Tennis News
At €416,650 Serbia Open 2011, Belgrade

[QF] Somdev Devvarman (IND,71) l (7) Janko Tipsarevic (SRB,36) 36 63 46

Janko started positively and immediately broke Sommy in 2nd game ... This one break was enough to Janko to won first set ... In second set Janko broke Sommy in first game but Sommy immediately broke him in next game to bring set on the serve ... Sommy take crucial break in 8th game breaking Janko's serve after the deuce ... And then Sommy hold comfortably to won second set ... In decider who take early break was going to be in driving seat ... Janko take early break in 4th game to take lead ... After that Sommy had a break point on Janko's serve but he failed to break it ... While serving for the match Janko was down 0-40, he saved 3 break points but Sommy converted fourth to bring the set on serve ... But while serving for the stay in the match Janko broke him to won this match in 2 hrs and 40 mins.

Overall Sommy showing improvement but in this match he failed to take advantage of Janko's second serve, whose first serve percentage was 36% in the first and third set ... Need to work on that.
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At €450K Estoril Open, Portugal

[SF] (1) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) l (3) Eric Butorac (USA)/ Jean-Julien Rojer (AHO) 26 46

Getting walkover in quarters didn't help Rohan and Aisam ... They lost easily against third seeds in semis.
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At €3.5M Madrid Open, Spain

[Q1] (8) Sania Mirza (IND,76) bt Alexandra Panova (RUS,136) 16 62 61

[Q2] (8) Sania Mirza (IND,76) vs Varvara Lepchenko (USA,82)

Sania wasted 3 break points in 3rd game and then lost her twice in 4th and 6th games to lose first set easily in 37 mins ... But from second set Sania started to find her range and she created 7 break point opportunities ... Sania converted 3 break points and lost her serve in 6th game to won this set convincingly ... In decider Sania played near perfect game on the clay ... She didn't face a single break point on her serve and broke Panova in 4th and 6th game to complete easy victory after losing first set.
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At $10K India F5, Chennai

Singles Semi Finals
(Q) Patrik ROSENHOLM (SWE,1768) bt N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND,611) 36 64 62
(2) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND,340) bt (4) Julien DUBAIL (BEL,451) 46 62 61

Doubles Final
PRASHANTH (IND)/ RAJAGOPALAN (IND) bt SIE (INA)/ SIRILUETHAIWATTANA (THA) 75 64

Damn, disappointing loss of Vijay Sundar against 1750 plus ranked Swedish qualifier ... He lost after winning first set ... Other hand Vishnu continued with his dream form to reach third final in three weeks and aiming for third Indian futures title in a row ... After losing first set he won next two sets comfortably against Dubail.

Vijay Sundar lifted doubles title with Arun-Prakash beating Thai-Indonesian pair.

Badminton News
At $200K Yonex – Sunrise India Open Superseries, New Delhi

[QF] (Q) Sourabh Verma (IND,230) l (1) Chong Wei Lee (MAS,1) 7-21 8-21
[QF] R.M.V Gurusai Datt (IND,52) l (8) Yun Hu (HKG,20) 10-21 16-21

Chong Wei Lee proved too strong for qualifier Sourabh Verma ... Gurusai also lost in straight games against Yun Hu, I was expecting more fighting performance from Guru. But still overall satisfying performance by these 2 young players in this first Indian superseries.

Tennis News
At €416,650 Serbia Open 2011, Belgrade

[R2] Somdev Devvarman (IND,71) bt (3) Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP,26) 76(6) 26 76(8)

[QF] Somdev Devvarman (IND,71) vs (7) Janko Tipsarevic (SRB,36)

In first set Sommy faced 9 break points and saved 8 ... In 5th game Sommy saved 4 break points ... In 11th game Sommy saved 2 break points but Garcia-Lopez converted 3rd ... But while serving for the set Garcia-Lopez failed to hold his serve, Sommy converted 2nd break point ... In tie-break Sommy take early mini-break on 6th point but Garcia-Lopez take mini-break back in 12th point ... In end Sommy take crucial mini-break on 14th point to won first set after 1 hour 22 mins ... After losing first set Garcia-Lopez broke Sommy in 2nd and 4th games to lead 0-5 ... Sommy broke him in 7th game but again lost his serve in 8th game to lose second set ... In decider Sommy take early break in 3rd game but Garcia-Lopez immediately broke back in next game to make it 2-all ... After that they again exchanged a break before taking set into tie-break ... In tie-break Sommy was down with mini-break at 1-4 but after that he made strong comeback in tie-break ... He was leading till the end ... Wasted 3 match points before converting 4th to won match in 3 hours and 14 mins ... Very long match and this is the best win by Sommy on the clay ... Beating #26 ranked Spanish player against whom he lost 3 weeks back ... Next Sommy is facing local player Janko Tipsarevic, with whom Sommy having 1-1 record.
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At $10K India F5, Chennai

Singles Quarter Finals
N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND,611) bt (1) Karan RASTOGI (IND,318) 64 63
(Q) Patrik ROSENHOLM (SWE,1768) bt (5) Marc FORNELL-MESTRES (ESP,452) W/O
(4) Julien DUBAIL (BEL,451) bt Vivek SHOKEEN (IND,1168) 61 61
(2) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND,340) bt (7) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,554) 75 62

Doubles Semi Finals
SIE (INA)/ SIRILUETHAIWATTANA (THA) bt KEPLER (GER)/ NARASIMHAN (USA) 64 61
PRASHANTH (IND)/ RAJAGOPALAN (IND) bt (2) MITSUHASHI (JPN)/ RUNGKAT (INA) 75 64

Excellent win by Vijay Sundar over Karan, though disappointed for Karan but happy for Vijay Sundar ... Now he has good chance to move into the final ... Vishnu continued with his excellent form to moved into another semi-final.

Badminton News
At $200K Yonex – Sunrise India Open Superseries, New Delhi

[R2] (Q) Sourabh Verma (IND,230) bt (7) Kenichi Tago (JPN,24) 21-19 18-21 21-11
[R2] R.M.V Gurusai Datt (IND,52) bt Yuhan Tan (GER,76) 21-13 14-21 21-13
[R2] P Kashyap (IND,23) l (2) Taufik Hidayat (INA,2) 17-21 19-21

[R2] Attri Manu (IND)/ Jishnu Sanyal (IND) l (1) Kien Keat Koo (MAS)/ Boon Heong Tan (MAS) 9-21 14-21
[R2] (8) Rupesh Kumar (IND)/ Sanave Thomas (IND) l Yohanes Rendy Sugiarto (INA)/ Afiat Yuris Wirawan (INA) 19-21 12-21
[R2] Pradnya Gadre (IND)/ Jyotshna Polavarapu (IND) l (1) Miyuki Maeda (JPN)/ Satoko Suetsuna (JPN) 8-21 16-21
[R2] (8) Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) l Eei Hui Chin (MAS)/ Pei Tty Wong (MAS) 20-22 18-21
[R2] Pranav Chopra (IND)/ Prajakta Sawant (IND) l (7) Muhammad Rijal (INA)/ Debby Susanto (INA) 11-21 21-19 13-21
[R2] Akshay Dewalkar (IND)/ Pradnya Gadre (IND) l (5) Peng Soon Chan (MAS)/ Liu Ying Goh (MAS) 18-21 24-22 12-21

[QF] (Q) Sourabh Verma (IND,230) vs (1) Chong Wei Lee (MAS,1)
[QF] R.M.V Gurusai Datt (IND,52) vs (8) Yun Hu (HKG,20)

Sourabh Verma scored another upset win showing his first round win wasn't fluke, this time he defeated top-25 Japanese shuttler Kenichi Tago in 60 mins ... In the first game he was falling behind on points until he caught with Tago at 15-all ... He take 3 points lead at 19-16 to won the first game ... In the second game both were going neck to neck, Sourabh take 16-13 lead but Tago won next 7 points to won the second game ... In decider Sourabh take 6-0 early lead and kept pressure to won it easily ... In quarters he is having toughest challenge of WR #1 Malaysian Chong Wei Lee.

Surprisingly tough match for Gurusai against German player ... After winning first game he lost second before winning decider comfortably ... In quarters he is facing WR #20 Hong Kong player Yun Hu.

Our new mixed doubles pair gave tough fight to seeded pairs ... Kashyap also played respectable match against Hidayat.

But our seeded doubles pair lost in their first match after receiving bye in the first round.

Badminton News
At $200K Yonex – Sunrise India Open Superseries, New Delhi

[R1] Ajay Jayaram (IND,29) l (1) Chong Wei Lee (MAS,1) 19-21 18-21
[R1] (Q) Sourabh Verma (IND,230) bt Sony Dwi Kuncoro (INA,37) 21-18 21-19
[R1] R.M.V Gurusai Datt (IND,52) bt (4) Boonsak Ponsana (THA,5) 22-20 18-21 21-19
[R1] (Q) Sai Praneeth B. (IND,389) l Wing Ki Wong (HKG,28) 19-21 12-21
[R1] Anand Pawar (IND,40) l Sho Sasaki (JPN,19) 21-19 17-21 12-21
[R1] (Q) Prannoy H.S. (IND,352) l Wan Ho Shon (KOR,22) 14-21 12-21
[R1] Arvind Bhat (IND,43) l (6) Sung Hwan Park (KOR,10) 14-21 16-21
[R1] P Kashyap (IND,23) bt Michal Matejka (SVK,85) 21-7 21-15
[R1] (Q) Anup Sridhar (IND,119) l (2) Taufik Hidayat (INA,2) 13-21 5-21

[R1] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,4) l Ai Goto (JPN,24) 17-21 19-21
[R1] Aditi Mutatkar (IND,85) l (4) Pui Yin Yip (HKG,11) 14-21 8-21
[R1] (Q) Trupti Murgunde (IND,118) l Aprilla Yuswandari (INA,38) 12-21 5-21
[R1] (Q) Sindhu Pusarla Venkata (IND,193) l (8) Salakjit Ponsana (THA,20) 19-21 20-22
[R1] (Q) Sayali Gokhale (IND,100) l Jiayuan Chen (SIN,53) 21-23 21-15 19-21

[R1] Gupta Manish (IND)/ Gaurav Venkat (IND) l Yoshiteru Hirobe (JPN)/ Kenta Kazuno (JPN) 6-21 9-21
[R1] Akshay Dewalkar (IND)/ Arun Vishnu (IND) l Patipat Chalardchaleam (THA)/ Nipitphon Puangpuapech (THA) 18-21 17-21
[R1] Pranav Chopra (IND)/ Tarun Kona (IND) l Yohanes Rendy Sugiarto (INA)/ Afiat Yuris Wirawan (INA) 17-21 16-21
[R1] S D S Krishna (IND)/ Vineeth Manuel (IND) l Ki Jung Kim (KOR)/ Sa Rang Kim (KOR) 10-21 7-21
[R1] Utsav Mishra (IND)/ Ravinder Singh (IND) l Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif (MAS)/ Thien How Hoon (MAS) 9-21 17-21
[R1] Sanjeeth S. (IND)/ Jagadish Yadav (IND) l Peng Soon Chan (MAS)/ Wee Kiong Tan (THA) 7-21 17-21

[R1] Meenakshi Nair (IND)/ Mohita Sahdev (IND) l Ye Na Jang (KOR)/ Min Seo Kim (KOR) 10-21 13-21
[R1] Thulasi P.C (IND)/ Siki Reddy (IND) l Eei Hui Chin (MAS)/ Pei Tty Wong (MAS) 7-21 11-21
[R1] Sanyogita Ghorpade (IND)/ Saili Rane (IND) l Sook Chin Chong (MAS)/ Liu Ying Goh (MAS) 21-19 13-21 12-21
[R1] Aparna Balan (IND)/ Prajakta Sawant (IND) l Kyung Eun Jung (KOR)/ Ha Na Kim (KOR) 13-21 9-21

[R1] Gaurav Venkat (IND)/ Juhi Dewangan (IND) l (7) Muhammad Rijal (INA)/ Debby Susanto (INA) 6-21 11-21
[R1] Pranav Chopra (IND)/ Prajakta Sawant (IND) bt Kenta Kazuno (JPN)/ Ayaka Takahashi (JPN) 21-14 21-18
[R1] Jishnu Sanyal (IND)/ Jyotshna Polavarapu (IND) l Gun Woo Cho (KOR)/ Min Seo Kim (KOR) 12-21 14-21
[R1] Arun Vishnu (IND)/ Aparna Balan (IND) l (8) Shintaro Ikeda (JPN)/ Reiko Shiota (JPN) 18-21 21-17 14-21
[R1] Prem Singh (IND)/ Niharika Saini (IND) l Wai Hong Wong (HKG)/ Hoi Wah Chau (HKG) 7-21 9-21
[R1] Akshay Dewalkar (IND)/ Pradnya Gadre (IND) bt Noriyasu Hirata (JPN)/ Miyuki Maeda (JPN) 21-17 21-17
[R1] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) l (5) Peng Soon Chan (MAS)/ Liu Ying Goh (MAS) 21-23 10-21

[R2] (Q) Sourabh Verma (IND,230) vs (7) Kenichi Tago (JPN,24)
[R2] R.M.V Gurusai Datt (IND,52) vs Yuhan Tan (GER,76)
[R2] P Kashyap (IND,23) vs (2) Taufik Hidayat (INA,2)

[R2] Attri Manu (IND)/ Jishnu Sanyal (IND) vs (1) Kien Keat Koo (MAS)/ Boon Heong Tan (MAS)
[R2] (8) Rupesh Kumar (IND)/ Sanave Thomas (IND) vs Yohanes Rendy Sugiarto (INA)/ Afiat Yuris Wirawan (INA)
[R2] Pradnya Gadre (IND)/ Jyotshna Polavarapu (IND) vs (1) Miyuki Maeda (JPN)/ Satoko Suetsuna (JPN)
[R2] (8) Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs Eei Hui Chin (MAS)/ Pei Tty Wong (MAS)
[R2] Pranav Chopra (IND)/ Prajakta Sawant (IND) vs (7) Muhammad Rijal (INA)/ Debby Susanto (INA)
[R2] Akshay Dewalkar (IND)/ Pradnya Gadre (IND) vs (5) Peng Soon Chan (MAS)/ Liu Ying Goh (MAS)

Young Gurusai scored his first win over top 5 player ... He scored well fought win over WR #5 Thai Boonsak Ponsana in 63 mins ... After winning first game in extra points he lost second game when he lost 10 pts in a row when he was leading 12-7 ... But in decider he take control of the game from 5-all and was leading 20-14 ... Boonsak saved 5 match points but Guru converted 6th match point to score memorable victory.

Sourabh Verma scored biggest victory of his small career ... He defeated top-40 experienced Indonasian player, who was almost 200 places above him in straight games ... Kashyap scored expected victory over Matejka.

Ajay Jayaram played respectable match against WR #1 Chong Wei Lee ... Other hand WR #2 Taufik Hidayat toyed with Anup Sridhar ... Sayali Gokhale had opportunity to beat Jiayuan Chen ... She was leading 18-12 and had 2 game points in the first game before losing it ... Sayali won second game easily but lost close decider to lose this match ... P.V. Sindhu also played close match against top-20 Thai player.

In mixed doubles our 2 new pairs scored upset win over Japanese pairs.

But in the last match of the day big disappointed was waiting ... Top-seed and WR #4 Saina lost against Ai Goto in straight games ... In the first game Saina was leading early but Ai take control from 10-all and won this game ... In the second game again Saina was in control and was leading 19-16 but lost next 5 points to lose this match ... I m very disappointing by Saina though she was coming from knee injury ... This was winnable match but in end she messed up.

Tennis News
At €416,650 Serbia Open 2011, Belgrade

[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Treat Conrad Huey (PHI) l (2) Jonathan Erlich (ISR)/ Andy Ram (ISR) 36 62 1-10

In first set Sommy failed to hold his serve in 8th game and with that single break they lost the set ... In second set they had couple of breaks to won it comfortably but in super tie-break they out performed by Israeli pair.
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At $50K Ostrava Challenger, Czech Republic

[R1] (4) Purav Raja (IND)/ Sadik Kadir (AUS) l Andis Juska (LAT)/ Alexander Kudryavtsev (RUS) 46 16

Purav and Sadik's first partnership of the year ended on losing note.
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At $10K India F5, Chennai

Singles Second Round
(1) Karan RASTOGI (IND,318) bt (WC) Vijay KANNAN (IND,UNR) 60 61
N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND,611) bt (8) Christopher RUNGKAT (INA,601) 64 62
(Q) Patrik ROSENHOLM (SWE,1768) bt (Q) Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND,1275) 62 62
(5) Marc FORNELL-MESTRES (ESP,452) bt (WC) Srirambalaji NARAYANASWAMY (IND,1427) 36 76(3) 60
Vivek SHOKEEN (IND,1168) bt (WC) Neeraj ELANGOVAN (IND,UNR) 60 62
(4) Julien DUBAIL (BEL,451) bt (Q) Suresh KRISHNA (IND,UNR) 63 64
(7) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,554) bt Junn MITSUHASHI (JPN,726) 63 3-0 Retd.
(2) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND,340) bt (Q) Jeson PATROMBON (PHI,UNR) 64 63

Doubles Quarter Finals
SIE (INA)/ SIRILUETHAIWATTANA (THA) bt (1) FORNELL-MESTRES (ESP)/ VERMEER (LUX) 26 75 10-6
KEPLER (GER)/ NARASIMHAN (USA) bt (4) AN (KOR)/ KIM (KOR) W/O
PRASHANTH (IND)/ RAJAGOPALAN (IND) bt MALIK (IND)/ SHARMA (IND) 62 26 10-8
(2) MITSUHASHI (JPN)/ RUNGKAT (INA) bt KADHE (IND)/ PATROMBON (PHI) 64 36 10-8

Our 5 players r in quarters ... Vijay Sundar scored upset win over similar ranked Rungkat ... Vivek handled Neeraj easily ... Vishnu continued with good form but Karan looks in good form as he lost only 2 games in 2 matches, his real test will start from quarters ... Srirambalaji again failed to take advantage of good start.

Tennis News
At €416,650 Serbia Open 2011, Belgrade

[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,71) bt Mikhail Kukushkin (KAZ,65) 16 64 62

[R2] Somdev Devvarman (IND,71) vs (3) Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP,26)

In the first set Sommy missed break point chances in third game and then lost his serve in 4th and 6th games to lose this set ... In the second set they traded breaks regularly from 2nd game ... Sommy break him in 2nd and 4th game, other hand Kukushkin broke Sommy in 3rd and 5th games ... Sommy again broke him 8th game but lost his serve while serving for the set ... In 10th game Sommy take crucial break to won second set ... In decider suddenly both players started to hold serve ... Sommy take break converting 2nd break point in 6th game to lead 4-2 ... After this break Sommy was controlling the points and take another break in 8th game to complete the victory.

Superb turnaround by Sommy after losing first set ... He struggled in the second but managed to take crucial break in 10th and in decider he take control after 2-all to gave winning start to his European clay court season ... Tough second round match as he already lost him at Houston but lets hope for the best.
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At €450K Estoril Open, Portugal

[R1] (1) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) bt Scott Lipsky (USA)/ Travis Rettenmaier (USA) 76(1) 64

[QF] (1) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) bt Pablo Andujar (ESP)/ Daniel Gimeno-Traver (ESP) W/O

Good start with tight sets victory over American pair ... In the quarters they received walkover from Spanish pair and now they r in the semis.
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At $50K Ostrava Challenger, Czech Republic

[R1] (4) Purav Raja (IND)/ Sadik Kadir (AUS) vs Andis Juska (LAT)/ Alexander Kudryavtsev (RUS)

First time in 2011 season Purav is partnering his old partner Sadik, with whom he had lot of success last year, in Ostrava Challenger ... They r 4th seeds.

Badminton News
At $200K Yonex – Sunrise India Open Superseries, New Delhi

[R1] Ajay Jayaram (IND,29) vs (1) Chong Wei Lee (MAS,1)
[R1] (Q) Sourabh Verma (IND,230) vs Sony Dwi Kuncoro (INA,37)
[R1] R.M.V Gurusai Datt (IND,52) vs (4) Boonsak Ponsana (THA,5)
[R1] (Q) Sai Praneeth B. (IND,389) vs Wing Ki Wong (HKG,28)
[R1] Anand Pawar (IND,40) vs Sho Sasaki (JPN,19)
[R1] (Q) Prannoy H.S. (IND,352) vs Wan Ho Shon (KOR,22)
[R1] Arvind Bhat (IND,43) vs (6) Sung Hwan Park (KOR,10)
[R1] P Kashyap (IND,23) vs Michal Matejka (SVK,85)
[R1] (Q) Anup Sridhar (IND,119) vs (2) Taufik Hidayat (INA,2)
[R1] (1) Saina Nehwal (IND,) vs Ai Goto (JPN,24)
[R1] Aditi Mutatkar (IND,85) vs (4) Pui Yin Yip (HKG,11)
[R1] (Q) Trupti Murgunde (IND,118) vs Aprilla Yuswandari (INA,38)
[R1] (Q) Sindhu Pusarla Venkata (IND,193) vs (8) Salakjit Ponsana (THA,20)
[R1] (Q) Sayali Gokhale (IND,100) vs Jiayuan Chen (SIN,53)

[R1] Attri Manu (IND)/ Jishnu Sanyal (IND) bye
[R1] Gupta Manish (IND)/ Gaurav Venkat (IND) vs Yoshiteru Hirobe (JPN)/ Kenta Kazuno (JPN)
[R1] Akshay Dewalkar (IND)/ Arun Vishnu (IND) vs Patipat Chalardchaleam (THA)/ Nipitphon Puangpuapech (THA)
[R1] (8) Rupesh Kumar (IND)/ Sanave Thomas (IND) bye
[R1] Pranav Chopra (IND)/ Tarun Kona (IND) vs Yohanes Rendy Sugiarto (INA)/ Afiat Yuris Wirawan (INA)
[R1] S D S Krishna (IND)/ Vineeth Manuel (IND) vs Ki Jung Kim (KOR)/ Sa Rang Kim (KOR)
[R1] Utsav Mishra (IND)/ Ravinder Singh (IND) vs Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif (MAS)/ Thien How Hoon (MAS)
[R1] Sanjeeth S. (IND)/ Jagadish Yadav (IND) vs Peng Soon Chan (MAS)/ Wee Kiong Tan (THA)

[R1] Pradnya Gadre (IND)/ Jyotshna Polavarapu (IND) bye
[R1] Meenakshi Nair (IND)/ Mohita Sahdev (IND) vs Ye Na Jang (KOR)/ Min Seo Kim (KOR)
[R1] (8) Jwala Gutta (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) bye
[R1] Thulasi P.C (IND)/ Siki Reddy (IND) vs Eei Hui Chin (MAS)/ Pei Tty Wong (MAS)
[R1] Sanyogita Ghorpade (IND)/ Saili Rane (IND) vs Sook Chin Chong (MAS)/ Liu Ying Goh (MAS)
[R1] Aparna Balan (IND)/ Prajakta Sawant (IND) vs Kyung Eun Jung (KOR)/ Ha Na Kim (KOR)

[R1] Gaurav Venkat (IND)/ Juhi Dewangan (IND) vs (7) Muhammad Rijal (INA)/ Debby Susanto (INA)
[R1] Pranav Chopra (IND)/ Prajakta Sawant (IND) vs Kenta Kazuno (JPN)/ Ayaka Takahashi (JPN)
[R1] Jishnu Sanyal (IND)/ Jyotshna Polavarapu (IND) vs Gun Woo Cho (KOR)/ Min Seo Kim (KOR)
[R1] Arun Vishnu (IND)/ Aparna Balan (IND) vs (8) Shintaro Ikeda (JPN)/ Reiko Shiota (JPN)
[R1] Prem Singh (IND)/ Niharika Saini (IND) vs Wai Hong Wong (HKG)/ Hoi Wah Chau (HKG)
[R1] Akshay Dewalkar (IND)/ Pradnya Gadre (IND) vs Noriyasu Hirata (JPN)/ Miyuki Maeda (JPN)
[R1] Tarun Kona (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) vs (5) Peng Soon Chan (MAS)/ Liu Ying Goh (MAS)

[R2] Attri Manu (IND)/ Jishnu Sanyal (IND) vs (1) Kien Keat Koo (MAS)/ Boon Heong Tan (MAS)
[R2] Pradnya Gadre (IND)/ Jyotshna Polavarapu (IND) vs (1) Miyuki Maeda (JPN)/ Satoko Suetsuna (JPN)

First Indian open Superseries started from today ... Our men take all 4 qualifier places in main-draw ... In women side we take 3 out of 4 qualifier places.

But in singles our all players having cruel draw ... Only Saina and Kashyap having realistic chance to moved into second round.

Poor entries in doubles and MXD ... Jwala and Diju were 6th seed in MXD but they withdrew due to Diju's back injury.

Tennis News
At $10K India F5, Chennai

Singles First Round
(1) Karan RASTOGI (IND,318) bt (Q) Shantanu RAJPUT (IND,UNR) 60 61
(WC) Vijay KANNAN (IND,UNR) bt Perakiat SIRILUETHAIWATTANA (THA,1002) 64 61
N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND,611) bt Mark-Alexander KEPLER (GER,874) 67(3) 62 60
(8) Christopher RUNGKAT (INA,601) bt Vijayant MALIK (IND,756) 76(4) 64
(Q) Patrik ROSENHOLM (SWE,1768) bt (3) Young-Jun KIM (KOR,356) 64 61
(Q) Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND,1275) bt Rupesh ROY (IND,731) 63 61
(WC) Srirambalaji NARAYANASWAMY (IND,1427) bt (Q) Arjun KADHE (IND,UNR) 62 62
(5) Marc FORNELL-MESTRES (ESP,452) bt Kaza Vinayak SHARMA (IND,881) 60 46 63
Vivek SHOKEEN (IND,1168) bt (6) Kittiphong WACHIRAMANOWONG (THA,512) 64 64
(WC) Neeraj ELANGOVAN (IND,UNR) bt (Q) Francois CHATELLE (BEL,UNR) 76(2) 63
(Q) Suresh KRISHNA (IND,UNR) bt (WC) Akash WAGH (IND,1404) 62 16 76(12)
(4) Julien DUBAIL (BEL,451) bt Jae-Sung AN (KOR,652) 61 62
(7) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND,554) bt Suk-Young JEONG (KOR,632) 63 61
Junn MITSUHASHI (JPN,726) bt Elbert SIE (INA,1046) 67(1) 76(3) 63
(Q) Jeson PATROMBON (PHI,UNR) bt (Q) Ajai SELVARAJ (IND,UNR) 57 76(2) 60
(2) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND,340) bt Mike VERMEER (LUX,987) 62 63

Doubles First Round
(1) FORNELL-MESTRES (ESP)/ VERMEER (LUX) bt CHATELLE (BEL)/ DUBAIL (BEL) 62 64
SIE (INA)/ SIRILUETHAIWATTANA (THA) bt KANNAN (IND)/ SELVARAJ (IND) 76(8) 60
(4) AN (KOR)/ KIM (KOR) bt NARAYANASWAMY (IND)/ PERANAMALLUR (IND) 62 63
KEPLER (GER)/ NARASIMHAN (USA) bt BALAJEE (IND)/ PARTHASARATHY (IND) 46 63 10-6
MALIK (IND)/ SHARMA (IND) bt KRISHNA (IND)/ MANUJA (IND) 64 62
PRASHANTH (IND)/ RAJAGOPALAN (IND) bt (3) ROY (IND)/ SHOKEEN (IND) 26 63 10-6
KADHE (IND)/ PATROMBON (PHI) bt DAXHELET (BEL)/ WAGH (IND) 64 36 10-7
(2) MITSUHASHI (JPN)/ RUNGKAT (INA) bt ANTONY (IND)/ ELANGOVAN (IND) 62 61

Good dominating win by Ranjeet against Korean ... Both Vijay had winning start in contrasting style, veteran Kannan had comfortable outing ... Kaza Vinayak managed to win a set against seeded German after losing first set 0-6.

Superb straight sets upset win by Vivek over top 500 type Thai player ... Also good fighting win by Suresh Krishna and Neeraj to earned their first ranking point ... Vignesh also scored upset win over Rupesh.

Shooting News
At ISSF Shotgun World Cup Beijing 2011, China

Doubles Trap Men - Final Result
Gold - William Chetcuti (MLT) (141+44 ) 185 pts.
Silver - Ronjan Sodhi (IND) (142 + 41) 183 pts
Bronze - Jun Li (CHN) (140 + 42) 182 pts

Ronjan Sodhi won silver medal in ongoing ISSF Shotgun World Cup at Beijing to secure the quota for 2012 London Olympics in double trap ... Ronjan became fourth Indian shooter to get the quota for olympics after Gagan Narang, Hariom Singh and Shantany Rajput.

Rojan had opportunity to won gold medal as he qualified for the final on the second placewas in second place going into the final ... He was leading by 4 points till tmidway of the final but after that he started to miss too many shots ... However he recovered in the final stage to grab second place as quota was available only for top 2.

Tennis News
At €416,650 Serbia Open 2011, Belgrade

[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,71) vs Mikhail Kukushkin (KAZ,65)

Doubles
[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Treat Conrad Huey (PHI) vs (2) Jonathan Erlich (ISR)/ Andy Ram (ISR)

Somdev is starting his European clay season with Serbia Open ... In first round he is facing Kazak player and if wins then he will face Spanish 3rd seed Garcia-Lopez.

In doubles Sommy and Treat r facing 2nd seed tough Israeli pair.
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At €450K Estoril Open, Portugal

[R1] (1) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) vs Scott Lipsky (USA)/ Travis Rettenmaier (USA)

In first round top-seed Rohan and Aisam r facing American challenge.
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At $10K India F5, Chennai

Singles First Round
(1) Karan RASTOGI (IND) vs (Q) Shantanu RAJPUT (IND)
(WC) Vijay KANNAN (IND) vs Perakiat SIRILUETHAIWATTANA (THA)
N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND) vs Mark-Alexander KEPLER (GER)
(8) Christopher RUNGKAT (INA) vs Vijayant MALIK (IND)
(3) Young-Jun KIM (KOR) vs (Q) Patrik ROSENHOLM (SWE)
Rupesh ROY (IND) vs (Q) Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND)
(WC) Srirambalaji NARAYANASWAMY (IND) vs (Q) Arjun KADHE (IND)
(5) Marc FORNELL-MESTRES (ESP) vs Kaza Vinayak SHARMA (IND)
(6) Kittiphong WACHIRAMANOWONG (THA) vs Vivek SHOKEEN (IND)
(Q) Francois CHATELLE (BEL) vs (WC) Neeraj ELANGOVAN (IND)
(Q) Suresh KRISHNA (IND) vs (WC) Akash WAGH (IND)
(4) Julien DUBAIL (BEL) vs Jae-Sung AN (KOR)
(7) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) vs Suk-Young JEONG (KOR)
Junn MITSUHASHI (JPN) vs Elbert SIE (INA)
(Q) Ajai SELVARAJ (IND) vs (Q) Jeson PATROMBON (PHI)
(2) Vishnu VARDHAN (IND) vs Mike VERMEER (LUX)

Terrific win by young Arjun over top-seed Belgian Laurent-Olivier Daxhelet to qualify for main-draw, 76(8) 64 ... He need to play his best tennis to beat Srirambalaji in the first round ... Also interesting match is between Akash and current grass court national champion Suresh Krishna.

Tough draw for Vjayant Malik, Kaza Vinayak Sharma and Vivek Shokeen.

Football News

As expected Bob Houghton resigned from his post as the Head Coach of the Indian Football Team and AIFF agrees ... Bob Houghton coached Indian side for 5 yrs and we definitely make progress under him though it is not visible in FIFA ranking ... Thanks you Mr. Houghton for ur help to Indian football.
----------------------------------------------------
At I-League 2010-11, India - Round XXIII

Mumbai FC dw Chirag United SC 0-0
-----------------------------------------

Mohun Bagan l ONGC, Mumbai 1-2

Goal Scored - Surkumar Singh (MB) 3' and Kailash Patil (ONGC) 78' and 84'
-----------------------------------------

JCT Mills FC bt Indian Arrows 2-0

Goal Scored - Keke Keke (JCT) 70', Sakatar Singh (JCT) 90'
-----------------------------------------

HAL, Bangalore l Pune FC 1-2

Goal Scored - R.C. Prakash (HAL) 62' and Lester Fernandes (PFC) 44', Mandjou Keita (PFC) 52'
------------------------------------------

Salgaocar SC l Dempo SC 1-3

Goal Scored - Yusif Yakubu (SSC) 31' and Climax Lawrence (DSC) 4', Ranty Martins (DSC) 43', Roberto Silva (DSC) 85'
-----------------------------------------

Air India FC dw Churchill Brothers SC 2-2

Goal Scored - Okorogor Praise (AI) 15' and 90+' and Odafe Onyeka Okolie (CB) 17', Jeevan Balan (CB) 48'
-----------------------------------------

East Bengal bt Viva Kerala 3-0

Goal Scored - Syed Rahim Nabi (EB) 18', Penn Orji (EB) 20', Sushil Kumar Singh (EB) 41'

East Bengal came back to winning ways against Viva scoring comfortable win.

Dempo defeated leader Salgaocar and now this is a three-way race for the title as top 3 teams r in 2 pts difference ... Airmen hold Churchill as Praise scored equalizer in injury time.

Oilmen scored big upset win over Bagan with late brace from Kailash Patil ... JCT scored a win over young Indian Arrows ... Pune FC scored their first victory over HAL.

Tennis News
At $10K India F4, Noida

Singles Final
(3) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,369) bt (4) Young-Jun Kim (KOR,407) 75 36 76(13)

Awesome hard fought victory ... Vishnu won first set in 12th game but lost second set to Kim ... Superb fightback after losing second set ... In decider Vishnu must saved few match points before winning loooong tie-break ... Congrats Vishnu for his back to back futures titles ... Vishnu lost against Kim in a futures final in Delhi in 2009 so excellent revenge for him.

Tennis News
At $10K India F4, Noida

Singles Semi Finals
(4) Young-Jun Kim (KOR,407) bt (1) Danai Udomchoke (THA,277) 61 62
(3) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,369) bt (2) Karan Rastogi (IND,322) 67(5) 61 76(4)

Doubles Final
(3) Christopher Rungkat (INA)/ Kittiphong Wachiramanowong (THA) bt (4) Danai Udomchoke (THA)/ Junn Mitsuhashi (JPN) 67(1) 63 10-6

Vishnu scored superb hard fought win over Karan in entertaining match ... After losing first set in tie-break Vishnu fight back winning second easily and won third set despite Karan's valiant efforts ... Though Karan lost in this match still he will be happy with his efforts against in-form player.

Tennis News
At €2 Barcelona Open, Spain

[R2] (6) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) l (WC) Pablo Andujar (ESP)/ Daniel Gimeno-Traver (ESP) 26 67(3)

This week Rohan and Aisam lost in second round of Barcelona open against local wildcard pair.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
At $10K India F4, Noida

Singles Quarter Finals
(1) Danai Udomchoke (THA,277) bt Vijayant Malik (IND,777) 62 61
(4) Young-Jun Kim (KOR,407) bt Ranjeet Virali Murugesan (IND,556) 76(6) 60
(3) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,369) bt Hsin-Han Lee (TPE,708) 46 61 62
(2) Karan Rastogi (IND,322) bt (6) Julien Dubail (BEL,464) 46 64 76(2)

Doubles Semi Finals
(3) Christopher Rungkat (INA)/ Kittiphong Wachiramanowong (THA) Srirambalaji Narayanaswami (IND)/ Ashutosh Singh (IND) 36 63 10-6
(4) Danai Udomchoke (THA)/ Junn Mitsuhashi (JPN) Marc Fornell-Mestres (ESP)/ Mike Vermeer (LUX) 76(4) 46 10-8

Good win by Vishnu and Karan ... Importantly Karan needed such fighting win for his confidence ... Though Vishnu is in good form still I m backing Karan for the win in the semi.

Tennis News
At $10K India F4, Noida

Singles Second Round
(1) Danai Udomchoke (THA,277) bt Jae-Sung An (KOR,659) 60 26 64
Vijayant Malik (IND,777) bt (7) Marc Fornell-Mestres (ESP,471) 61 1-0 Retd
(4) Young-Jun Kim (KOR,407) bt Junn Mitsuhashi (JPN,645) 64 60
Ranjeet Virali Murugesan (IND,556) bt (LL) Mark-Alexander Kepler (GER,895) 62 46 63

Hsin-Han Lee (TPE,708) bt (Q) Kaza Vinayak Sharma (IND,907) 64 76(6)
(3) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,369) bt Kittiphong Wachiramanowong (THA,523) 61 63
(6) Julien Dubail (BEL,464) bt (LL) Laurent-Olivier Daxhelet (BEL,1314) 57 63 75
(2) Karan Rastogi (IND,322) bt Rupesh Roy (IND,753) 76(3) 64

Doubles Qurter Finals
Srirambalaji Narayanaswami (IND)/ Ashutosh Singh (IND) bt Vijayant Malik (IND)/ Sunil-Kumar Sipaeya (IND) 63 36 10-8
(3) Christopher Rungkat (INA)/ Kittiphong Wachiramanowong (THA) bt Rupesh Roy (IND)/ Vivek Shokeen (IND) 36 63 10-4

(4) Danai Udomchoke (THA)/ Junn Mitsuhashi (JPN) bt Vignesh Peranamallur (IND)/ N Vijay Sundar Prasanth (IND) 76(4) 62
Marc Fornell-Mestres (ESP)/ Mike Vermeer (LUX) bt (2) Hsin-Han Lee (TPE)/ Bumpei Sato (JPN) 63 76(5)

Though Vijayant Malik got walkover in second set still he won first set against top-475 Spanish player very comfortably ... Ranjeet also moved to quarters in 3 sets with seeded players Vishnu and Karan.

In doubles our only one pair managed to reach in the semis.

Tennis News
At €2 Barcelona Open, Spain

[R1] (6) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) bye

After receiving bye in the first round ... Rohan and Aisam will face Spanish pair in second round, winner between Guillermo Garcia-Lopez/ Albert Montanes and Pablo Andujar/ Daniel Gimeno-Traver ... Our pair is in same draw of Bryans.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $10K India F4, Noida

Singles First Round
(1) Danai Udomchoke (THA,277) bt N Vijay Sundar Prasanth (IND,613) 36 63 76(2)
Jae-Sung An (KOR,659) bt (WC) Vaja Uzahov (UZB,969) 46 75 63
Vijayant Malik (IND,777) bt (WC) Rishabdev Raman (IND,UNR) 62 63
(7) Marc Fornell-Mestres (ESP,471) bt (Q) Sunil-Kumar Sipaeya (IND,1534) 62 75

(4) Young-Jun Kim (KOR,407) bt Suk-Young Jeong (KOR,617) 75 63
Junn Mitsuhashi (JPN,645) bt Christopher Rungkat (INA,616) 61 76(5)
Ranjeet Virali Murugesan (IND,556) bt (Q) Perakiat Siriluethaiwattana (THA,1005) 75 63
(LL) Mark-Alexander Kepler (GER,895) bt (WC) Lakshit Sood (IND,UNR) 63 62

Hsin-Han Lee (TPE,708) bt (8) Murad Inoyatov (UZB,478) 63 64
(Q) Kaza Vinayak Sharma (IND,907) bt (Q) Elbert Sie (INA,1087) 64 76(7)
Kittiphong Wachiramanowong (THA,523) bt (Q) Vivek Shokeen (IND,1164) 36 76(4) 64
(3) Vishnu Vardhan (IND,369) bt (WC) Chandril Sood (IND,1447) 64 76(0)

(6) Julien Dubail (BEL,464) bt (Q) Patrik Rosenholm (SWE,1768) 46 62 62
(LL) Laurent-Olivier Daxhelet (BEL,1314) bt (Q) Vignesh Peranamallur (IND,1437) 26 64 64
Rupesh Roy (IND,753) bt (LL) Srirambalaji Narayanaswami (IND,1428) 75 46 64
(2) Karan Rastogi (IND,322) bt (Q) Akash Wagh (IND,1384) 64 76(1)

Doubles First Round
Srirambalaji Narayanaswami (IND)/ Ashutosh Singh (IND) bt (ALT) Dmitriy Borodkin (KAZ)/ Murad Inoyatov (UZB) 63 60
Vijayant Malik (IND)/ Sunil-Kumar Sipaeya (IND) bt Laurent-Olivie Daxhelet (BEL)/ Julien Dubail (BEL) 61 75
(3) Christopher Rungkat (INA)/ Kittiphong Wachiramanowong (THA) bt (WC) Sidharth Rawat (IND)/ Deepak Vishavkarma (IND) 63 62
Rupesh Roy (IND)/ Vivek Shokeen (IND) bt Kaza Vinayak Sharma (IND)/ Akash Wagh (IND) 67(2) 63 10-5

Vignesh Peranamallur (IND)/ N Vijay Sundar Prasanth (IND) bt (WC) Chandril Sood (IND)/ Lakshit Sood (IND) 64 64
(4) Danai Udomchoke (THA)/ Junn Mitsuhashi (JPN) bt Suk-Young Jeong (KOR)/ Fumiaki Kita (JPN) 63 64
Marc Fornell-Mestres (ESP)/ Mike Vermeer (LUX) bt Elbert Sie (INA)/ Perakiat Siriluethaiwattana (THA) 64 16 10-7
(2) Hsin-Han Lee (TPE)/ Bumpei Sato (JPN) bt Jae-Sung An (KOR)/ Young-Jun Kim (KOR) 62 76(1)

Sunil, Akash and Kaza Vinayak qualified for maindraw with impressive wins ... But wasn't so kind draw for our unseeded players ... Still happy to see this tough futures in India.

Yuki withdrew due to ankle injury from this futures ... So all expected wins for Indian players, nobody able to produced upset.

In doubles top-seeds Vishnu and Divij decided to skip this week's futures.

Football News
At I-League 2010-11, India - Round XXII

Pune FC bt East Bengal 2-1

Goal Scored - Mandjou Keita (PFC) 31', Shanmugham Venkatesh (PFC) 63'and Uga Okpara (EB) 17'
-----------------------------------------

Churchill Brothers SC l Salgaocar SC 1-2

Goal Scored - Odafe Onyeka Okolie (CB) 40' and Francis Fernandes (SSC) 37', Ryuji Sueoka (SSC) 45'
-----------------------------------------

HAL, Bangalore l Air India FC 1-3

Goal Scored - R.C.Prakash (HAL) 90'P and Okorogor Praise (AI) 39' and 69', Soccor Velho (AI) 62'
-----------------------------------------

ONGC, Mumbai bt JCT Mills FC 2-1

Goal Scored - Badmus Babatunde (ONGC) 54' and 90+' and Ajay Singh (JCT) 40'
------------------------------------------

Chirag United SC dw Mohun Bagan 1-1

Goal Scored - Sunil Chhetri (CU) 31'P and Muritala Ali (MB) 80'
-----------------------------------------

Dempo SC bt Indian Arrows 5-2

Goal Scored - Rouhollah Samieinia (DSC) 5' Roberto Mendes Silva (DSC)29'P and 85', Ranty Martins (DSC) 45' and 61' and Shilton D'Silva (IAR) 9', Jeje Lalpekhlua (IAR) 76'P
-----------------------------------------

Viva Kerala bt Mumbai FC 1-0

Goal Scored - Felix Chimaokwu Felix (VK) 36'

Dempo scored thumping win over young Indian Arrows ... Mohun Bagan shared a point with Chirag after late equalizer from Muritala Ali ... Viva continued with their impressive run and scored important win against Mumbai FC.

Salgaocar won local derby in well fought match against Churchill ... Airmen scored needed away victory against HAL ... ONGC scored victory over JCT when Badmus Babatunde scored winner in dying moments.

Pune FC scored their biggest win of this season I-League beating top-3 team ... They scored hard fought comeback win over East Bengal.

Tennis News
At €2.75M Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, Monaco

[SF] (6) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) l Juan Ignacio Chela (ARG)/ Bruno Soares (BRA) 26 76(4) 7-10

Rohan and Aisam struggled against clay court specialists ... After losing first set easily they were up with early break in second game of Bruno Soares's service game ... They were up 3-0, 4-1, 5-2 but again while serving for the set at 5-3 Rohan failed to hold his serve ... Rohan and Aisam managed to win tie-break to take set into STB ... In STB South American take control and didn't give chance to our pair for any fightback.
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At $10K India F3, Chandigarh

Singles Final
(1) Vishnu Vardhan (IND) bt (2) Yuki Bhambri (IND) 46 75 63

Vishnu's powerful serving and match sharpness proved crucial in the final ... Yuki got walkover in last 2 matches, other hand Vishnu scored straight sets victory over solid opponents ... Yuki won first set but from second set Vishnu take control of the match ... He won set with crucial break and on big serve ... In the decider Vishnu dominated and forced unforced errors from Yuki to won match ... So Vishnu won double crown at this Chandigarh futures.


This title win will rise Vishnu's ranking inside top-350 and Yuki will re-enter into top-400.

Tennis News
At €2.75M Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, Monaco

[QF] (6) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) bt (2) Max Mirnyi (BLR)/ Daniel Nestor (CAN) 61 75

[SF] (6) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) vs Juan Ignacio Chela (ARG)/ Bruno Soares (BRA)

Rohan and Aisam scored huge win over WR #2 pair of Mirnyi and Nestor to moved into their first semis at Monte-Carlo Masters ... In the first set after 1-all they broke Nestor in 4th game and Mirnyi in 6th game to won it comfortably ... In the second set they broke Mirnyi in 3rd game but lost Aisam's serve in next game ... Again they broke Mirnyi 7th game but Rohan lost his serve in 10th game while serving for the match, 5-all ... Third time they broke Mirnyi in 11th game and then Aisam hold his serve to complete the victory ... In semis they r facing clay-court specialist South American pair Chela and Soares.
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At $10K India F3, Chandigarh

Singles Semi Final
(1) Vishnu Vardhan (IND) bt (3) Julien Dubail (BEL) 64 64

[F] (2) Yuki Bhambri (IND) vs (1) Vishnu Vardhan (IND)

Doubles Final
(1) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) bt (2) Hsin-Han Lee (TPE)/ Bumpei Sato (JPN) 64 46 10-7

Good to see Vishnu moved into the final with straight sets win over Belgian opponent ... Happy that our top 2 seeds r in singles final.

Vishnu and Divij won doubles title ... After winning first set they lost second set on similar score but proved strong in STB to win another doubles title.