61

[R2] (Q) Sharmada BALU (IND,UNR) vs (7) Mari TANAKA (JPN,328)

Doubles
[QF] Ankita RAINA (IND)/ Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND) vs (3) Margarita GASPARYAN (RUS)/ Polina PEKHOVA (BLR)

Tough scheduling for Ankita considering so much matches but this is learning curve for her and her support team ... This was her 9th match in 11 days ... Happy to see Balu take advantage of weaker opponent.
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At $15K Germany F5 Futures, Essen (clay)

[R1] Vishnu Vardhan (IND,421) vs Michael Venus (NZL,395)
[R1] N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND,517) vs (3) Nils Langer (GER,311)

Doubles
[R1] N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND,421) vs (1) Christian Harrison (USA)/ Michael Venus (NZL)

Good to see Vishnu and Vijay Sundar r playing in tough German clay futures.
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At $10K Spain F17 Futures, Martos

[R1] Ashwin Vijayragavan (IND,980) vs (Q) Hasier Pastor (ESP,1163)
[R1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,800) vs (Q) Pedro Dominguez Alonso (ESP,1702)

Doubles
[R1] (2) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND)/ Ashwin Vijayragavan (IND) vs Philipp Aleksanyan (RUS)/ Ivan Gakhov (RUS)

Ramkumar and Ashwin r playing against qualifiers in the first round.

Badminton News
At $700K Djarum Indonesia Open 2013, Jakarta (Superseries Premier)

[Q1] (4) Anand Pawar (IND,41) bt Dong Keun Lee (KOR,51) 21-15 19-21 21-11
[Q1] Sai Praneeth B. (IND,55) bt Sukamta Evert (INA,150) 21-11 21-16
[Q1] Prannoy H. S. (IND,64) l (2) Kazumasa Sakai (JPN,39) 21-13 14-21 21-17
[Q1] Arundhati Pantawane (IND,75) l Maziyyah Nadhir (INA,73) 21-23 19-21

[Q1] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Arun Vishnu (IND) l Wijaya Rendra (INA)/ Rian Sukmawan (INA) 19-21 15-21
[Q1] Pranaav Jerry Chopra (IND)/ Akshay Dewalkar (IND) l Ronald Alexander (INA)/ Selvanus Geh (INA) 19-21 18-21
[Q1] (3) Aparna Balan (IND)/ Siki Reddy N. (IND) bt Nurbeta Kwanrico (INA)/ Deariska Putri Medita (INA) 21-9 21-9
[Q1] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Prajakta Sawant (IND) l (4) Ririn Amelia (INA)/ Anggia Shitta Awanda (INA) 19-21 20-22

[Q1] Mohd Razif Abdul Latif (MAS)/ Prajakta Sawant (IND) l Adi Pratama (INA)/ Nadya Melati (INA) 11-21 21-12 19-21
[Q1] Arun Vishnu (IND)/ Aparna Balan (IND) l Patiphat Chalardchaleam (THA)/ Jongkonphan Kittiharakul (THA) 16-21 21-16 16-21

[Q2] (4) Anand Pawar (IND,41) l Riyanto Subagja (INA,71) 8-21 12-21
[Q2] Sai Praneeth B. (IND,55) bt Kento Momota (JPN,49) 15-21 21-3 22-20

[Q2] (3) Aparna Balan (IND)/ Siki Reddy N. (IND) bt Rodjana Chuthabunditkul (THA)/ Jongkonphan Kittiharakul (THA) 18-21 22-20 24-22

[R1] (Q) Sai Praneeth B. (IND,55) vs Taufik Hidayat (INA,35)
[R1] Kashyap Parupalli (IND,10) vs Sho Sasaki (JPN,19)
[R1] Sourabh Varma (IND,37) vs Hans-Kristian Vittinghus (DEN,15)
[R1] Ajay Jayaram (IND,28) vs (Q) Riyanto Subagja (INA,71)
[R1] Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,25) vs Andre Kurniwan Tedjono (INA,53)
[R1] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,2) bt Lindaweni Fanetri (INA,14) 21-17 27-29 21-13

[R1] Pradnya Gadre (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs Mingtian Fu (SIN)/ Lei Yao (SIN)
[R1] (Q) Aparna Balan (IND)/ Siki Reddy N. (IND) vs Gebby Ristiyani Imawan (INA)/ Tiara Rosalia Nuraidah (INA)
[R1] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) bt Praveen Jordan (INA)/ Vita Marissa (INA) 21-18 14-21 25-23

[R2] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,2) vs Sayaka Takahashi (JPN,24)

[R2] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs (7) Robert Mateusiak (POL)/ Nadiezda Zieba (POL)

As expected big Indian contingent but surprisingly Sindhu is missing this event ... Hopefully nothing serious injury scare.

Only Sai Praneeth and pair of Aparna Balan-Siki Reddy qualify for the main-draw ... After losing the first game Sai dominated the second, he won 14 points in a row from 7-3 for winning this game ... In the final game also Sai was leading from the start but lost his concentration from 19-14 and gave chance to Momota ... Momota caught with him at 20-all but Sai converted 3rd match point.

Aparna Balan-Siki Reddy also scored hard fought win ... All three games were closely contested but Aparna-Siki lost the first game ... In the second game they had early lead which they conceded but Aparna-Siki saved a match point before winning this game ... In the final game also Aparna-Siki take early game but each time their Thai opponents fought back ... Our pair converted sixth match point for exciting win.

Other hand poor outing for our men's doubles pairs.
In main-draw,
Sai is facing local legend Taufik Hidayat, who already announced his retirement after this tournament ... I m hoping his match against Sai will be his last professional match ... :)

Saina had tough first round match against WR #14 and Indonesian top singles player Lindaweni Fanetri ... In the first game Saina take control from 9-all after opening 4 points lead which she kept till end for winning this game ... In the second game both players exchanged couple of point lead but Saina opened crucial 2 points lead at 15-all ... Saina was leading 20-18 but she wasted 6 match points in this long game which Fanetri won converting 4th game point in extra points ... In the final game Saina started with 5-0 lead which she kept increasing and won the match after 74 minutes ... Next she is facing little unknown Japanese opponent Sayaka Takahashi.

In MXD Tarun-Ashwini also had close match against local pair ... In the first game after 6-3 lead Tarun-Ashwini kept this lead throughout the game for winning this ... In the second game Indonesian pair won 10 points in a row from 3-7 down to take control which they won comfortably ... In the final game Our pair take early couple of points lead but Indonesian pair caught them at 12-all ... Then Indonesian pair take 2 points lead at 17-15 but Tarun-Ashwini managed to make it 18-all ... Tarun-Ashwini saved a match point at 19-10 before converting 4th match in extra points ... Next they r facing 7th seed Polish pair.

Tennis News
At $75K Nottingham-2 Challenger, Great Britain (grass)

[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,140) vs (Q) Brydan Klein (GBR,253)

Doubles
[R1] (4) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Rik De Voest (RSA)/ Adil Shamasdin (CAN) 61 36 10-7

[QF] (4) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Go Soeda (JPN)/ Ruan Roelofse (RSA)

Tough matches for Buji ... Other hand very good win for Purav and Divij in their first match of the grass against good pair ... It would be great if they get couple of more matches before Wimbledon qualifying.
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At $25K ITF Women's Tournament, Bukhara, Uzbekistan

[Q1] (1) Ankita RAINA (IND,430) bye [Q1] Sharmada BALU (IND,UNR) bt(6) Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND,580) 57 62 76(5)
[Q1] (8) Nidhi CHILUMULA (IND,686) bt Amina MUKHAMETSHINA (UZB,UNR) 61 62

[Q2] (1) Ankita RAINA (IND,430) bt Guzal YUSUPOVA (UZB,UNR) 61 61
[Q2] Sharmada BALU (IND,UNR) bt (14) Anna SMOLINA (RUS,801) 63 60
[Q2] (8) Nidhi CHILUMULA (IND,686) l (13) Miyu KATO (JPN,769) 26 62 57

[R1] (Q) Ankita RAINA (IND,430) vs (Q) Indy DE VROOME (NED,467)
[R1] (Q) Sharmada BALU (IND,NR) vs (WC) Arina FOLTS (UZB,UNR)

Doubles
[R1] Ankita RAINA (IND)/ Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND) bt Ksenia KIRILLOVA (RUS)/ Polina MONOVA (RUS) 62 16 10-6
[R1] Nidhi CHILUMULA (IND)/ Kamila KERIMBAYEVA (KAZ) l (1) Angelina GABUEVA (RUS)/ Veronika KAPSHAY (UKR) 16 26

After terrific last week Ankita qualify for the main-draw this week with Balua ... And also good win in doubles for Ankita and Prarthana.
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At $10K India F8 Futures, Coimbatore

Singles First Round
(1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND) bt Jatin DAHIYA (IND) 61 62
(WC) Vigneshwaran RAMESH (IND) bt (Q) Vijay KANNAN (IND) 64 75
Jui-Chen HUNG (TPE) bt Zach ITZSTEIN (AUS) 63 64
(8) Chandril SOOD (IND) bt (Q) Sumeet SHINDE (IND) 67(5) 63 3-1 Retd.
(3) Vijayant MALIK (IND) bt Abhijeet TIWARI (IND) 64 62
Neeraj ELANGOVAN (IND) bt Kunal ANAND (IND) 63 63
Ajai SELVARAJ (IND) bt Sagar AHUJA (IND) 62 62
(7) Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND) bt (Q) Kumara P Saradhi ADAVELLY (IND) 63 63
(5) Karunuday SINGH (IND) bt (WC) Tarun Nath SURATH (IND) 63 61
Rakshit RISHI (IND) bt (LL) Bharatram BALAJEE (IND) 67(7) 64 75
(Q) Saurabh PATIL (IND) bt Anvit BENDRE (IND) 46 63 64
(4) Keith-Patrick CROWLEY (RSA) bt (WC) Lakshit SOOD (IND) 62 63
Fariz MOHAMMED (IND) bt (6) Sidharth RAWAT (IND) 62 46 76(5)
(Q) Abdullah SHAIKH (IND) bt (Q) Suraj BENIWAL (IND) 60 3-0 Retd.
(Q) Tushar MANDLEKAR (IND) bt Sagar MANJANNA (IND) 75 62
(2) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND) bt (Q) Vinod SRIDHAR (IND) 62 61

Doubles First Round
(1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND) bt Anvit BENDRE (IND)/ Tushar MANDLEKAR (IND) 62 62
(WC) Sumeet SHINDE (IND)/ U M Gugan VERMA (IND) bt Suraj R PRABODH (IND)/ Rakshit RISHI (IND) 61 75
Jatin DAHIYA (IND)/ Shahbaaz KHAN (IND) bt (3) Amrit NARASIMHAN (USA)/ Abhijeet TIWARI (IND) 62 46 10-8
Fariz MOHAMMED (IND)/ Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND) bt Arpit SHARMA (IND)/ Aaditya TEWARI (IND) 67(4) 76(5) 10-8
Neeraj ELANGOVAN (IND)/ Ajai SELVARAJ (IND) bt Sagar AHUJA (IND)/ Saurabh PATIL (IND) 64 62
(4) Chandril SOOD (IND)/ Lakshit SOOD (IND) bt (WC) Kumara P Saradhi ADAVELLY (IND)/ Fahad MOHAMMED (IND) 75 63
Kunal ANAND (IND)/ Sagar MANJANNA (IND) bt (WC) Srikar ALLA (IND)/ Tarun Nath SURATH (IND) 64 64
(2) Keith-Patrick CROWLEY (RSA)/ Arun-Prakash RAJAGOPALAN (IND) bt Jui-Chen HUNG (TPE)/ Zach ITZSTEIN (AUS) 76(1) 64

Small upset of Anvit and Sagar in the singles.

Tennis News
At €780K Queens Open, London, Great Britain

[Q3] Rohan Bopanna (IND,UNR) l Ilija Bozoljac (SRB,323) 16 16

Doubles
[R1] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) bye

Rohan lost in one-sided match in the final qualifying ... Rohan-Mahesh r 3rd seed in Queens open and receiving bye in the first round ... They r in top draw with top-seed Bryans.
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At $75K Nottingham-2 Challenger, Great Britain (grass)

[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,188) vs Qualifier

Tough match for Buji as he is directly playing after clay season and qualifier will be already played three matches on the grass.
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At $10K Guam F1 Futures, Tumon


Singles Final
(1) Saketh MYNENI (IND,302) bt Masato SHIGA (JPN,995) 60 61

Saketh scored very dominating win over his Japanese opponent to lift his 8th futures title and second overseas title ... He lost only one game in the final ... After this he is taking break and then try his luck on the challengers.

Badminton News
At $120K SCG Thailand Open 2013 (GP Gold), Bangkok

Men's Singles Final
(13) Srikanth K. (IND,45) bt (1) Boonsak Ponsana (THA,7) 21-16 21-12

Terrific performance by young K. Srikanth, who dominated the final and won it in 33 minutes ... This is Srikanth's first Gold GP title and definitely many more titles will come ... Mostly in next ranking update he will rise to his personal best ranking, previous was #45 in May 2013.

In the first game Srikanth take 7-2 early lead ... After that Ponsana tried hard to catch him and managed to reduce it to 1 point, 7-8, 8-9 and then 15-16 ... But Srikanth kept his focus and won next 4 points from 16-15 and converted second game point ... In the second game from 3-4 Srikanth won next 8 points to opened huge lead 11-4 and which he easily maintained till end for his big win over top-10 player to lift his first Gold GP title.

Tennis News
At €780K Queens Open, London, Great Britain

[Q1] Prakash Amritraj (IND,314) l Jamie Baker (GBR,294) 36 46
[Q1] Rohan Bopanna (IND,UNR) bt Robert Carter (GBR,1295) 75 60

[Q2] Rohan Bopanna (IND,UNR) bt (7) John-Patrick Smith (AUS,225) 63 75

Prakash take bold move to play Queen's open qualifying but lost in the first round against Brit ... Other hand expected winning start for Rohan against local player ... Next Rohan faced top-225 Aussie player Smith in the second qualifying round and he again showed his abilities of playing on the grass ... He scored straight sets win and earned ATP singles ranking points after almost 2 years.
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At $100K+H Caltanissetta Challenger, Italy (red clay)

[SF] Somdev Devvarman (IND,188) l Dusan Lajovic (SRB,155) 16 36

Somdev played his bad match of this week against Dusan ... In the first set Buji was making too many UFEs and lost his serve in 2nd and 4th games, 0-5 ... At last he hold in 6th game before losing the set ... In the second set broke Buji in 3rd game to lead 2-1 ... He again broke Buji in 9th game for comfortable win.
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At $25K ITF Women's Tournament, Karshi, Uzbekistan

[F] (Q) Ankita Raina (IND,455) l Sabina Sharipova (UZB,363) 36 36

Sharipova ended Ankita's dream run with straight sets victory but still creditable performance by Ankita, who reached in the final as an qualifier.
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At $10K India F7 Futures, Chennai

Singles Final
(1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND) bt (2) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND) 67(6) 64 60

Doubles Final
(1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND) bt (2) Keith-Patrick CROWLEY (RSA)/ Arun-Prakash RAJAGOPALAN (IND) 62 67(5) 10-5

Balaji scored much required win over Jeevan to lift the title ... After losing the first set in tie-break he made solid comeback to win the second ... Then dominated the third set for his first singles title of the year.

Bala lifted doubles title with Jeevan beating 2nd seed pair in match tie-break ... So with that Bala won double crown this week.
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At $10K Guam F1 Futures, Tumon

[SF] (1) Saketh MYNENI (IND,302) bt (4) Takuto NIKI (JPN,635) 64 76(4)

[F] (1) Saketh MYNENI (IND,302) vs Masato SHIGA (JPN,995)

More than expected tighter win for Saketh but he is in the final and facing his 5th Japanese opponent of the week.

Badminton News
At $120K SCG Thailand Open 2013 (GP Gold), Bangkok

[SF] (13) Srikanth K. (IND,45) bt Thammasin Sitthikom (THA,143) 21-14 21-18

[F] (13) Srikanth K. (IND,45) vs (1) Boonsak Ponsana (THA,7)

Srikanth is in his first Gold GP final with win over Thai Sitthikom in 43 minutes ... In the first game Srikanth take control after winning 8 points in a row from 7-6 ... After winning the first game Srikanth take 5-1 lead in the second ... Sitthikom caught with him at 7-all and after that he take couple of points lead ... Sitthikom maintained lead till 15-all but from 16-17 Srikanth won 4 points in a row and converted his second match point ... In the final Srikanth is facing top 10 local player Boonsak Ponsana.

Tennis News
At $100K+H Caltanissetta Challenger, Italy (red clay)

[QF] Somdev Devvarman (IND,188) bt Federico Delbonis (ARG,125) 64 60

[SF] Somdev Devvarman (IND,188) vs Dusan Lajovic (SRB,155)

In the first set both players started confidently and comfortably holding their service games ... At 4-all Buji broke Delbonis at love and then while serving for the set Buji saved a break point before converting his 3rd set point ... In the second set Somi didn't give any chance to Delbonis and he served a second set bagel to Delbonis and moves into the Semifinals ... Next he is facing his Serbian doubles partner Dusan Lajovic.
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At $25K ITF Women's Tournament, Karshi, Uzbekistan

[SF] (Q) Ankita Raina (IND,455) bt (6) Veronika Kapshay (UKR,301) 06 76(1) 64

[F] (Q) Ankita Raina (IND,455) vs Sabina Sharipova (UZB,363)

Ankita continues with her excellent performance ... Today after losing the first set against top-300 Ukrainian without winning a single game she showed tremendous courage for extraordinary comeback ... She fought hard to win the second set and then kept fighting before winning the final set ... Superb performance by Ankita to reach in the final ... In the final she is facing talented local girl Sabina Sharipova.
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At $10K India F7 Futures, Chennai

Singles Semi Finals
(1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND) bt (7) Prajnesh GUNNESWARAN (IND) 61 61
(2) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND) bt (8) Karunuday SINGH (IND) 63 63

Doubles Semi Finals
(1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND) bt Zach ITZSTEIN (AUS)/ Vignesh VEERABADRAN (IND) 63 62
(2) Keith-Patrick CROWLEY (RSA)/ Arun-Prakash RAJAGOPALAN (IND) bt Fariz MOHAMMED (IND)/ Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND) 63 64

Prajnesh was playing his second match of the day after long quarter-final match and Balaji take advantage of it to won it comfortably ... Jeevan also take revenge of his previous week's loss against Karunuday.
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At $10K Guam F1 Futures, Tumon

[QF] (1) Saketh MYNENI (IND,302) bt (6) Gengo KIKUCHI (JPN,755) 62 63

[SF] (1) Saketh MYNENI (IND,302) vs (4) Takuto NIKI (JPN,635)

Another comfortable win for Saketh .. He is proving too stong for his Japanese opponents in this futures.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt

[QF] (3) Kyra SHROFF (IND,720) l Lisa-Maria MOSER (AUT,1041) 16 26

Disappointing loss of Kyra.

Badminton News
At $120K SCG Thailand Open 2013 (GP Gold), Bangkok

[QF] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,2) l (8) Juan Gu (SIN,23) 21-13 12-21 18-21
[QF] Prannoy H. S. (IND,65) l Wisnu Yuli Prasetyo (INA,61) 12-21 19-21
[QF] (13) Srikanth K. (IND,45) bt Wan Ho Son (KOR,160) 21-17 21-18

[SF] (13) Srikanth K. (IND,45) vs Thammasin Sitthikom (THA,143)

Saina lost her first match against Juan Gu in their six meetings ... After winning the first game Sania lost her focus and lost the second game cheaply ... In the decider Saina tried comeback and were leading 14-11 and 15-13 ... But Juan won 6 points in a row to lead 19-15, after that Saina reduced it to 18-19 but Juan won last 2 points for her first victory over Saina.

In men's quarter-final Srikanth continued with his good performance and scored straight games victory over Korean in 40 minutes but Prannoy lost against Indonesian Wisnu in 34 minutes ... Next he is facing Thai Thammasin Sitthikom, who upset 2nd seed Tommy Sugiarto in the first round.

Tennis News
At $100K+H Caltanissetta Challenger, Italy (red clay)

[R2] Somdev Devvarman (IND,188) bt (3) Leonardo Mayer (ARG,73) 64 75

[QF] Somdev Devvarman (IND,188) vs Federico Delbonis (ARG,125)

Somdev scored upset win over top-75 Argentine player Mayer in straights set and next meeting another Argentine player Federico Delbonis in the quarters ... Against Mayer in the first set Buji take crucial break in 7th game converting 4th break point ... After that Buji hold his service games for claiming the set ... In the second set Buji take control early from 2-all he won next 3 games in that breaking Mayer twice ... While serving for the match at 5-2 Buji lost his focus and this time he lost his service game twice to brought this set back on the serve, 5-all ... In crucial 11th game Buji broke Mayer and this time he hold his serve in 12th game for excellent victory.
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At $35K+H Furth Challenger, Germany (red clay)

[QF] (3) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) l (WC) Kevin Krawietz (GER)/ Dominik Schulz (GER) 57 36

Divij and Purav failed to raise their game against local pair and lost in straight sets.
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At $25K ITF Women's Tournament, Karshi, Uzbekistan

[QF] (Q) Ankita Raina (IND,455) bt (3) Nigina Abdurakhimova (UZB,250) 64 76(3)

[SF] (Q) Ankita Raina (IND,455) vs (6) Veronika Kapshay (UKR,301)

Doubles
[SF] Sharmada BALU (IND)/ Margarita LAZAREVA (RUS) l (3) Veronika KAPSHAY (UKR)/ Teodora MIRCIC (SRB) 16 16

Ankita scored huge upset win over local favorite and top-250 Abdurakhimova in straight sets ... Last few months Ankita is showing progress in her career ... Next she is facing 6th seed Ukrainian.
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At $10K India F7 Futures, Chennai

Singles Quarter Finals
(1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND) bt Fariz MOHAMMED (IND) 63 62
(7) Prajnesh GUNNESWARAN (IND) bt (4) Toshihide MATSUI (JPN)67(5) 76(4) 61
(8) Karunuday SINGH (IND) bt (3) Vijayant MALIK (IND) 46 63 62
(2) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND) bt (6) Vinayak Sharma KAZA (IND) 5-5 Retd.

Karunuday continued with his good form and defeated Vijayant after losing the first set ... Balaji and Jeevan entered comfortably in the semis.
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At $10K Guam F1 Futures, Tumon

[R2] (1) Saketh MYNENI (IND,302) bt Hiromasa OKU (JPN,1551) 61 64
[R2] Neishit VAKIL (IND,UNR) l (6) Gengo KIKUCHI (JPN,755) 16 06

[QF] (1) Saketh MYNENI (IND,302) vs (6) Gengo KIKUCHI (JPN,755)

Straight sets win for Saketh ... Next he is facing 6th seed Japanese player Kikuchi.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Egypt

[R2] (3) Kyra SHROFF (IND,720) bt (Q) Jasmin LADURNER (ITA,UNR) 75 62
[R2] Sowjanya BAVISETTI (IND,1041) l Lisa-Maria MOSER (AUT,1041) 26 36

[QF] (3) Kyra SHROFF (IND,720) vs Lisa-Maria MOSER (AUT,1041)

Expected win for Kyra ... Next she is facing Austrian Lisa-Maria, who defeated Sowjanya in the second round.

Badminton News
At $120K SCG Thailand Open 2013 (GP Gold), Bangkok

[R2] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,2) bt Febby Angguni (INA,59) 21-12 21-11
[R2] Arundhati Pantawane (IND,75) l (5) Sapsiree Taerattanachai (THA,18) 16-21 13-21

[R3] Sai Praneeth B. (IND,56) l Wisnu Yuli Prasetyo (INA,61) 18-21 21-16 19-21
[R3] Prannoy H. S. (IND,65) bt (10) Anand Pawar (IND,41) 19-21 21-13 21-15
[R3] (13) Srikanth K. (IND,45) bt (Q) Hwang Jong Soo (KOR,276) 21-19 21-15

[QF] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,2) vs (8) Juan Gu (SIN,23)
[QF] Prannoy H. S. (IND,65) vs Wisnu Yuli Prasetyo (INA,61)
[QF] (13) Srikanth K. (IND,45) vs Wan Ho Son (KOR,160)

Prannoy scored another upset win over his senior countryman ... After losing the first game he made strong comeback and won next two games comfortably ... Next he is facing Indonesian Wisnu Yuli Prasetyo, who scored upset win over Sai Praneeth ... In their match Sai was down 12-20 in 3rd game, he saved 7 match points against him but Wisnu converted 8th match point ... Srikanth scoed straight games victory over Korean qualifier ... Next he is facing another Korean Wan Ho Son, who scored upset win over Sourabh Varma in 2nd round ... Saina scored another comfortable win in 31 minutes ... Next she is facing Singaporean veteran Juan Gu in the quarters.

Tennis News
At $100K+H Caltanissetta Challenger, Italy (red clay)

[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,188) bt (PR) Eduardo Schwank (ARG,316) 63 4-1 Retd.

[R2] Somdev Devvarman (IND,188) vs (3) Leonardo Mayer (ARG,73)

Schwank was early break up, when he broke Buji in 2nd game, 0-2 ... Buji had 3 break points in next game 0-40, but Schwank hold after winning next 5 points ... In 5th game Schwank gave break point chance to Buji with double fault at 30-all and this time Buji converted ... After this Buji dominated the match, he again broke Schwark in 7th and 9th games ... Buji won the set six games in a row after 0-3 for winning this set .... In the second set Buji was break up when Schwant conceded the match due to injury ... Next he is facing another Argentine, 3rd seed Mayer.
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At $75K Nottingham Challenger - 1, Great Britain (grass)

[R1] (Q) Prakash Amritraj (IND,314) l (Q) Brydan Klein (GBR,275) 62 36 26

Prakash missed opportunity of accumulating more ranking points ... After winning the first set Prakash failed to keep momentum and lost next two sets easily.
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At $35K+H Furth Challenger, Germany (red clay)

[R1] (3) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Andrej Martin (SVK)/ Hans Podlipnik-Castillo (CHI) 63 16 10-8

[QF] (3) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs (WC) Kevin Krawietz (GER)/ Dominik Schulz (GER)

Divij-Purav needed match tie-break to win their first round ... After winning the first set they lost the second set easily but raised their game in match tie-break for win ... Next they r facing local wild-card pair for place in the semis.
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At $25K ITF Women's Tournament, Karshi, Uzbekistan

[R2] (Q) Ankita Raina (IND,455) bt (5) Teodora Mircic (SRB,279) 16 61 63

[QF] (Q) Ankita Raina (IND,455) vs (3) Nigina Abdurakhimova (UZB,250)

Doubles
[QF] Sharmada BALU (IND)/ Margarita LAZAREVA (RUS) bt (1) Valentyna IVAKHNENKO (UKR)/ Kateryna KOZLOVA (UKR) w/o

[SF] Sharmada BALU (IND)/ Margarita LAZAREVA (RUS) vs (3) Veronika KAPSHAY (UKR)/ Teodora MIRCIC (SRB)

Ankita scored excellent comeback win over top-275 type Serbian player ... After losing the first set Ankita played attacking tennis ... In the third early she lost her service games twice but kept fighting and take crucial break in 7th and 9th for winning the match ... Next she is facing local title favorite girl.

In the doubles another walkover for Balu and her partner.
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At $10K India F7 Futures, Chennai

Singles Second Round
(1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND) bt Jatin DAHIYA (IND) 61 61
Fariz MOHAMMED (IND) bt (WC) Vijay KANNAN (IND) 76(4) 16 61
(4) Toshihide MATSUI (JPN) bt (Q) Suraj R PRABODH (IND) 62 63
(7) Prajnesh GUNNESWARAN (IND) bt Chandril SOOD (IND) 63 64
(8) Karunuday SINGH (IND) bt Jui-Chen HUNG (TPE) 61 63
(3) Vijayant MALIK (IND) bt Vignesh VEERABADRAN (IND) 60 61
(6) Vinayak Sharma KAZA (IND) bt Ajai SELVARAJ (IND)67(5) 64 76(3)
(2) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND) bt (WC) Garvit BATRA (IND) 60 62

Doubles Quarter Finals
(1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND) bt Sagar AHUJA (IND)/ Jui-Chen HUNG (TPE) 64 64
Zach ITZSTEIN (AUS)/ Vignesh VEERABADRAN (IND) bt (3) Vijayant MALIK (IND)/ Amrit NARASIMHAN (USA) 63 36 10-8
Fariz MOHAMMED (IND)/ Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND) bt Anvit BENDRE (IND)/ Tushar MANDLEKAR (IND) 62 67(4) 10-4
(2) Keith-Patrick CROWLEY (RSA)/ Arun-Prakash RAJAGOPALAN (IND) bt Kunal ANAND (IND)/ Sagar MANJANNA (IND) 62 62

Couple of upset in the doubles otherwise expected results.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Egypt

[R1] (3) Kyra SHROFF (IND,720) bt Maria Del PRADOS CID (ESP,UNR) 61 61
[R1] Sowjanya BAVISETTI (IND,1041) bt Nada ZAHER (EGY,UNR) 61 62

[R2] (3) Kyra SHROFF (IND,720) vs (Q) Jasmin LADURNER (ITA,UNR)
[R2] Sowjanya BAVISETTI (IND,1041) vs Lisa-Maria MOSER (AUT,1041)

Expected winning start for Kyra and Sowjanya.

Badminton News
At $120K SCG Thailand Open 2013 (GP Gold), Bangkok

[R1] Sai Praneeth B. (IND,56) bt Muhammad Hafiz Hashim (MAS,140) 21-12 9-21 22-20
[R1] (5) Ajay Jayaram (IND,28) bt (Q) Shesar Hiren Rhustavito (INA,197) 21-11 19-21 21-9
[R1] Prannoy H. S. (IND,65) bt Nonpakorn Nantatheero (THA,515) 21-11 21-19
[R1] (10) Anand Pawar (IND,41) bt Riyanto Subagja (INA,71) 21-15 9-21 21-14
[R1] (8) Sourabh Varma (IND,37) bt (Q) Khosit Phetpradab (THA,209) 21-16 21-18
[R1] (13) Srikanth K. (IND,45) bt (Q) Hyuk Jin Jeon (KOR,529) 21-17 21-12

[R1] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,2) bt Shih Han Hung (TPE,126) 21-11 21-16
[R1] Thulasi P. C. (IND,86) l (3) Porntip Buranaprasertsuk (THA,13) 14-21 17-21
[R1] Arundhati Pantawane (IND,75) bt Min Ji Lee (KOR,144) 14-21 21-9 21-15

[R2] Sai Praneeth B. (IND,56) bt (4) Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka (INA,26) 21-12 18-21 21-18
[R2] Prannoy H. S. (IND,65) bt (5) Ajay Jayaram (IND,28) 14-21 21-16 21-13
[R2] (10) Anand Pawar (IND,41) bt Poodchalat Pisit (THA,94) 21-14 Retd.
[R2] (8) Sourabh Varma (IND,37) l Wan Ho Son (KOR,160) 12-21 17-21
[R2] (13) Srikanth K. (IND,45) bt Toby Penty (ENG,82) 21-4 21-14

[R2] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,2) vs Febby Angguni (INA,59)
[R2] Arundhati Pantawane (IND,75) vs (5) Sapsiree Taerattanachai (THA,18)

[R3] Sai Praneeth B. (IND,56) vs Wisnu Yuli Prasetyo (INA,61)
[R3] (10) Anand Pawar (IND,41) vs Prannoy H. S. (IND,65)
[R3] (13) Srikanth K. (IND,45) vs (Q) Hwang Jong Soo (KOR,276)

In latest rankings update Sindhu climb to her personal best ranking, #11 ... This week Saina is participating in Thai open and testing her toe before next 2 weeks big Super Series tournaments.

Expected winning start for our players but Sai saved a match point in 3rd game before winning it ... Anand Pawar also played 3 games against top-75 Indonesian player.

Saina started with comfortable win in 29 minutes ... Arundhati required comeback after losing the first game but she responded well and won next two games comfortably.

In men's second round Sai Praneeth scored huge upset win over 4th seed Indonesian Rumbaka in three games ... Prannoy also joined him in the third round with upset comeback win over Ajay but surprised loss of Sourabh against lowly ranked Korean ... Anand Pawar and Srikanth scored comfortable wins.

Tennis News
At French Open 2013, Paris (red clay)

Doubles
[R3] (7) Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) l (11) Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS)/ Lucie Safarova (CZE) 67(0) 5-3 Retd.

Mixed Doubles
[R2] Jelena Jankovic (SRB)/ Leander Paes (IND) l (8) Liezel Huber (USA)/ Marcelo Melo (BRA) 57 76(1) 2-10

Sania and Bethanie lost one-sided tie-break but they fought well and were double break up at 5-2 ... But after losing their own service game due to Bethanie's groin injury they conceded the match ... Tough luck.

Leander-Jelena lost in well fought match against Huber-Melo in MXD ... After losing the first set our pair fought back and won the second set after dominating tie-break ... But surprisingly they failed to create challenge in match tie-break and lost it winning only 2 points ... So with this Indian challenge got over in this French open ... Very poor outing for our all doubles pairs as they failed to cross third round.
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At $100K+H Caltanissetta Challenger, Italy (red clay)

[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Dusan Lajovic (SRB) l (4) Renzo Olivo (ARG)/ Marco Trungelliti (ARG) 67(7) 67(4)

Somi and his Serbian partner lost their first round match against 4th seed Argentine pair but both sets went in tie-breaks.
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At $25K ITF Women's Tournament, Karshi, Uzbekistan

[R2] (Q) Ankita RAINA (IND,455) vs (5) Teodora MIRCIC (SRB,279)

Doubles
[R1] Sharmada BALU (IND)/ Margarita LAZAREVA (RUS) bt Nidhi CHILUMULA (IND)/ Yuuki Tanaka (JPN) w/o
[R1] Ankita RAINA (IND)/ Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND) l (3) Veronika KAPSHAY (UKR)/ Teodara MIRCIC(SRB) 36 64 6-10

[QF] Sharmada BALU (IND)/ Margarita LAZAREVA (RUS) vs (1) Valentyna IVAKHNENKO (UKR) / Kateryna KOZLOVA (UKR)

Ankita is facing 5th seed Serbian girl in the second round.
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At $10K Guam F1 Futures, Tumon

[R1] (1) Saketh MYNENI (IND,302) bt (WC) Jun ITO (JPN,UNR) 63 64

[R2] (1) Saketh MYNENI (IND,302) vs Hiromasa OKU (JPN,1551)

Expected straights sets win for Saketh ... Next he is facing another Japanese opponent.
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At $10K Spain F16 Futures, Santa Margarida de Montbui (Barcelona)

[R1] (Q) Mohit Mayur JAYAPRAKASH (IND,1044) l (1) Steven DIEZ (CAN,242) 26 06
[R1] (Q) Ashwin VIJAYRAGAVAN (IND,980) l Nick LINDAHL (AUS,859) 57 67(4)
[R1] Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,800) l (2) Jose CHECA-CALVO (ESP,276) 36 26

This week Ashwin and Mohit Mayur qualified for main-draw but all had tough draw ... Mohit Mayur and Ramkumar faced top 2 seeds players in their respective matches and they lost those matches without much fight ... Ashwin faced former top-200 Aussie player Nick Lindahl and he gave creditable fight but lost in tight two sets.

Tennis News
At French Open 2013, Paris (red clay)

Doubles
[R2] (7) Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) bt Lauren Davis (USA)/ Megan Moulton-Levy (USA) 16 63 60

[R3] (7) Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) vs (11) Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS)/ Lucie Safarova (CZE)

Sania and Bethanie made strong comeback after losing the first set ... They won the last set without losing a game ... In the third round they r facing good clay court pair of 11th seed Pavlyuchenkova-Safarova.
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At $75K Nottingham Challenger - 1, Great Britain (grass)

[Q3] Prakash Amritraj (IND,314) bt Greg Jones (AUS,298) 76(2) 46 61

[R1] (Q) Prakash Amritraj (IND,314) vs (Q) Brydan Klein (GBR,275)

In the first set Praksha was holding his serve comfortably and missed couple of break points on Greg's serve in 3rd game ... Prakash take break in 7th game to lead 4-3 but Greg immediately broke back and made it 4-all ... Prakash dominated tie-break which he won losing only couple of points ... In the second set also Prakash take first break, he broke Greg's serve in 4th game to lead 3-1 ... This time also Pralkash failed to consolidate his break and lost his serve in next game and back on serve, 3-2 ... Greg take crucial break on Prakash's serve in 9th game to lead 4-5 ... Greg won the second set after holding his serve (after deuce).

In the opeing game of 3rd set Prakash saved a break point before holding his serve and immediately broke Greg in next game to lead 2-0 ... Prakash managed crucial hold in 3rd game after saving break point ... Prakash take full control of the set after again breaking Greg's serve in 4th game, 4-0 ... I m surprised to see Prakash's struggle on holding his own service game, Greg broke back in 5th game and made it 1-4, but Prakash was still holding one break advantage ... Again Prakash broke Greg and take 5-1 lead ... This time Prakash hold comfortably and completed win after 2 hours and 8 minutes ... In the last set which Prakash dominated Greg failed to hold his service game ... So great start for grass season for Prakash as he qualify for main-draw ... In the first round he is facing British qualifier Brydan Klein.
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At $25K ITF Women's Tournament, Karshi, Uzbekistan

[Q1] Sharmada BALU (IND,UNR) bt Albina KHABIBULINA (UZB,UNR) 63 36 61
[Q1] (2) Ankita RAINA (IND,455) bt Arina FOLTS (UZB,UNR) 60 61
[Q1] (5) Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND,580) bt Farangiz SHAMSIEVA (UZB,UNR) 63 62
[Q1] (7) Nidhi CHILUMULA (IND,586) bt Jamilya SADYKZHANOVA (UZB,UNR) 62 61

[Q1] Sharmada BALU (IND,NR) l (1) Angelina GABUEVA (RUS,433) 46 26
[Q1] (2) Ankita RAINA (IND,455) bt Ya ZHOU (CHN,UNR) 61 64
[Q1] (5) Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND,580) l (12) Yi YANG (CHN,1023) 46 26
[Q1] (7) Nidhi CHILUMULA (IND,586) bt (WC) Ekaterina ILINA (UZB,UNR) 60 63

[R1] (Q) Ankita RAINA (IND,455) bt Daria MIRONOVA (RUS,412) 75 61
[R1] (Q) Nidhi CHILUMULA (IND,586) l Miharu IMANISHI (JPN,429) 36 26

Doubles
[R1] Sharmada BALU (IND)/ Margarita LAZAREVA (RUS) vs Nidhi CHILUMULA (IND)/ Yuuki Tanaka (JPN)
[R1] Ankita RAINA (IND)/ Prarthana G. THOMBARE (IND) vs (3) Veronika KAPSHAY (UKR)/ Teodara MIRCIC(SRB)

Terrific performance by Ankita, who take full advantage of weaker qualifying draw ... And after qualifying to main-draw she scored straight sets win over higher ranked Russian player.
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At $10K India F7 Futures, Chennai

Singles First Round
(1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND) bt (WC) Neeraj ELANGOVAN (IND) 61 36 61
Jatin DAHIYA (IND) bt Rakshit RISHI (IND) 62 63
Fariz MOHAMMED (IND) bt (Q) Lakshit SOOD (IND) 26 64 63
(WC) Vijay KANNAN (IND) bt (5) Keith-Patrick CROWLEY (RSA) 36 76(8) 60
(4) Toshihide MATSUI (JPN) bt (Q) Fahad MOHAMMED (IND) 64 61
(Q) Suraj R PRABODH (IND) bt Kunal ANAND (IND) 75 62
Chandril SOOD (IND) bt Sidharth RAWAT (IND) 76(5) 46 62
(7) Prajnesh GUNNESWARAN (IND) bt Zach ITZSTEIN (AUS) 63 61
(8) Karunuday SINGH (IND) bt (Q) Kumara P Saradhi ADAVELLY (IND) 63 64
Jui-Chen HUNG (TPE) bt (Q) Sagar MANJANNA (IND) 76(1) 1-0 Retd.
Vignesh VEERABADRAN (IND) bt (Q) Rithvik ANAND (IND) 64 63
(3) Vijayant MALIK (IND) bt Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND) 76(4) 61
(6) Vinayak Sharma KAZA (IND) bt Abhijeet TIWARI (IND) 67(1) 61 62
Ajai SELVARAJ (IND) vs (WC) Abdullah SHAIKH (IND) 76(5) 53
(WC) Garvit BATRA (IND) bt (Q) Gurvinder MANN (IND) 61 63
(2) Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND) bt (Q) Suraj BENIWAL (IND) 4-0 Retd.

Doubles First Round
(1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Jeevan NEDUNCHEZHIYAN (IND) bt Jatin DAHIYA (IND)/ Shahbaaz KHAN (IND) 63 62
Sagar AHUJA (IND)/ Jui-Chen HUNG (TPE) bt Neeraj ELANGOVAN (IND)/ Ajai SELVARAJ (IND) 63 36 10-5
(3) Vijayant MALIK (IND)/ Amrit NARASIMHAN (USA) bt Chandril SOOD (IND)/ Lakshit SOOD (IND) 64 63
Zach ITZSTEIN (AUS)/ Vignesh VEERABADRAN (IND) bt (WC) Arpit SHARMA (IND)/ Aaditya TEWARI (IND) 64 63
Fariz MOHAMMED (IND)/ Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND) bt (WC) Garvit BATRA (IND)/ Suraj R PRABODH (IND) 63 63
Anvit BENDRE (IND)/ Tushar MANDLEKAR (IND) bt (4) Vinayak Sharma KAZA (IND)/ Abhijeet TIWARI (IND) 64 57 10-8
Kunal ANAND (IND)/ Sagar MANJANNA (IND) bt Fahad MOHAMMED (IND)/ Rakshit RISHI (IND) 61 57 10-7
(2) Keith-Patrick CROWLEY (RSA)/ Arun-Prakash RAJAGOPALAN (IND) bt Rithvik ANAND (IND)/ Bharatram BALAJEE (IND) 64 61

In the singles veteran Vijay Kannan scored upset win over 5th seed South African ... Suraj Prabodh also scored upset win over Kunal Anand ... In the doubles good upset win by young pairing of Anvit-Tushar against 4th see Kaza-Tiwari.
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At $10K Guam F1 Futures, Tumon

[R1] Saketh MYNENI (IND,302) vs (WC) Jun ITO (JPN,UNR)
[R1] Neishit VAKIL (IND,UNR) bt (Q) Joshua CEPEDA (GUM,UNR) 63 62

[R2] Neishit VAKIL (IND,UNR) vs (6) Gengo KIKUCHI (JPN,755)

Vakil scored his 1st ATP point taking advantage of weak draw.
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At $10K Spain F16 Futures, Santa Margarida de Montbui (Barcelona)

[R1] Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND,800) vs (2) Jose CHECA-CALVO (ESP,276)

Very tough first round for Ramkumar.

Tennis News
At French Open 2013, Paris (red clay)

Doubles
[R1] (7) Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) bt Alize Cornet (FRA)/ Virginie Razzano (FRA) 63 64

[R2] (7) Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) vs Lauren Davis (USA)/ Megan Moulton-Levy (USA)

Mixed Doubles
[R1] Jelena Jankovic (SRB)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt Galina Voskoboeva (KAZ)/ Daniele Bracciali (ITA) 75 63

[R2] Jelena Jankovic (SRB)/ Leander Paes (IND) vs (8) Liezel Huber (USA)/ Marcelo Melo (BRA)

Sania-Bethanie started with straight sets win over French pair ... In the second round they r facing American pair.

Lee and Jelena started with straight sets win in MXD first round ... Next they r facing 8th seed pairing of Liezel Huber-Marcelo Melo.
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At $100K+H Caltanissetta Challenger, Italy

[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,188) vs (PR) Eduardo Schwank (ARG,316)

Doubles
[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Dusan Lajovic (SRB) vs (4) Renzo Olivo (ARG)/ Marco Trungelliti (ARG)

Buji is playing against former top-50 Argentine player in the first round but after injury break Schwank is on the tour from May ... So after good performance at French open Buji is favorite in this match.

Buji is playing doubles with Serbian partner, Dusan Lajovic, and they r facing 4th seed Argentine pair.
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At $75K Nottingham Challenger - 1, Great Britain

[Q1] Prakash Amritraj (IND,314) bt (WC) Alexander Jhun (GBR,1872) 62 60

[Q2] Prakash Amritraj (IND,314) bt (1) Dustin Brown (GER,191) 63 62

[Q3] Prakash Amritraj (IND,314) vs Greg Jones (AUS,298)

Expected easy win in the first qualifying round but next he faced top-seed and top-200 German Dustin Brown ... He scored superb confident upset win against Dustin ... Next match is against grass court specialist Aussie player.
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At $35K+H Furth Challenger, Germany (red clay)

[R1] (3) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Andrej Martin (SVK)/ Hans Podlipnik-Castillo (CHI)

Divij-Purav pairing is back on the tour and they r playing in Furth challenger ... They r 3rd seed and facing Andrej Martin-Hans Podlipnik-Castillo in the first round.

Tennis News
At French Open 2013, Paris (red clay)

Doubles
[R2] (9) Jurgen Melzer (AUT)/ Leander Paes (IND) l Pablo Cuevas (URU)/ Horacio Zeballos (ARG) 75 46 67(6)

Mixed Doubles
[R1] (7) Casey Dellacqua (AUS)/ Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) l Anastasia Rodionova (AUS)/ Santiago Gonzalez (MEX) 46 61 9-11
[R1] Ashleigh Barty (AUS)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) l Lucie Hradecka (CZE)/ Frantisek Cermak (CZE) 46 46

Turned to be disappointing day for Indian players ... Leander lost his doubles match pairing Jurgen against South American pair ... Lee-Jurgen had many chances but they failed to convert it ... They created 16 break point chances and managed to convert only two ... In the final set also Lee-Jurgen had four match point chances which they failed to convert.

In mixed doubles, Rohan-Ashleigh lost in straight sets against Czech pair ... After losing the first set Mahesh-Casey won the second set comfortably but they lost closely fought match tie-break.
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At $10K Thailand F2 Futures, Bangkok


Singles Final
(3) Saketh MYNENI (IND,300) bt (Q) Andrew HARRIS (AUS,1598) 76(4) 61

Saketh wins his first futures title outside of Indian beating Aussie qualifier in straight sets ... Hopefully Saketh built on this platform and move to bigger challenger level without much problem.
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At $10K India F6 Futures, Chennai

Singles Final
Prajnesh GUNNESWARAN (IND) bt (3) Vijayant MALIK (IND) 76(5) 63

Turned to be terrific week for Prajnesh as he lifted his first ITF futures title beating Vijaynt in straight sets ... He wins this title beating two in-form Indian players in his final 2 matches.