Tennis News

At $456K Hall of Fame Tennis Championships, Newport, USA

[QF] Ivo Karlovic (CRO)/ Divij Sharan (IND) bt Adil Shamasdin (CAN)/ John-Patrick Smith (AUS) 64 46 19-17
[QF] (WC) Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Sam Querrey (USA) l (2) Nicolas Mahut (FRA)/ Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) w/o

[SF] Ivo Karlovic (CRO)/ Divij Sharan (IND) vs Tim Smyczek (USA)/ Rhyne Williams (USA)

Another epic win for Divij and Ivo ... After winning the first set they lost the second set ... Then both pairs played monstrous match tie-break ... Both pair didn't giving any chance to other pair and after 9-all both pairs didn't face a single break point before Divij-Ivo's winning on 36th point ... They saved four match point and this was season's longest match tie-break ... Ivo is still in the singles so tricky doubles match for our pair against American pair ... Prakash-Sam gave walkover to French pair due to elbow injury to Querrey.
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At $75K Beijing Challenger, China

[R1] Vishnu Vardhan (IND,563) bt Artem Sitak (NZL,436) 63 62

[R2] Vishnu Vardhan (IND,563) l Wu Di (CHN,197) 36 26

Doubles
[QF] (4) Vishnu Vardhan (IND)/ Hiroki Kondo (JPN) bt Yu Chang (CHN)/ Zhe Li (CHN) 61 62

[SF] (4) Vishnu Vardhan (IND)/ Hiroki Kondo (JPN) vs Mao-Xin Gong (CHN)/ Ze Zhang (CHN)

Vishnu started with a win but very disappointing loss against local player ... But in the doubles Vishnu and Hiroki scored dominating win over Chinese pair and in the semis they r facing another Chinese pair.
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At $10K Germany F9 Futures , Hannover (clay)

[R2] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,639) l Jaan-Frederik Brunken (FIN,780) 26 64 26

Prajnesh failed to raise game against Jaan-Frederik.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Solo, Indonesia

[R2] (Q) Kanika Vaidya (IND,UNR) l (4) Katherine Ip (HKG,843) 16 57

Lost against talented Hong Kong girl Ip but gave fighting performance in the second set.

Shooting News

At ISSF World Cup Rifle/ Pistol/ Shotgun 2013, Granada, Spain

50m Rifle 3 Positions Men
8. Sanjeev Rajput (IND) 397.7 pts

Sanjeev Rajput failed to raise his accuracy in the final and became first eliminated shooter in the final of 50m Rifle 3 Positions Men ... He qualified for the final on 4th position with impressive score of 1173 pts.

Tennis News

At $456K Hall of Fame Tennis Championships, Newport, USA

[R2] (WC) Prakash Amritraj (IND,308) l (4) Lleyton Hewitt (AUS,64) 26 16

Doubles
[R1] Ivo Karlovic (CRO)/ Divij Sharan (IND) bt Illya Marchenko (UKR)/ Denys Molchanov (UKR) 46 76(1) 11-9
[R1] (WC) Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Sam Querrey (USA) bt Ruben Bemelmans (BEL)/ Michal Przysiezny (POL) 46 63 10-5

[QF] Ivo Karlovic (CRO)/ Divij Sharan (IND) vs Adil Shamasdin (CAN)/ John-Patrick Smith (AUS)
[QF] (WC) Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Sam Querrey (USA) vs (2) Nicolas Mahut (FRA)/ Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA)

Former Wimbledon champion Lleyton Hewitt gave lesson of playing on the grass to Prakash in his thumping win ... In the doubles Prakash started with a win partnering Sam Querrey ... After losing the first set they made excellent comeback to win the second and then comfortably won match tie-break ... Next tough match against 2nd seed French pair.

Divij scored memorable first win on the tour partnering Ivo Karlovic in hard fought match ... After losing the first set they needed tie-break for winning the second ... In match tie-break Divij-Ivo were 4-9 down and they won 7 next points saving 5 match points for excellent win against Ukrainians ... In the quarters they r facing Canadian-Aussie pair, who upset 3rd seed American pair in the first round.
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At $75K Beijing Challenger, China

[R1] (4) Vishnu Vardhan (IND)/ Hiroki Kondo (JPN) bt Kaden Hensel (AUS)/ Luke Saville (AUS) 64 36 10-2

[QF] (4) Vishnu Vardhan (IND)/ Hiroki Kondo (JPN) vs Yu Chang (CHN)/ Zhe Li (CHN)

Good winning start for Vishnu in the doubles with Hiroki though they needed match tie-break ... Next they r facing local Chinese pair.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Getxo, Spain (clay)

[R2] (8) Rutuja Bhosale (IND,664) l Gaia Sanesi (ITA,656) 36 06

Doubles
[R1] Rutuja Bhosale (IND)/ Klartje Libbens (BEL) l Jacqueline Cabaz Avad (ESP)/ Cornelia Lister (ESP) 76(7) 46 4-10

Tame loss for Rutuja in the singles ... She also lost in the doubles after winning the first set.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Solo, Indonesia

[R1] (Q) Kanika Vaidya (IND,UNR) bt Nathania Ratih Putri Karsita (INA,UNR) 63 60

Expected winning start for Kanika.

Shooting News

At ISSF World Cup Rifle/ Pistol/ Shotgun 2013, Granada, Spain

50m Rifle 3 Positions Women
Gold - Petra Zublasing (ITA) 459.1 pts
Silver - Lajja Gauswami (IND) 454 pts
Bronze - Malin Westerheim (NOR) 443.9 pts

Indian lifted their first medal in ongoing Rifle/ Pistol/ Shotgun World cup ... Lajja Gauswami won the silver in Women's 50m Rifle 3 Positions ... This was her first medal in World cup and after longtime we also won medal in women rifle event ... Lajja qualified for the final on 5th position with 584 pts score ... She performed really well in final eliminations with keeping herself in top three ... But other two Indian shooters had disappointing outing ... Raj Chaudhary finished on 25th position with 578 pts ... Tejaswini Sawant finished on 39th position with 574 pts.

Tennis News

At $456K Hall of Fame Tennis Championships, Newport, USA (grass)

[R1] (WC) Prakash Amritraj (IND,308) bt Flavio Cipolla (ITA,152) 62 63

[R2] (WC) Prakash Amritraj (IND,308) vs (4) Lleyton Hewitt (AUS,64)

Prakash started with convincing win over Cipolla at Newport open on grass ... He lost only five games in the match but his next match is tough one against former Wimbledon champion Lleyton Hewitt.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Getxo, Spain (clay)

[R1] (8) Rutuja Bhosale (IND,664) bt Anna Smolina (RUS,806) 62 36 62

[R2] (8) Rutuja Bhosale (IND,664) vs Gaia Sanesi (ITA,656)

Great start after almost 6 months break for Rutuja ... She scored win against Russian and that also on Spanish clay ... Next she is facing similar ranked Italian ... More tough match.
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At $10K Germany F9 Futures , Hannover (clay)

[R1] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,639) bt (Q) Julian Onken (GER,1722) 62 36 61

[R2] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,639) vs Jaan-Frederik Brunken (FIN,780)

Three sets for Prajnesh against local qualifier ... Next he is facing Finnish player.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Solo, Indonesia

[R1] (Q) Kanika Vaidya (IND,UNR) vs Nathania Ratih Putri Karsita (INA,UNR)
[R1] Anjana Kompally (IND,UNR) l Mia Kasih (INA,UNR) 26 36
Doubles
[R1] Misa Kinoshita (JPN)/ Kanika Vaidya (IND) bt Mia Kasih (INA)/ Monica Putri Kusuma Wardhani (INA) 60 60

This week also Kanika qualify for main-draw and having winnable first round match.

Tennis News

After reaching semi-final of Wimbledon helped Rohan to rise his career best doubles ranking ... First time he is ranked inside top-5, #5 ... With quarter final appearence Mahesh also rise to #6 and after reaching semi final Leander also rise to #9 in latest updated rankings.
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At $75K Beijing Challenger, China

[R1] Vishnu Vardhan (IND,563) vs Artem Sitak (NZL,436)

Doubles
[R1] (4) Vishnu Vardhan (IND)/ Hiroki Kondo (JPN) vs Kaden Hensel (AUS)/ Luke Saville (AUS)

Hopefully Vishnu perform well on hard courts.
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At $25K ITS Women's Tournament, Istanbul, Turkey

[R1] Ankita RAINA (IND,363) l Chiaki OKADAUE (JPN,401) 16 36

Doubles
[R1] Ankita RAINA (IND)/ Cemere ANIL (TUR) l Margarita LAZAREVA(RUS)/ Polina LEYKINA (RUS) 36 16

Ankita failed to cross first hurdle in the singles ... And also lost in the doubles first round so not so fruitful Turkey trip.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Getxo, Spain (clay)

[R1] (8) Rutuja Bhosale (IND,664) vs Anna Smolina ( RUS,806)

Doubles
[R1] Rutuja Bhosale (IND)/ Klartje Libbens (BEL) vs Jacqueline Cabaz Avad (ESP)/ Cornelia Lister (ESP)

Rutuja is playing after long time.
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At $10K Germany F9 Futures , Hannover (clay)

[R1] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,639) vs (Q) Julian Onken (GER,1722)

Prajnesh is facing Qualifier.

Squash News

At $15K Buler Challenge Cup, Hong Kong

[SF] (4) Joshana Chinappa (IND,27) l (5) Amanda Sobhy (USA,28) 9/11 6/11 5/11 (24m)

Surprisingly one sided loss of Joshana against Sobhy.
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At $15K Buler Challenge Cup, Hong Kong

[SF] Harinderpal Sandhu (IND,71) l (1) Max Lee (HKG,33) 9/11 8/11 9/11 (43m)

Fighting performance by Harinderpal against top-seed Max Lee ... He stretched Max in all three games in 43 minutes.

Tennis News

At $456K Hall of Fame Tennis Championships, Newport, USA

[R1] (WC) Prakash Amritraj (IND,310) vs Flavio Cipolla (ITA,152)

Doubles
[R1] Ivo Karlovic (CRO)/ Divij Sharan (IND) vs Illya Marchenko (UKR)/ Denys Molchanov (UKR)
[R1] (WC) Prakash Amritraj (IND)/ Sam Querrey (USA) vs Ruben Bemelmans (BEL)/ Michal Przysiezny (POL)

Prakash received wild-crad at New port in the singles and doubles ... In the singles he is facing Italian Flavio Cipolla in the first round and pairing Sam Querrey in the doubles ... Divij is playing the doubles with former top-15 Ivo Karlovic and they r facing Ukrainian Davis cup pairing.
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At $50K Winnetka Challenger, Illinois, USA


Doubles Final
Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Michael Venus (NZL) bt (3) Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Jack Sock (USA) 26 62 10-8

Turned to be terrific week for Yuki after coming out of injury break ... In the doubles he lifted his second doubles challenger title, this time with Michael Venus ... In the final after losing the first set they defeated 3rd seed pair Buji-Sock in match tie-break.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Solo, Indonesia

[SF] (Q) Kanika Vaidya (IND,UNR) l (1) Lavinia Tananta (INA,568) 57 16

Kanika's fine run ended in the semis against top-seed Tananta in straight sets ... Overall fruitful week for Kanika.

Squash News

At $15K Buler Challenge Cup, Hong Kong

[Q1] Aparajitha Balamurukan (IND,117) bt Chou Uen Shan (HKG,UNR) 13/11 11/7 9/11 11/6
[Q1] Anaka Alankamony (IND,85) l Hoe Tze Lok (HKG,UNR) 11/2 10/12 12/10 11/13 6/11

[Q2] Aparajitha Balamurukan (IND,117) l Li Dongjin (CHN,208) 8/11 9/11 11/7 11/13

[R1] (4) Joshana Chinappa (IND,27) bt (Q) Lee Ka Yi (HKG,126) 11/4 11/9 12/10
[QF] (4) Joshana Chinappa (IND,27) bt Tong Tsz Wing (HKG,54) 11/6 3/11 11/8 11/4 (38m)

[SF] (4) Joshana Chinappa (IND,27) vs (5) Amanda Sobhy (USA,)

Joshana enter into the semis and facing fifth seed American, who upset 2nd seed countrywoman in the quarters ... Earlier two matches Joshana stretched by two local girls.
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At $15K Buler Challenge Cup, Hong Kong

[Q1] Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND,107) bt Alex Lau (HKG,UNR) 11/5 11/4 11/3
[Q1] Ravi Dixit (IND,133) bt Chi Him Wong (HKG,387) 11/7 11/4 11/9

[Q2] Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND,107) bt Valentino Bong (MAS,364) 11/1 11/4 11/4
[Q2] Ravi Dixit (IND,133) l Yip Tsz Fung (HKG,387) 11/13 12/10 12/14 4/11

[R1] Harinderpal Sandhu (IND,71) bt Leo Au (HKG,46) 12/10 11/9 9/11 11/2 (56m)
[R1] (Q) Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND,107) bt (3) Abdullah Al Muzayen (KUW,39) 13/11 11/7 9/2 Retd. (39m)

[QF] Harinderpal Sandhu (IND,71) bt (Q) Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND,107) 11/3 11/6 5/11 2/11 11/6 (70m)

[SF] Harinderpal Sandhu (IND,71) vs (1) Max Lee (HKG,33)

Harinderpal in the semis beating qualifier Mahesh in fives games ... Creditable performance by young Mahesh, who scored upset win over top-40 Kuwaiti player in the first round.

Tennis News

At $50K Winnetka Challenger, Illinois, USA

[SF] (5) Somdev Devvarman (IND,136) l (3) Jack Stock (USA,102) 63 46 67(5)

Doubles
[SF] (3) Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Jack Sock (USA) bt (1) James Cerretani (USA)/ Chris Guccione (AUS) 75 76(1)
[SF] Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Michael Venus (NZL) bt (2) Austin Krajicek (USA)/ Tennys Sandgren (USA) 76(2) 76(3)

Buji lost in the singles semis against Stock in three sets ... Buji started well winning the first set but Stock fought back from the second set ... He won the second set with a single break and then completed victory in third set tie-break.

In the doubles Yuki and Venus scored big upset win over 2nd seed pair of Krajicek and Krajicek in two tie-breaks ... They r facing Buji and Stock in the final ... Buji and Stock scored upset win over top-seed Cerretani and Guccione in close match ... They won the first set with a single break but needed tie-break in the second set.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Solo, Indonesia

[QF] (Q) Kanika Vaidya (IND,UNR) bt (Q) Yukun Zhang (CHN,UNR) 63 57 64

[SF] (Q) Kanika Vaidya (IND,UNR) vs (1) Lavinia Tananta (INA,568)

Doubles
[SF] Misa Kinoshita (JPN)/ Kanika Vaidya (IND) l (2) Aldila Sutjiadi (INA)/ Ai Wen Zhn (CHN) 64 67(9) 7-10

Kanika produced hard fought win against fellow qualifier ... After losing the first set Chinese girl fought back but Kanika kept her composure and won the decider ... In the semis she is facing top-seed Indonesian.

But she with her partner Kinoshita lost in the doubles semi-final against 2nd seed pair ... After winning the first set Kanika and Kinoshita missed match points in the second before losing it.

Tennis News

At Wimbledon 2013, London, Great Britain

Doubles
[SF] (14) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) l (1) Bob Bryan (USA)/ Mike Bryan (USA) 76(4) 46 36 75 36
[SF] (4) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) l (12) Ivan Dodig (CRO)/ Marcelo Melo (BRA) 63 46 16 63 36

Mixed Doubles
[QF] (7) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Jie Zheng (CHN) l Jean-Julien Rojer (NED)/ Vera Dushevina (RUS) 36 63 36
[QF] (2) Horia Tecau (ROU)/ Sania Mirza (IND) l (8) Daniel Nestor (CAN)/ Kristina Mladenovic (FRA) 67(5) 67(4)

In the first set both pairs failed to create break point chances but still Bryans were holding their service games more comfortably ... In tie-break important single mini-break came on Bryan's serve on 8th point which gave Rohan-Edouard 5-3 lead ... With that single mini-break they pocked the first set ... In the second set Bryans take early break on Edouard's serve and leading 4-2 ... Bryans kept that single break advantage for winning the second set ... In the third set also Bryans kept pushing pressure on Rohan-Edouard serves and managed to break Edouard in 7th and Rohan in 9th games for winning this set ... In the fourth set also Bryans started with upperhand ... Then Rohan-Edouard missed 6 break point chances in 7th game on Bryans serve and they were down 2 match points in 10th game on Rohan's serve... After that Rohan-Edouard showed tremendous courage as Rohan saved both match points with big serving and hold his serve ... After that they broke Bryans in 11th game and then Edouard hold his service game comfortably to make it two sets all. Bad start for Rohan-Edouard in the decider as Bryans broke Rohan in 2nd game to lead 3-0 ... Bryans kept this single break advantage ... In 10th game when Bryans were serving for the match Rohan-Edouard saved couple of more match points but Bryans converted 5th match point for a win.

Lee-Radek started positively and broke Melo-Dodig early to lead 4-1 ... They kept that one break advantage for winning this set ... In the second set Lee-Radek missed couple of break points in 5th game and then they needed to save couple of break points on their own serve in next game ... But Melo-Dodig broke them in long 10th game and won this set ... In the third set Melo-Dodig broke Lee's serve to lead 3-1 ... Then they broke Radek in 6th game and won this set comfortably ... In the fourth set our pair fought back and won it with a single break ... In the fifth set both pairs hold their respective service games till seventh game ... Melo-Dodig broke Lee in long 8th game after multiple deuce and then hold their service game for the victory ... So our both pairs lost after winning the first set ... So turned to be disappointing day in men's doubles at Wimbledon.

Sania-Horia had tough match against very experienced Nestor and his partner Mladenovic ... Both pairs fought hard but Nestor-Mladenovic won both tie-breaks ... In tie-break Sania's serves were weak link ... Still good performance by Sania with Horia.

Rohan lost in mixed doubles quarter final with his Chinese partner Jie Zheng against Jean-Julien Rojer-Vera Dushevina in three sets ... Rojer-Dushevina won the first set with a single break ... Te second set Rohan-Jie won it with a single break ... In the final set both pairs traded breaks but Rojer-Dushevina take crucial second break and won the match ... So with that Indian challenge got over in the Wimbledon.
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At $50K Winnetka Challenger, Illinois, USA

[QF] (5) Somdev Devvarman (IND,136) bt Steve Johnson (USA,98) 75 64

[SF] (5) Somdev Devvarman (IND,136) vs (3) Jack Stock (USA,102)

Doubles
[QF] (3) Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Jack Sock (USA) bt Jason Jung (USA)/ Evan King (USA) 64 64

[SF] (3) Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Jack Sock (USA) vs (1) James Cerretani (USA)/ Chris Guccione (AUS)

Buji take revenge of his loss against Johnson at Nottingham ... He scored straight sets upset victory ... In the first set Buji saved 4 break points before breaking Steve in 11th game ... In the second set also Buji take a single break ... In the semis Buji is facing his doubles partner and 3rd seed Jack Stock.

Buji-Jack pair scored comfortable straight sets win over Jung-King pair ... In the semis they r facing top-seed pair.
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At $10K USA F18 Futures, Pittsburgh

[R2] (1) Sanam Singh (IND,342) l (Q) Conor Smith (USA,UNR) 36 46

Sanam lost against unranked qualifier ... So it looks still he is not fully recover from his wrist injury ... Need more work on his fitness.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Solo, Indonesia

[R2] (Q) Kanika Vaidya (IND,UNR) bt Sanae Ohta (JPN,1061) 64 61

[QF] (Q) Kanika Vaidya (IND,UNR) vs (Q) Yukun Zhang (CHN,UNR)

Doubles
[QF] Misa Kinoshita (JPN)/ Kanika Vaidya (IND) bt Nozomi Fujioka (JPN)/ Michika Ozeki (JPN) 62 75

[SF] Misa Kinoshita (JPN)/ Kanika Vaidya (IND) vs (2) Aldila Sutjiadi (INA)/ Ai Wen Zhn (CHN)

Kanika continue with her good form and scored another easy victory against Japanese girl ... With this win she is in the quarters and she is facing another young qualifier Chinese girl Yukun Zhang.

Kanika r in the doubles semi-final also with her Japanese partner Misa Kinoshita with straight sets win over Japanese pair ... In the semis they r facing 2nd seed Indonesian-Chinese pair.

Tennis News

At Wimbledon 2013, London, Great Britain

Mixed Doubles
[R3] (7) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Jie Zheng (CHN) bt Johan Brunstrom (SWE)/ Katalin Marosi (HUN) 76(4) 36 61
[R3] (2) Horia Tecau (ROU)/ Sania Mirza (IND) bt Eric Butorac (USA)/ Alize Cornet (FRA) 61 75

[QF] (7) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Jie Zheng (CHN) vs Jean-Julien Rojer (NED)/ Vera Dushevina (RUS)
[QF] (2) Horia Tecau (ROU)/ Sania Mirza (IND) vs (8) Daniel Nestor (CAN)/ Kristina Mladenovic (FRA)

Rohan-Jie enter into the quarter-final of mixed doubles with three sets win over European pair ... In the first set both pairs failed to break service of opponent but Rohan-Jie played better tie-break and won the set ... In the second set Brunstrom-Marosi broke Jie's serve and kept that break advantage for winning this set ... In the final set Rohan-Jie broke opponent's serve twice to lead 5-1 ... While serving for the match they saved 3 break point before converting 5th match point.

Sania with Horia joins Rohan and his partner Jie in the quarters ... Sania-Horia defeated conqueror of Lee-Zheng in straight sets ... The first set dominated by Sania-Horia, with double break they won it in 17 minutes ... In the second set both pairs traded early break but Sania-Horia take crucial break in 11th game and then comfortably hold for completing the victory.
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At $50K Winnetka Challenger, Illinois, USA

[R2] (5) Somdev Devvarman (IND,136) bt Saketh Myneni (IND,281) 61 62

[QF] (5) Somdev Devvarman (IND,136) vs Steve Johnson (USA,98)

Doubles
[QF] Saketh Myneni (IND)/ Adam Feeney (AUS) l (1) James Cerretani (USA)/ Chris Guccione (AUS) 46 46
[QF] Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Michael Venus (NZL) bt Kevin King (USA)/ Juan-Carlos Spir (COL) 63 63

[SF] Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Michael Venus (NZL) vs (2) Austin Krajicek (USA)/ Tennys Sandgren (USA)

Buji gave tennis lesson to Saketh in his very comfortable win ... Buji lost only three games in this match but still decent Challenger level start for Saketh as he scored a win in his first match ... Buji having quarter final against Steve Johnson, with whom Buji is having poor record.

Saketh and his partner Feeney lost in the doubles against top-seed pair ... But Yuki-Venus scored win over unseeded King-Spir combination in straight sets ... Much needed match practice for Yuki after his injury break ... Next they r facing 2nd seed Krajicek-Sandgren.
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At $125K+H Sparkassen Open 2013, Braunschweig, Germany

[QF] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) l Andreas Siljestrom (SWE)/ Igor Zelenay (SVK) 26 46

Purav and Divij failed to keep their winning momentum and lost rather easily against Siljestrom and Zelenay.
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At $15K Germany F8 Futures , Kassel (clay)

[R1] (3) N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND)/ Yannik Reuter (BEL) l Kevin Krawietz (GER)/ Kristijan Mesaros (CRO) 46 06

One sided loss for Vijay Sundar and his partner in the doubles.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Solo, Indonesia

[R1] (Q) Kanika Vaidya (IND,UNR) bt (4) Angelique Svinos (AUS,799) 62 61

[R2] (Q) Kanika Vaidya (IND,UNR) vs Sanae Ohta (JPN,1061)

Doubles
[R1] Misa Kinoshita (JPN)/ Kanika Vaidya (IND) bt (3) Haine Ogata (JPN)/ Sanae Ohta (JPN) 16 75 10-2

[QF] Misa Kinoshita (JPN)/ Kanika Vaidya (IND) vs Nozomi Fujioka (JPN)/ Michika Ozeki (JPN)

Qualifier Kanika earn her first WTA point with dominating upset win over 17 yrs old talented 4th seed Australian Svinos ... Next she is facing Japanese girl Sanae Ohta ... In the doubles also Kanika r in the quarters with her Japanese partner ... They scored upset win over 3rd seed Japanese pair.

Tennis News

At Wimbledon 2013, London, Great Britain

Doubles
[QF] (8) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Julien Knowle (AUT) vs (1) Bob Bryan (USA)/ Mike Bryan (USA) 67(5) 67(3) 67(4)
[QF] (14) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) bt (6) Robert Lindstedt (SWE)/ Daniel Nestor (CAN) 75 76(3) 67(4) 67(3) 62
[QF] 4) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) bt (11) Julien Benneteau (FRA)/ Nenad Zimonjic (SRB) 46 64 63 64

[SF] (14) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) vs (1) Bob Bryan (USA)/ Mike Bryan (USA)

Mixed Doubles
[R2] (15) Leander Paes (IND)/ Saisai Zheng (CHN) l Eric Butorac (USA)/ Alize Cornet (FRA) 36 36
[R2] (2) Horia Tecau (ROU)/ Sania Mirza (IND) bt Martin Emmrich (GER)/ Julia Goerges (GER) 63 64

[R3] (2) Horia Tecau (ROU)/ Sania Mirza (IND) vs Eric Butorac (USA)/ Alize Cornet (FRA)

Early in the match Rohan-Edouard struggled to hold their service games against experienced pairing of Lindstedt-Nestor ... But they kept holding despite pressure ... Rohan-Edouard take crucial and only break in 12th game and won the first set ... In the second set Lindstedt-Nestor broke them in 1st game and take 2-0 lead but our pair fought back after breaking them in 6th game ... And then Rohan-Edouard dominated the tie-break with their huge serving ... In the third set Rohan-Edouard broke Lindstedt-Nestor in 1st game and take 2-0 lead but this time Lindstedt-Nestor broke back in 6th game to make it 3-all ... This set also went to tie-break, Lindstedt-Nestor take mini-break on 2nd point to lead 2-0 ... Lindstedt-Nestor broke them again on 11th point and won this set ... In the fourth set both pairs hold their respective service games and didn't face a break point ... In tie-break again Lindstedt-Nestor dominated and won it and made 2 sets to all ... But in the decider Rohan-Edouard had different plan ... They attacked opponents serve and in no time had double break lead ... When they were 5-2 up match was stopped due to rain but after restarting they completed victory after holding their service game ... So really big win for them in this long match we ended after three hours and fourty five minutes.

Leander-Radek lost the first set with a single break ... Zimo-Julien converted single break point chance and our pair failed to convert two in the first set ... From the second set Lee-Radek raised their game ... Through out thr match Radek was looking in sublime form near the net ... In the second set our pair broke Zimo=Julien twice and lost their serve once ... In the third set Lee-Radek didn't face a single break point and converted one break point from two chances ... After third set match was stopped due to rain ... After returning Lee-Radek broke Julien's serve in 1st game ... After that Zim--Julien tried to put pressure on Lee's serve and they managed to broke him in 8th game to make it 4-all ... But Lee-Radek played excellent returning on serve on Julien's next service game ... They broke Julien in 9th game and then Radek hold comfortably for completing victory in two hours and thirty nine minutes.

Mahesh-Julien lost in close match against Bryans ... All set went to tie-breaks which Bryans dominated ... Only one each service break came in the third set ... Unlucky loss for Mahesh in his last Wimbledon match ... In the semis Bryans r facing Rohan-Edouard.

In mixed doubles Sania-Horia broke Julia in 4th game and take early lead ... This one break lead was enough for them for winning the first set ... Same story repeated in the second set as Sania-Horia again take a break and kept that for winning the match ... Next they r facing Butorac-Cornet, who scored upset win over Lee-Zheng.

Other hand Leander failed to keep his same winning momentum in mixed doubles ... Lee lost in straight sets against Butorac-Cornet pair with his new Chinese partner Saisai Zheng ... May be blessing in disguise as now he can concentrate on his men's doubles semi-final with Radek.
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At $50K Winnetka Challenger, Illinois, USA

[R1] (5) Somdev Devvarman (IND,136) bt (Q) Sekou Bangoura (USA,612) 67(7) 63 61

[R2] (5) Somdev Devvarman (IND,136) vs Saketh Myneni (IND,281)

Doubles
[R1] Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Michael Venus (NZL) bt (4) Alex Bogomolov Jr. (USA)/ Erik Chvojka (CAN) w/o
[R1] Saketh Myneni (IND)/ Adam Feeney (AUS) bt Bradley Klahn (USA)/ Donald Young (USA) 76(5) 64

[QF] Saketh Myneni (IND)/ Adam Feeney (AUS) vs (1) James Cerretani (USA)/ Chris Guccione (AUS)
[QF] (3) Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Jack Sock (USA) vs Jason Jung (USA)/ Evan King (USA)
[QF] Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Michael Venus (NZL) vs Kevin King (USA)/ Juan-Carlos Spir (COL)

Surprisingly tough match for Buji ... He lost the first set in tie-break against such lowly ranked opponent but then recovered well and won last two sets comfortably ... Next he is facing Saketh ... Interesting to see how Saketh perform against Buji.

In the doubles also our pairs had winning start ... Saketh-Adam scored well fought win over American pair Klahn-Young but Yuki-Venus received walkover due to back injury of Bogomolov Jr.
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At $15K+H Germany F8 Futures , Kassel (clay)

[R1] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,630) l (7) Kevin Krawietz (GER,414) 46 26
[R1] N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND,531) l (2) Miloslav Mecir (SVK,286) 64 36 16

Doubles
[R1] (3) N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND)/ Yannik Reuter (BEL) vs Kevin Krawietz (GER)/ Kristijan Mesaros (CRO)

This was tough draw for our players ... Still Vijay Sundar gave creditable fight against 2nd seed Mecir but he failed to keep momentum after winning the first set.
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At $10K USA F18 Futures, Pittsburgh

[R1] (1) Sanam Singh (IND,342) bt Kirill Kasyanov (USA,1162) 62 60

Good win in his second match after coming out of injury.

Tennis News

At Wimbledon 2013, London, Great Britain

Doubles
[R3] (8) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Julien Knowle (AUT) bt Jesse Levine (CAN)/ Vasek Pospisil (CAN) 62 64 36 64
[R3] (14) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) bt (3) Alexander Peya (AUT)/ Bruno Soares (BRA) 64 46 76(5) 62
[R3] (4) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) bt (15) Lukasz Kubot (POL)/ Marcin Matkowski (POL) 64 62 64
[R3] (6) Liezel Huber (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) l Shuko Aoyama (JPN)/ Chanelle Scheepers (RSA) 26 63 26

[QF] (8) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Julien Knowle (AUT) vs (1) Bob Bryan (USA)/ Mike Bryan (USA)
[QF] (14) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) vs (6) Robert Lindstedt (SWE)/ Daniel Nestor (CAN)
[QF] (4) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) vs (11) Julien Benneteau (FRA)/ Nenad Zimonjic (SRB)

Mixed Doubles
[R2] (7) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Jie Zheng (CHN) bt Robert Farah (COL)/ Darija Jurak (CRO) 76(6) 75

[R3] (7) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Jie Zheng (CHN) vs Johan Brunstrom (SWE)/ Katalin Marosi (HUN)

Rohan gave winning start for Indians with his French partner Edouard Roger-Vasselin ... They won the first set breaking Peya-Soares in 10th game ... In the second set they lost their service game in 5th game and that was enough for Peya-Soares to won this set ... In the third set both pairs played solid tennis holding their respective service games ... In tie-break Rohan-Edouard take mini-break in 3rd point and kept that mini-break advantage for winning this set ... After winning this set they dominated the fourth set against third seeds and won it with double break ... Big upset win for Rohan-Edouard against in-form 3rd seed Peya-Soares in 2 hours and 20 minutes ... In the quarter final Rohan-Edouard r facing 6th seed Robert Lindstedt-Daniel Nestor.

Solid start for Mahesh-Julien against Canadian pair ... They broke Canadians in 3rd and 7th games for winning the first set ... In the second set also Mahesh-Julien take early break in third game and kept that advantage for winning this set ... Canadian pair fought back to win the third set with an early break but Mahesh-Julien kept their cool ... They won the fourth set with a single break and completed victory in two hours and five minutes ... Now Really tough match against top-seed Bryans.

Sania-Liezel faced disappointing loss against unseeded pair of Japanese Aoyama and South African Scheepers ... In this match Sania-Liezel failed to take advantage of multiple break point chances ... They had 14 chances and converted only 3 ... Other hand Aoyama-Scheepers had 7 chances and they converted 6 ... Aoyama-Scheepers won the first set with double break from 2 break point chances but Sania-Liezel failed to convert single break point from 6 chances ... In the second set Sania-Liezel converted 2 break point from 7 chances for winning this set and Aoyama-Scheepers converted 1 from 1 ... Aoyama-Scheepers dominated the final set when they converted three from four break point chance and Sania-Liezel converted one from one.

Leander-Radek started on wrong foot as they lost their service game in 1st game but they fought back well in the set ... They broke Kubot-Matkowski twice before winning the first set ... Lee-Radek dominated the second set and won it with double break after breaking Polish pair in 3rd and 5th games ... In the third set Lee-Radek saved a break point in 6th game on their serve and immediately broke Polish pair in 7th game to take 4-3 lead ... After that Lee-Radek kept this one break advantage and won this match in one hour and fifty one minutes ... Dominating performance from Lee-Radek against this Polish pair ... So with that our three teams are in the quarter-finals ... In the quarters they r facing Zimo-Benneteau.

In mixed doubles Rohan-Jie had very close match against Farah-Jurek ... In the first set Rohan-Jie take break in 11th game but they failed to hold their serve when serving for the set ... They needed to put all their experience to won tight tie-break ... In the second set also both pairs hold their respective service games till 10 th game ... Again Rohan-Jie broke Farah-Jurek in 11th game but this time Rohan-Jie hold their service game and completed victory ... In round three they r facing unseeded European pair Brunstrom and Marosi.
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At $50K Winnetka Challenger, Illinois, USA

[R1] Yuki Bhambri (IND,417) l (4) Tim Smyczek (USA,120) 46 61 16
[R1] (5) Somdev Devvarman (IND,136) vs (Q) Sekou Bangoura (USA,612)
[R1] Saketh Myneni (IND,281) bt (WC) Dennis Nevolo (USA,590) 46 61 62

Doubles
[R1] (3) Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Jack Sock (USA) bt Sekou Bangoura (USA)/ Eric Quigley (USA) 67(1) 76(4) 10-8
[R1] Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Michael Venus (NZL) vs (4) Alex Bogomolov Jr. (USA)/ Erik Chvojka (CAN)
[R1] Saketh Myneni (IND)/ Adam Feeney (AUS) vs Bradley Klahn (USA)/ Donald Young (USA)

Saketh started his challenger journey with a win in his first match ... He had local wild-card player, who had crowd support and familiar with the court ... Saketh lost the first set but after that he lost only three games for winning the match ... Next Saketh can face Buji if Buji wins his first round against qualifier.

This was tough match for Yuki after his almost 10 weeks injury break but Yuki performed lot better than expectation ... He lost the first set with a single break but fought back and won the second set comfortably with double break ... In the final set Smyczek take control from the start and he won it comfortably with double break.

Buji-Jack stretched to fullest by Bangoura-Quigley in their doubles match ... First two sets went to tie-breaks as both pairs won a set ... Buji-Jack needed to use their all experience for winning the match tie-break..
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At $125K+H Sparkassen Open 2013, Braunschweig, Germany (red clay)

[R1] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Philipp Marx (GER)/ Philipp Oswald (AUT) 76(4) 63

Divij and Purav continues with their good form ... They scored straight sets win over tricky experienced pair on the clay ... Good start in this big challenger for them.

Tennis News

At Wimbledon 2013, London, Great Britain

Doubles
[R2] (8) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Julien Knowle (AUT) bt Nicholas Monroe (USA)/ Simon Stadler (GER) 36 64 64 62
[R2] (14) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) bt Daniel Brands (GER)/ Lukas Rosol (CZE) 63 57 76(4) 67(8) 64
[R2] (4) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) bt Jamie Delgado (GBR)/ Matthew Ebden (AUS) 64 64 63
[R2] (6) Liezel Huber (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) bt Flavia Pennetta (ITA)/ Andrea Petkovic (GER) 76(6) 36 62

[R3] (8) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Julien Knowle (AUT) vs Jesse Levine (CAN)/ Vasek Pospisil (CAN)
[R3] (14) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) vs (3) Alexander Peya (AUT)/ Bruno Soares (BRA)
[R3] (4) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) vs (15) Lukasz Kubot (POL)/ Marcin Matkowski (POL)
[R3] (6) Liezel Huber (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) vs Shuko Aoyama (JPN)/ Chanelle Scheepers (RSA)

Mixed Doubles
[R2] (7) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Jie Zheng (CHN) vs Robert Farah (COL)/ Darija Jurak (CRO)
[R2] (15) Leander Paes (IND)/ Saisai Zheng (CHN) vs Eric Butorac (USA)/ Alize Cornet (FRA)
[R2] (2) Horia Tecau (ROU)/ Sania Mirza (IND) vs Martin Emmrich (GER)/ Julia Goerges (GER)

Lee and Radek scored very comfortable win inside 2 hours against Delgado and Ebden ... They scored straight sets win breaking their opponent's serve five times and losing their serve only twice ... Lee-Radek lost their service twice in 2nd set and broke opponents thrice ... Next they r facing 15th seed Polish pair.

Mahesh-Julien recovered well after losing the first set to won this match inside 2 and half hours ... They lost the first set with a single break ... In the second set they broke Monroe-Stadler once to won it ... In the third set Monroe-Stadler broke them once but Mahesh-Julien broke them twice for winning it ... In the fourth set Mahesh-Julien dominated and won it after breaking opponents twice ... Next they r facing Canadian pair.

Yesterday when match suspended due to rain Rohan-Edouard were up 2 sets to 1 ... They needed only one set to win but Brands-Rosol had different idea ... They fought back excellently and saved couple of match points before winning the fourth set ... Rohan-Edouard recovered in the fifth and won it with a single break ... Next they r facing 3rd seed Peya and Soares.

Sania-Liezel won well fought the first set where both pairs failed to break opponent's serve ... Sania-Liezel won tight tie-break in extra points ... In the second set Pennetta-Petkovic broke Sania-Liezel in 4th game to lead 4-1 ... Sania-Liezel broke back in 7th game to make it 3-4 but Pennetta-Petkovic re-broke in 8th game and hold their serve for winning the second set ... Sania-Liezel made excellent fightback and won the final set with double break ... They broke Pennetta-Petkovic in 8th game while they serving for staying in the match ... Next they r facing Japanese-South African pair, Aoyama-Scheepers.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Delhi, India

Singles Final
(2) Ankita Raina (IND) bt Eetee Maheta (IND) 63 62

Ankita defeated 17 yrs old Eetee in straight sets and lifted her third $10K ITF tournament title ... Ankita truly deserve India's #1 singles player tag as this year she doesn't loss a single match against Indian player.

Tennis News
At Wimbledon 2013, London, Great Britain
Doubles
[R1] (4) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) bt Daniele Bracciali (ITA)/ Jonathan Erlich (ISR) 76(6) 64 67(1) 64

[R2] (14) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) vs Daniel Brands (GER)/ Lukas Rosol (CZE) 63 57 76(4)

Mixed Doubles
[R1] Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) l Mark Knowles (BAH)/ Sabine Lisicki (GER) 76(2) 46 46

Lee-Radek completed victory in four sets after match re-started ... They won the second set with a break but lost next set in tie-break ... In the fourth set our pair take crucial break in 10th game when Bracciali-Erlich were serving for staying in the match ... Good win by Lee-Radek against potentially dangerous pairing of Bracciali-Erlich and also considering Radek's hamstring injury ... They r facing another good grass court pair in the next round, Britisher Jamie Delgado and Aussie Matthew Ebden.

Rohan-Edouard were leading 2 sets to 1 when match suspended due to rain ... They started positively and won the first set comfortably against German-Czech pair ... But Brands-Rosol fought back to won the second with crucial break in 12th game ... In the third set both pairs tried but Rohan-Edouard managed to win tie-break.

After winning the first set in tie-break Mahesh-Daniela failed to keep momentum and lost next two sets with a single break ... I was hoping better Wimbledon for Mahesh-Daniela.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Delhi, India

Singles Semi Finals
Eetee Maheta (IND) bt (8) Natasha Palha (IND) 16 75 62
(2)Ankita Raina (IND) bt (6) Shweta Rana (IND) 63 61

Ankita Raina reaches her fifth consecutive $10K ITF women's final by comfortably beating Shweta Rana ... In the final she is facing Eetee Maheta, who scoded comeback win over Natasha Palha..

Tennis News
At Wimbledon 2013, London, Great Britain

Doubles
[R1] (4) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) vs Daniele Bracciali (ITA)/ Jonathan Erlich (ISR) 76(6) suspended

Mixed Doubles
[R1] (7) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Jie Zheng (CHN) bye
[R1] Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) vs Mark Knowles (BAH)/ Sabine Lisicki (GER)
[R1] (15) Leander Paes (IND)/ Saisai Zheng (CHN) bye
[R1] (2) Horia Tecau (ROU)/ Sania Mirza (IND) bye

Mixed doubles draw is out ... Again Sania is in top seedings with her new partner, Romanian Horia Tecau ... Rohan is sticking with his Chinese partner Jie Zheng ... Leander is with new Chinese partner Saisai Zheng ... Mahesh is back with his old partner Daniela Hantuchova after few years gap ... Sania, Lee and Mahesh r in same draw and face each other from round three ... Our seeded pairs having first round bye so only Mahesh-Daniela playing first round against tricky pairing of Mark Knowles and Sabine Lisicki.

Radek played in this match with his hamstring injury ... Lee and Radek won the first set in tie-break before match suspended due to rain.
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At $15K+H Spain F18 Futures, Palma Del Rio

[R2] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,702) l (6) Sergio Gutierrez-Ferrol (ESP,268) 67(0) 62 16

Ramkumar fought hard in first two sets but failed to overcome challenge of top-270 Gutierrez-Ferrol in the final set ... After losing the first set in one-sided tie-break Ramkumar dominated the second set and won it with double break.
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At $10K Germany F7 Futures, Roemerberg (clay)

[R2] (8) N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND,531) l (WC) Oscar Otte (GER,1196) 36 2-2 Retd.

Aargh, hate when our player get injured ... :-(
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Delhi, India

Singles Quarter Finals
Eetee Maheta (IND) bt Shreya Pasricha (IND) 62 64
(8) Natasha Palha (IND) bt (Q) Ambika Pande (IND) 62 61
(6) Shweta Rana (IND) bt (3) Rishika Sunkara (IND) 16 60 61
(2)Ankita Raina (IND) bt (5) Prarthana G. Thombare (IND) 46 63 61

Expected results other than upset win by Shweta Rana over Rishika ... Ankita had a slow start against Prarthana but she recovered after losing the first set.
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At $10K USA F17 Futures, Rochester, New York

[R1] (2) Sanam Singh (IND,342) l (SE) Jason Tahir (USA,1252) 46 57

Sanam made quiet return on tour in US futures ... This was his first match after coming out of 2/3 months back injury break and match was tough against American player ... Tahir was last future's semi-finalist so this was tough match for Sanam against in-form player.

Tennis News
At Wimbledon 2013, London, Great Britain

Doubles
[R1] (8) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Julien Knowle (AUT) bt Leonardo Mayer (ARG)/ Albert Ramos (ESP) 62 67(5) 64 62
[R1] (14) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) bt Jarkko Nieminen (FIN)/ Dmitry Tursunov (RUS) 76(5) 62 76(6)
[R1] (6) Liezel Huber (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) bt Renata Voracova (CZE)/ Klara Zakopalova (CZE) 63 36 61

[R2] (8) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Julien Knowle (AUT) vs Nicholas Monroe (USA)/ Simon Stadler (GER)
[R2] (14) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) vs Daniel Brands (GER)/ Lukas Rosol (CZE)

Mahesh-Julien started well after breaking opponents twice for winning the first set but Mayer-Ramos fought back in the second and won it in tie-break .... In the third set Mahesh-Julien broke opponent's in 7th game and then won 10th game after few deuces to win this set ... After winning the third set Mahesh-Julien dominated the fourth and won it with double break ... Next they r facing Monroe and Stadler, who defeated Purav and Divij in the first round.

Rohan-Edouard faced stiff resistant from Nieminen-Tursunov in the first set ... Our pair manged to win this set in tie-break ... After that Rohan-Edouard dominated the second which they won with double break ... Nieminen-Tursunov fought hard and take the third set in tie-break ... They were early mini-break up but Rohan-Edouard saved a set point at 5-6 and won next 3 points to complete the victory ... Next they r facing German-Czech pairing of Brands and Rosol.

Sania-Liezel won the first set with a single break but they lost the second set against Czech pair ... In the final set Sania-Liezel broke Czech opponents in 2nd and 4th games to lead 5-0 ... Czech pair won next game before losing the match.

Radek Stepanek retired in his singles second round match ... Tough luck for Leander in men's doubles.
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At $10K Germany F7 Futures, Roemerberg (clay)

[R1] (6) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,572) l (Q) Lukas Finzelberg (GER,UNR) 16 26

Poor loss against unranked player so Vishnu's struggle of comeback continues.
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At $15K+H Netherlands F3 Futures, Breda (clay

[R1] (4) Ariel Behar (URU)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) l Henri Kontinen (FIN)/ Christopher Rungkat (INA) 26 67(4)

Disappointing Dutch futures for Jeevan.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Delhi, India

Singles Second Round
Shreya Pasricha (IND) bt (1) Mai Minokoshi (JPN) 75 76(5)
Eetee Maheta (IND) bt (7) Naomi Totka (HUN) 61 62
(Q) Ambika Pande (IND) bt (4) Prerna Bhambri (IND) 3-0 Retd.
(8) Natasha Palha (IND) bt Vaniya Dangwal (IND) 60 62
(6) Shweta Rana (IND) bt (Q) Sneha Padamata (IND) 64 62
(3) Rishika Sunkara (IND) bt Adnya Naik (IND) 60 64
(5) Prarthana G. Thombare (IND) bt (Q) Sai Samhitha Chamarthi (IND) 62 63
(2)Ankita Raina (IND) bt (Q) Rushmi Chakravarthi (IND) 36 76(7) 63

Huge upset wins by Shreya against top-seed Japanese girl and Eetee against 7th seed Hungarian girl ... Prerna retired from her match ... Ankita produced excellent comeback against experienced Rushmi to show her improved confidence on her own game.

Tennis News
At $15K+H Spain F18 Futures, Palma Del Rio

[R1] Ashwin Vijayragavan (IND,1010) l (4) Steven Diez (CAN,229) 26 46

[R2] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,702) vs (6) Sergio Gutierrez-Ferrol (ESP,268)

As expected Diez proved too strong for Ashwin
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At $10K Germany F7 Futures, Roemerberg (clay)

[R1] (6) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,572) bt (Q) Lukas Finzelberg (GER,UNR)
[R1] (8) N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND,531) bt Julio Silva (BRA,601) 63 46 61

[R2] (8) N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND,531) vs (WC) Oscar Otte (GER,1196)

Very good fighting win by Vijay Sundar against veteran Brazilian Julio Silva ... Next he is facing local wild-card player.

Tennis News
At Wimbledon 2013, London, Great Britain

Doubles
[R1] (Q) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) l Nicholas Monroe (USA)/ Simon Stadler (GER) 76(4) 62 36 46 46

Heartbreaking loss for Purav and Divij against Monroe and Stadler in five setter ... Divij and Purav started well breaking Monroe and Stadler early but Monroe and Stadler fought back to break back in 7th game ... Divij and Purav kept their cool in tie-break for winning the first set ... Divij and Purav dominated the second set and won it with double break but from the third set picture started turning ... Monroe and Stadler used their all experience of playing on ATP tour and made excellent comeback ... They won next three sets with a single break and I would say they gave little lesson to Purav and Divij that the match is never finished until someone wins it.
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At $15K+H Netherlands F3 Futures, Breda (clay

[R1] Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND,354) l Thomas Schoorel (NED,418) 26 36

Doubles
[R1] (4) Ariel Behar (URU)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) vs Henri Kontinen (FIN)/ Christopher Rungkat (INA)

As expected former top-100 local player Thomas Schoorel proved too strong for Jeevan on the clay ... In the first set from 2-1 Jeevan lost next 5 games and then he was never in the match.
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At $15K+H Spain F18 Futures, Palma Del Rio

[R1] Ashwin Vijayragavan (IND,1010) vs (4) Steven Diez (CAN,229)
[R1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,702) bt (WC) David Vega Hernandez (ESP,800) 62 06 75

Doubles
[R1] (2) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND)/ Ashwin Vijayragavan (IND) l Robert Ortega-Olmeda (ESP)/ Ricardo Villacorta-Alonso (ESP) 46 26

Good win by Ramkumar against in-form player Vega Hernandez, who reached quarters and semis in last few weeks futures ... Ashwin having very tough first round against top-225 type Canadian Steven Diez, two weeks back against same player Ashwin lost in straight sets.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament, Delhi, India

Singles First Round
(1) Mai Minokoshi (JPN) bt Sanae Ohta (JPN) 76(4) 63
Shreya Pasricha (IND) bt (WC) Victoria Chehal (IND) 63 61
Eetee Maheta (IND) bt (Q) Aishwarya Agrawal (IND) 61 3-0 Retd.
(7) Naomi Totka (HUN) bt (Q) Zainab Ali Sajjad (IND) 62 62
(4) Prerna Bhambri (IND) bt Amrita Mukherjee (IND) 76(3) 64
(Q) Ambika Pande (IND) bt (WC) Jeni Patel (IND) 60 61
Vaniya Dangwal (IND) bt (WC) Nehel Sahni (IND) 36 62 76(2)
(8) Natasha Palha (IND) bt Arantxa Andrady (IND) 61 60
(6) Shweta Rana (IND) bt Sanya Madan (IND) 60 61
(Q) Sneha Padamata (IND) bt Manya Nagpal (IND) 57 62 62
Adnya Naik (IND) bt Bhuvana Kalva (IND) 26 63 76(3)
(3) Rishika Sunkara (IND) bt Damini Sharma (IND) 64 63
(5) Prarthana G. Thombare (IND) bt (Q) Likitha Shetty (IND) 64 76(9)
(Q) Sai Samhitha Chamarthi (IND) bt (WC) Megha Sehrawat (IND) 62 63
(Q) Rushmi Chakravarthi (IND) bt Sharon Sanchana Paul (IND) 76(4) 63
(2)Ankita Raina (IND) bt (Q) Treta Bhattacharyya (IND) 61 60

As usual weak draw for this Indian ITF tournament ... Only 3 foreigners in the draw but interesting match up for Ankita Raina ... In the first round she faced Treta and defeated her comfortably ... Next she is facing veteran Rushmi ... Interesting match to see progress of Ankita.

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

Round 09 – June 23 2013
Hikaru Nakamura (USA,2784) 0-1 Alexander Morozevich (RUS,2760)
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE,2753) ½-½ Magnus Carlsen (NOR,2864)
Vladimir Kramnik (RUS,2803) ½-½ Boris Gelfand (ISR,2755)
Sergey Karjakin (RUS,2782) ½-½ Viswanathan Anand (IND,2786)
Fabiano Caruana (ITA,2774) ½-½ Dmitry Andreikin (RUS,2713)

In the final game Anand hold Karjakin with black ... Anand finished on 9th position with 3½ pts, just above Kramnik, who finished on last position with 3 pts ... This was Anand's one of the poorest result in recent tournaments ... Anand will loose chunk of points and will be outside of top 5 ranking with rating around 2774 ... He need to regroup as World championship is four and half months away.

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

For 5th Place
India l Spain 2-2 (2-1) PS 2-4
Goal Scorers - Shivendra Singh (IND) 10', Mandeep Singh (IND) 12' and Roc Oliva (ESP) 2', David Alegre (ESP) 56'

Spain claimed a vital win in penalties over India to capture fifth place in Rotterdam, this will helping their chance of potentially claiming a lucky losers berth at the 2014 World Cup ... Normal time had ended 2-2 between the two sides but the Spaniards prevailed 4-2 in the shoot out as Manpreet and Akashdepp missed 3rd and 4th penalties when Indians up 2-1 in shoot-out ... Before this Spanish team take lead in 2nd minute but Indians scored 2 goals in three minutes and take lead in 12th minute ... Spanish team kept pushing for equalizer and they managed that in the second half ... After that both teams failed to break deadlock ... In penalties Spanish team hit 2nd shot on the board but we failed to take advantage as Spanish goalkeeper Quico Cortes made excellent defense on penalty shots from Mandeep and Akashdeep.

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

Round 08 – June 22 2013
Alexander Morozevich (RUS,2760) 0-1 Fabiano Caruana (ITA,2774)
Dmitry Andreikin (RUS,2713) ½-½ Sergey Karjakin (RUS,2782)
Viswanathan Anand (I,2ND786) ½-½ Vladimir Kramnik (RUS,2803)
Boris Gelfand (ISR,2755) ½-½ Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE,2753)
Magnus Carlsen (NOR,2864) 1-0 Hikaru Nakamura (USA,2784)

Kramnik easily hold Anand in Nimzo variation ... Carlsen defeated Nakamura and climbed to sole second position ... He is only half point behind leader Gelfand.

Tennis News
At $10K ITF Women's Tournament - week 3, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt

[SF] Sowjanya Bavisetti (IND,1009) l Susanne Celik (SWE,985) 63 36 46

Sowjanya lost in three hours long match against British player ... Very fighting performance in her loss against Swedish player ... Overall very encouraging performance by Swojanya.,

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

For 7th Position
India bt Chile 2-1 (0-0)
Goal Scorers - Ritusha Kumari Arya (IND) 47', Chanchan Devi Thokchom (IND) 56' and Camila Caram (CHI) PC 44'

Indian girls avoided wooden spoon after scoring comeback win over Chilean girls ... Chilean girls take lead in the second half through penalty corner after the first-half ended goalless ... Indian girls responded immediately and equalized through Ritusha Kumari in three minutes ... Then in 56th minute our vice-captain Chanchan Devi scored winner ... This was first win by Indian girls in this World League semi-final.

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

Round 07 – June 21 2013
Magnus Carlsen (NOR,2864) ½-½ Alexander Morozevich (RUS,2760)
Hikaru Nakamura (USA,2784) 0-1 Boris Gelfand (ISR,2755)
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE,2753) ½-½ Viswanathan Anand (IND,2786)
Vladimir Kramnik (RUS,2803) 0-1 Dmitry Andreikin (RUS,2713)
Sergey Karjakin (RUS,2782) ½-½ Fabiano Caruana (ITA,2774)

Anand agreed comfortable draw ... Gelfand overtake Nakamura with exciting win over him ... Andreikin scored surprising win over Kramnik.

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

5th-8th Positions
India bt France 6-2 (3-1)
Goal Scorers - Akashdeep Singh (IND) 13', VR Raghunath (IND) 27', SV Sunil (IND) 33', Sardar Singh (IND) 42', Mandeep Singh (IND) 56' and 69' and Hugo Genestet (FRA) 3', Guillaume Deront (FRA) PC 70+'

Our men can still hope for World Championships qualification as Netherlands is already qualify as host and Australia or New Zealand will be qualify through topping Oceanic group ... So direct WC entry for top-3 teams means it will come down to 5th place team.

For that Indians needed to win next two matches ... As expected we scored win over French team ... French team surprised us scoring first goal in three minutes but after that our team recovered and scored 3 goals in first half ... Indians scored another 3 goals in second half but conceded penalty corner before hooter and French team converted that ... In this match Dharamvir Singh, SV Sunil and Sardar Singh impressed with their game ... For fifth position match we will face Spanish team, who defeated Irish team with solitary goal.

Badminton News
At $200K Singapore Open 2013, (Superseries)

[QF] (2) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) l Lindaweni Fanetri (INA,13) 21-17 13-21 13-21

Saina's bad run and inconsistency continues ... Again she lost in the quarters in 58 minutes against Indonesian Fanetri ... After winning the first game Saina played ordinary game against Fanetri ... In the second game from 7-8 Fanetri take lead and won it comfortably ... In the final game from 3-all Fanetri won next 9 points ... Saina failed to overcome this huge difference and lost match ... She need to bring her act together before too late.

Tennis News
At Wimbledon 2013, London, Great Britain

Doubles
[R1] (Q) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Nicholas Monroe (USA)/ Simon Stadler (GER)
[R1] (8) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Julien Knowle (AUT) vs Leonardo Mayer (ARG)/ Albert Ramos (ESP)
[R1] (14) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) vs Jarkko Nieminen (FIN)/ Dmitry Tursunov (RUS)
[R1] (4) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) vs Daniele Bracciali (ITA)/ Jonathan Erlich (ISR)
[R1] (6) Liezel Huber (USA)/ Sania Mirza (IND) vs Renata Voracova (CZE)/ Klara Zakopalova (CZE)

Purav and Divij avoids seeded pair in the first round ... Their opponents r 70s ranking pair so winnable match for them and I m really hoping for a win as they will get chance of facing Mahesh-Julien in the second round ... Mahesh and Rohan also having easier first round pairs with their respective partners ... Lee and Radek having most trickier pair in our lot ... Sania and Liezel r facing Czech pair, this week they lost against Zakopalova and her partner ... So they need to play carefully against this pairing.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament - week 3, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt

[QF] Sowjanya Bavisetti (IND,1009) bt Madrie Le Roux (RSA,905) 26 64 61

[SF] Sowjanya Bavisetti (IND,1009) vs Susanne Celik (SWE,985)

Sowjanya continues with her impressive performance and reach in the semis ... She scored another superb comeback win over South Africam Le Roux ... Next she is facing another unseeded Swedish girl Celik.

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

5th-8th Positions
India l Japan 0-4 (0-2)
Goal Scorers - Ayaka Nishimura (JPN) 2', Shiho Otsuka (JPN) 18' and 36', Yur Nagai (JPN) 54'

Another one-sided loss for Indian women ... Japanese girls scored comfortable win ... Now our women play against Chilean women for wooden spoon.

Badminton News
At $200K Singapore Open 2013, (Superseries)

[R2] (Q) Sai Praneeth B. (IND,45) l Wei Feng Chong (MAS,12) 11-21 21-17 16-21
[R2] (2) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) bt Eriko Hirose (JPN,12) 16-21 21-16 21-9

[R2] Pranaav Jerry Chopra (IND)/ Akshay Dewalkar (IND) l (6) Baek Choel Shin (KOR)/ Yeon Seong Yoo (KOR) 14-21 19-21
[R2] Arun Vishnu (IND)/ Aparna Balan (IND) l Praveen Jordan (INA)/ Vita Marissa (INA) 10-21 18-21

[QF] (2) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) vs Lindaweni Fanetri (INA,13)

Saina scored hard fought win and enter into the quarters where she will face Indonesian Fanetri ... In the first game both players were exchanging lead till 14-all and after that Hirose opened lead for winning this game ... In the second game both players were neck to neck till 12-all after that Saina opened couple of points lead ... But from 16-15 Saina gave Hirose only one point before winning the game ... In the final Saina opened 8-2 early lead and kept increasing to complete win in 61 mins.

Sai failed to keep his winning momentum and lost against Malaysian Chong in three games ... After losing the first game easily Sai fought back in the second ... In the second game Sai was behind 1-5 but kept fight to caught Chong 12-all ... Then won 5 points in a row from 14-all and won the game losing 3 more points ... In the decider Chong opened 4-0 lead which extended to 10-4 but Sai fought back to make it 11-all ... After that Chong won 6 points in a row and then Sai tried to catch her but difference was enough for Chong to win the match.

In the doubles and mixed doubles our pairs lost in straight games.

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

Round 06 – June 19 2013
Alexander Morozevich (RUS,2760) ½-½ Sergey Karjakin (RUS,2782)
Fabiano Caruana (ITA,2774) ½-½ Vladimir Kramnik (RUS,2803)
Dmitry Andreikin (RUS,2713) ½-½ Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE,2753)
Viswanathan Anand (IND,2786) 0-1 Hikaru Nakamura (USA,2784)
Boris Gelfand (ISR,2755) ½-½ Magnus Carlsen (NOR,2864)

Nakamura showed excellent touch and handed another defeat to Anand ... In this different Spanish variations Nakamura kept upperhand from the start and completed win in 45 moves ... Worrying form of Anand as he lost his second game with white and already lost three matches from six matches.

Tennis News
At Wimbledon 2013, London, Great Britain

[Q2] (4) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Andreas Haider-Maurer (AUT)/ Jiri Vesely (CZE) w/o

Lucky break for Divij-Purav as their opponents gave walkover to our pair ... So with that they qualify for main-draw of Wimbledon ... Huge achievement for them, with little luck in main-draw we can expect some fireworks from them.
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At €526K Eastbourne Open, Great Britain

[QF] (3) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) l Jamie Murray (GBR)/ John Peers (AUS) 61 36 5-10

Lee-Radek faced tricky British-Aussie pair, who stretched Bryans in the quarters of Queens open (67(5) 76(9) 9-11) ... After losing the first set Murray-Peers made strong comback and won the second set ... They also dominated match tie-break against 3rd seed pair.
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At $690K Ageon International, Eastbourne, Great Britain (WTA Premier)

[QF] (2) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Liezel Huber (USA) l Monica Niculescu (ROM)/ Klara Zakopalova (CZE) 36 63 9-11

Surprising loss of Sania- Liezel pairing against European pair in match tie-break ... So as such no grass court practice for Sania before Wimbledon.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament - week 3, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt

[R2] Sowjanya Bavisetti (IND,1009) bt (7) Taisiya Zakarlyuk (UKR,812) 62 61
[R2] (4) Kyra Shroff (IND,709) l (Q) Anna Dollar (UKR,UNR) 4-1 Retd.

[QF] Sowjanya Bavisetti (IND,1009) vs Madrie Le Roux (RSA,905)

Sowjanya showing consistency in her results ... Scored another big dominating win over higher ranked Ukrainian ... Next she is facing South African girl ... Kyra retired in the first set when she was break up.

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

Quarter Final
India l Australia 1-5 (1-4)
Goal Scorers - Chinglensana Singh Kangujam (IND) 21' and Glen Simpson (AUS) PC 2', GOHDES Matt Gohdes (AUS) 20', Sandeep Singh (IND) OG 21', Russell Ford (AUS) 22', Matthew Swann (AUS) 39'

As expected this match turned very tough for Indian side ... Australians made their intention clear after converting penalty corner in 2nd minute and dominating initial period ... Indians earned penalty corner but Sandeep Singh hit very weak hit ... From 20 minutes next 3 minutes turned chaotic for Indian team ... Australians scored 3 goals due to poor marking and defending and in that one goal was own goal through Sandeep Singh ... In between Indians also scored through Chinglensana Singh ... First half ended 4-1 in Aussies favor ... In the second half Aussie against scored in first few minutes converting penalty corner ... After that Aussies failed to add few more but Indians also failed to convert their attacks in scoring opportunity ... Overall comfortable win for Aussies as they dominated whole match.

Badminton News
At $200K Singapore Open 2013, (Superseries)

[R1] Anand Pawar (IND,3) l (1) Pengyu Du (CHN,38) 16-21 13-21
[R1] Srikanth K. (IND,44) l (6) Tien Minh Nguyen (VIE,9) 21-19 16-21 12-21
[R1] Ajay Jayaram (IND,25) l (4) Kenichi Tago (JPN,6) 19-21 21-18 17-21
[R1] (7) Kashyap Parupalli (IND,10) l Takuma Ueda (JPN,16) 21-18 20-22 15-21
[R1] Sourabh Varma (IND,42) l Wing Ki Wong (HKG,14) 17-21 17-21
[R1] Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,23) l Wei Feng Chong (MAS,12) 21-15 18-21 9-21
[R1] (Q) Sai Praneeth B. (IND,61) bt (2) Yun Hu (VIE,4) 21-9 21-10
[R1] (Q) Thulasi P. C. (IND,80) l Lindaweni Fanetri (INA,14) 23-21 16-21 16-21
[R1] (Q) Arundhati Pantawane (IND,61) l Petya Nedelcheva (BUL,26) 18-21 18-21
[R1] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,2) bt Juan Gu (SIN,21) 21-14 23-21

[R1] Pranaav Jerry Chopra (IND)/ Akshay Dewalkar (IND) bt Marcus Ellis (ENG)/ Paul Van Rietvelde (SCO) 27-25 21-17
[R1] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Arun Vishnu (IND) l Ji Wook Kang (KOR)/ Sang Joon Lee (KOR) 21-23 18-21
[R1] Aparna Balan (IND)/ Siki Reddy N. (IND) l Meng Yean Lee (MAS)/ Yin Loo Lim (MAS) 21-18 18-21 9-21
[R1] Pradnya Gadre (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) l Nitya Krishinda Maheswari (INA)/ Greysia Polii (INA) 18-21 23-21 16-21
[R1] Arun Vishnu (IND)/ Aparna Balan (IND) bt Songphon Anugritayawon (THA)/ Kunchala Voravichitchaikul (THA) 21-17 19-21 21-12
[R1] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) l (3) Tontowi Ahmad (INA)/ Liliyana Natsir (INA) 6-21 10-21

[R2] (Q) Sai Praneeth B. (IND,61) vs Wei Feng Chong (MAS,12)
[R2] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,2) vs Eriko Hirose (JPN,12)

[R2] Pranaav Jerry Chopra (IND)/ Akshay Dewalkar (IND) vs (6) Baek Choel Shin (KOR)/ Yeon Seong Yoo (KOR)
[R2] Arun Vishnu (IND)/ Aparna Balan (IND) vs Praveen Jordan (INA)/ Vita Marissa (INA)

I m really impressed with young Sai ... As qualifier he scored huge upset win over WR #4 Yun Hu in 30 minutes losing only 19 points ... He demolished his 2nd seed opponent with his quick game ... Saina also overcome challenge of veteran Singaporean Juan Gu in close 2nd game ... Earlier this month Juan Gu defeated Saina in their last meeting at Thailand Gold GP tournament ... So good victory for Saina.

Arun-Aparna scored upset win over higher ranked Thai pair in mixed doubles but Tarun-Ashwini failed to give any fight to 3rd seed Indonesian player ... Ashwini also lost with Pradnya in women's doubles ... Aparna-Siki started positively after winning the first game but after failing to win the close second game ended their challenge ... Pranaav-Akshay scored straight games victory after winning the first game in extra points ... Next they r facing 6th seed Korean.

Ajay, Srikanth and Thulasi stretched their higher ranked opponents to three games but failed to complete the win ... Anand Pawar also gave decent performance against top-seed Du ... Guru started well after winning the first game but after that Wei Feng Chong taking lead and Guru was trying to catch him ... In the second game he came near till 18-19 but after winning this game Wei Feng Chong didn't give any chance in the final game ... Kashyap's poor form continued in this tournament ... After winning the first game he failed to keep pressure on Ueda ... Ueda take lead and then Kashyap did catching game ... Kashyap saved 2 game points from 18-20 but Ueda converted 3rd game point ... In the decider Ueda take early lead and kept for upset win.

Tennis News
At $690K Ageon International, Eastbourne, Great Britain (WTA Premier)

[R1] (2) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Liezel Huber (USA) bt Darija Jurak (CRO)/ Heather Watson (GBR) 76(4) 76(3)

[QF] (2) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Liezel Huber (USA) vs Monica Niculescu (ROM)/ Klara Zakopalova (CZE)

Tight winning start for Sania and Liezel as they won both sets in tie-breaks.
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At $10K Germany F5 Futures, Koeln (clay)

[R1] (5) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,421) bt (Q) Jannis Kahlke (GER,UNR) 62 75
[R1] N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND,520) l (WC) Daniel Masur (GER,UNR) 26 36

[R2] (5) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,421) l Kamil Capkovic (SVK,496) 06 1-2 Retd.

Vishnu started with win but retired from the second match ... Other hand very distrubling loss of Vijay Sundar.
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At $10K Spain F18 Futures, Melilla

[R1] Ashwin Vijayragavan (IND,1012) l Matthieu Roy (FRA,861) 26 67(2)
[R1] (7) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,784) l (Q) Goncalo Oliveira (POR,1923) 64 26 06

Doubles
[R1] (3) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND)/ Ashwin Vijayragavan (IND) l Ricardo OJEDA Lara (ESP)/ Samuel Ribeiro Navarrete (ESP) 57 26

After their excellent run in last week's futures, where they won doubles title and Ramkumar was singles finalist, very disappointing outing for Ramkumar and Ashwin.
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At $10K ITF Women's Tournament - week 3, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt

[R1] Sowjanya Bavisetti (IND,1009) bt Magy Aziz (EGY,935) 64 62
[R1] (4) Kyra Shroff (IND,709) bt (SE) Valeria Prosperi (ITA,1114) 61 64

[R2] Sowjanya Bavisetti (IND,1009) vs (7) Taisiya Zakarlyuk (UKR,812)
[R2] (4) Kyra Shroff (IND,709) vs (Q) Anna Dollar (UKR,UNR)

After losing the first round in second week Kyra and Sowjanya r back in third week ... Winning start for them and Sowjanya showing improvement in her game ... She defeated higher ranked local player in the first round.

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

Round 05 – June 18 2013
Boris Gelfand (ISR,2755) 1-0 Alexander Morozevich (RUS,2760)
Magnus Carlsen (NOR,2864) 1-0 Viswanathan Anand (IND,2786)
Hikaru Nakamura (USA,2784) ½-½ Dmitry Andreikin (RUS,2713)
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE,2753) ½-½ Fabiano Caruana (ITA,2774)
Vladimir Kramnik (RUS,2727) ½-½ Sergey Karjakin (RUS,2782)

In their last game before World championship in November Carlsen scored crushing victory over Anand in 29 moves ... In this match Anand used Nimzo-Indian Rubinstein Variation, which he was using after 13 yrs and lack of practice costed him in this match ... May be Anand was avoiding to show his preparation of Openings which he will be using in their World championship matches so used this unprepared opening ... Still psychological advantage is with Carlsen after this match ... Gelfand won his match and become joined leader with Nakamura.

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

Quarter Final
India l Netherlands 1-8 (0-2)
Goal Scorers - Vandana Katariya (IND) 48' and Kim Lammers (IND) 21', Maartje Paumen (NED) PC 33' and PC 65', Ellen Hoog (NED) 44', Valerie Magis (NED) 49', Eva De Goede (NED) PC 57', Sabine Mol (NED) 63'

Expected loss for Indian girls against WR #1 Netherlands ... In the first half Netherlands managed only 2 goals but they scored more freely in the second ... I was expecting double figure goals from Netherlands and bigger win ... Next we r facing Japan for positioning match.

Badminton News
At $200K Singapore Open 2013, (Superseries)

[Q1] Prannoy H. S. (IND,53) l Yong Zhao Ashton Chen (SIN,68) 21-19 19-21 12-21
[Q1] Sai Praneeth B. (IND,61) bt Muhammad Hafiz Hashim (MAS,132) 21-13 21-15
[Q1] Arvind Bhat (IND,70) l Nan Wei (HKG,93) 21-19 9-21 15-21
[Q1] Thulasi P. C. (IND,80) bt Thi Trang (B) Vu (VIE,203) 21-18 21-17
[Q1] Arundhati Pantawane (IND,61) bt Anna Astrakhantseva (RUS,193) 21-5 21-10

[Q1] Manish Gupta (IND)/ Gaurav Venkat (IND) l Zheng Yi Kok (MAS)/ Keat Zhen Kong (MAS) 13-21 21-17 11-21
[Q1] Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Prajakta Sawant (IND) l Wei Han Tan (SIN)/ Dellis Yuliana (SIN) 20-22 12-21
[Q1] Mohd Razif Abdul Latif (MAS)/ Prajakta Sawant (IND) l (2) Zhao Jiang Terry Yeo (SIN)/ Lei Yao (SIN) 16-21 20-22

[Q2] Sai Praneeth B. (IND,61) bt Richi Takeshita (JPN,66) 21-12 22-20
[Q2] Thulasi P. C. (IND,80) bt Chochuwong Pornpawee (THA,83) 18-21 21-13 21-8
[Q2] Arundhati Pantawane (IND,61) bt Xiaoyu Liang (SIN,88) 21-14 21-16

[R1] Anand Pawar (IND,3) vs (1) Pengyu Du (CHN,38)
[R1] Srikanth K. (IND,44) vs (6) Tien Minh Nguyen (VIE,9)
[R1] Ajay Jayaram (IND,25) vs (4) Kenichi Tago (JPN,6)
[R1] (7) Kashyap Parupalli (IND,10) vs Takuma Ueda (JPN,16)
[R1] Sourabh Varma (IND,42) vs Wing Ki Wong (HKG,14)
[R1] Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,23) vs Wei Feng Chong (MAS,12)
[R1] (Q) Sai Praneeth B. (IND,61) vs (2) Yun Hu (VIE,4)

[R1] (Q) Thulasi P. C. (IND,80) vs Lindaweni Fanetri (INA,14)
[R1] (Q) Arundhati Pantawane (IND,61) vs Petya Nedelcheva (BUL,26)
[R1] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,2) vs Juan Gu (SIN,21)

[R1] Pranaav Jerry Chopra (IND)/ Akshay Dewalkar (IND) vs Marcus Ellis (ENG)/ Paul Van Rietvelde (SCO)
[R1] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Arun Vishnu (IND) vs Ji Wook Kang (KOR)/ Sang Joon Lee (KOR)
[R1] Aparna Balan (IND)/ Siki Reddy N. (IND) vs Meng Yean Lee (MAS)/ Yin Loo Lim (MAS)
[R1] Pradnya Gadre (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs Nitya Krishinda Maheswari (INA)/ Greysia Polii (INA)
[R1] Arun Vishnu (IND)/ Aparna Balan (IND) vs Songphon Anugritayawon (THA)/ Kunchala Voravichitchaikul (THA)
[R1] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs (3) Tontowi Ahmad (INA)/ Liliyana Natsir (INA)

Sai with Arundhati and Thulasi qualify for the main-draw ... But tough matches for almost all players in the first round.

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

Round 04 – June 17 2013
Alexander Morozevich (RUS,2760) ½-½ Vladimir Kramnik (RUS,2803)
Sergey Karjakin (RUS,2782) ½-½ Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE,2753)
Fabiano Caruana (ITA,2774) 0-1 Hikaru Nakamura (USA,2784)
Dmitry Andreikin (RUS,2713) ½-½ Magnus Carlsen (RUS,2864)
Viswanathan Anand (IND,2786) ½-½ Boris Gelfand (ISR,2755)

Hikaru take sole lead after scoring his third win of the tournament against Caruana ... Gelfand gave solid performance to hold Anand ... So Anand remains on 6th position with 2 points.

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

Pool B
India dw New Zealand 3-3 (0-1)
Goal Scorers - Mandeep Singh (IND) 46', VR Raghunath (IND) PC 47', Kothajit Singh (IND) 53' and Marcus Child (NZL) 6', Stephen Jenness (NZL) 51', Blair Hilton (NZL) 66'

Netherlands bt Ireland 5-0

Frankly we messed up big way and missed opportunity of scoring outright win over Kiwis men ... So with this draw we r facing formidable Aussies in the quarters after finishing 3rd in the pool ... In this match both teams started with attacking hockey ... We earned 1st penalty corner in 3rd minute which Raghu missed but Black-sticks opened account through Child in 6th minute ... Despite dominating Kiwis failed to increase lead and first-half ended in their favor, 1-0 ... In the second half we started with attacking hockey and Mandeep equalized within 11 minutes and on next minute we take a lead after converting 2nd penalty corner through Raghu taking excellent in-direct drill where Sandeep Singh acted as dummy ... But after 4 minutes Jenness scored excellent diving deflection for equalizing the score, 2-all ... Again inside 2 minutes Kothajit take advantage in-front of Kiwis goal and again gave lead to India ... After that we missed many chances in-front of goal after failing interception of the crosses ... Then Rupinderpal made stupid mistake inside D and gave penalty stroke but Couzins missed hitting cross-bar ... Here advantage was to Kiwis as they were attacking Indian goal post one after another ... When 4 minutes were remaining then Hilton scored excellent goal from top D with reverse flick to equalized ... After that Kiwis pushed for a win but failed to score.

Tennis News
At Wimbledon 2013, London, Great Britain

[Q1] (22) Somdev Devvarman (IND,135) l Matt Reid (AUS,213) 67(4) 64 16-18

Doubles
[Q1] (4) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Flavio Cipolla (ITA)/ Wayne Odesnik (USA) 62 64

[Q2] (4) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Andreas Haider-Maurer (AUT)/ Jiri Vesely (CZE)

Buji was break up early after breaking Matt in 2nd game ... In 4th game Buji missed couple of break points and Matt broke him in 6th game after converting 2nd break point ... In tie-break Matt take early lead with double mini-break, 4-1 ... Buji take one mini-break on 7th point, 2-5, but Matt hold his single mini-break advantage for winning tie-break ... Missed opportunity of winning the first set.

In the second set Buji take crucial break in 9th game and won the second set

In the final set Buji broke Matt in 2nd game to lead 2-0 ... Both players hold their serves till 8th game without much fuss, 5-3 ... Buji had a match point on Matt's serve in 9th game which Matt saved, 5-4 ... While serving for the match Buji failed to hold his serve and lost his serve after saving 1st break point, 5-all ... In 20th game Buji saved a match point on his serve at 30-40 before holding his serve ... Matt hold his serve after couple of deuce in 21st game ... In 29th game Buji had a break point chance at 30-40 but Matt saved it before holding his serve ... In 30th game Buji was 0-30 on his serve before winning 4 points in a row ... Matt saved another break point at 30-40 before holding in 31st game ... Comfortable hold for Matt in 33rd game as previously he faced a break point in his last two service games ... Matt take 0-40 lead in 34th game before Buji saving 1 match point but failed to save another ... So match ended after more than 3 and half hours.

Disappointed by Buji's loss after his good performance in last two weeks ... Buji had a chance of finishing match in straight sets, which he failed ... Then again he had chance to won this match when he was serving for the match at 5-4 but this time also he failed to hold his serve ... In this match Matt played bigger points better than Buji and that played huge part in final outcome of the match.

Other hand excellent start for Divij-Purav, who scored straight sets victory in the first qualifying ... In the first set our pair broke opponents in 3rd and 5th games to won it comfortably ... In the second set our pair broke Cipolla-Odesnik in 5th game and that break was enough for completing the victory ... In the final qualifying round they r facing unseeded European pair, who upset 6th seeds in the first qualifying.
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At €526K Eastbourne Open, Great Britain

[R1] (3) Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepanek (CZE) bt Ivan Dodig (CRO)/ Marcelo Melo (BRA) 57 76(5) 10-6

After losing the first set Lee and Radek were facing defeat when they lost their serve (like first set) in 11th game of the second set ... But then they produced excellent comeback as they broke Crot-Brazilian pair in 12th game and take the set in tie-break ... And our pair won tie-break and then match tie-break for excellent win against good pair on the grass ... Last year at Wimbledon this same pair defeated Lee-Radek.