The Daily Indian

Leander Paes and his Czech partner Lukas Dlouhy advanced to the men’s doubles quarter-finals of the Dubai Tennis Championships with a straight-set win in their opening round match.

Second seeds Paes and Dlouhy overcame the Polish pair of Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski 7-6 (7), 6-3 in their opening round of the $1,619,500 hard court event.

They will take on the winners of the match between the Indo-Pakistani pair of Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi and Frenchmen Arnaud Clement and Robert Lidstedt.

Earlier, Mahesh Bhupathi and his Belarussian Max Mirnyi, seeded third, beat M Al Baloushi of UAE and Abdullah Magdas of Kuwait 7-5, 6-0 in their first round match to enter the quarter-finals.

They will meet the winners of the first round match between the Serbian duo Novak Djokovic and Dusan Vemic and Paul Hanley of Australia and Simon Aspelin of Sweden.

Somdev Devvarman is also in the the singles competition and he is up against Marcno Chiudinelli of Switzerland.

World number two Rafael Nadal plans to resume training on Monday and compete at next month’s Montreal Masters as he recovers from tendinitis in his knees, according to a statement on his website on Tuesday.

“Rafa Nadal underwent some new medical tests today in Barcelona,” the statement said.
“He is slowly recovering from his injury, will resume practice next Monday and will reappear at the Montreal event on August 8th,” it added. Nadal is the defending champion in Montreal.

The Spaniard has been suffering from tendinitis in both knees aggravated by a gruelling schedule of clay court matches and was forced to abandon the defence of his Wimbledon title before the tournament started.

Roger Federer of Switzerland won his sixth Wimbledon crown and regained the number one ranking from Nadal having already stolen his great rival’s French Open title.
Nadal won three out of the five clay tournaments he contested in April and May, playing 22 matches, and has blamed his injury woes on the congested calendar.

CHENNAI: The International Tennis Federation (ITF) has declared India the winner of next month’s Davis Cup tie in Chennai after Tennis Australia (TA) said it would not send a team due to security fears.

The ITF said it regretted TA’s decision, adding that a decision over any sanctions would be made in due course.

Under Davis Cup rules, Australia could be banned from the competition for 12 months and face a substantial fine.

“The ITF regrets and respectfully disagrees with the decision of Tennis Australia to default its upcoming Davis Cup tie against India,” the ITF said in a statement on the Davis Cup website (www.daviscup.com).

“By virtue of its decision not to send a team to compete against India, Australia has forfeited the tie. India is declared the winner and will advance to the Davis Cup World Group Play-offs, scheduled for 18-20 September.”

The statement added: “The Davis Cup Committee in due course will decide any sanctions to be assessed against Australia according to the regulations of the 2009 competition.”

On Friday the ITF rejected an appeal from TA to move the May 8-10 Asia/Oceania group I tie from Chennai because of security concerns.

Australia said on Saturday it would not send a team, thus forfeiting the match.

Rotterdam (The Netherlands), Feb 12 : World No.1 Rafael Nadal made life difficult as he missed early chances before finally overcoming Simone Bolelli 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 to reach the second round of the ABN-AMRO World Tennis tournament.

Top seed Nadal, who lost in the second round at the event a year ago, spent two and a half hours Wednesday against Bolelli, failing to earn an early break in the opening set and missing on a 40-0 opportunity in the second.

But sheer determination saw the Spaniard through 10 days after winning the Australian Open over Roger Federer. He next faces Bulgarian teenager Grigor Dimitrov on Thursday night.

“I deserved this win,” said Nadal. “I had all of the chances and he didn’t, I also had two match points. I picked up my game in the third set and started serving better.

“I found my rhythm, but I had a bad game in the first set before I started playing better. I’m in the second round and I expect a better result. I’m hoping to play better.

“I’m very happy to win this match. I’ll have to try hard in the next one,” said the 10-1 player this season.

A quartet of Frenchmen advanced with fourth seed Gilles Simon leading the way as he accounted for 38th-ranked German Philipp Kohlschreiber 7-5, 7-6 (7-1).

“I had a terrible practice on Sunday here with Richard (Gasquet),” said the world number eight winner from Nice. “That’s why I asked to start only on Wednesday.

“I’ve not been able to train a lot and had no idea about how it would go.”

Croatian Mario Ancic, losing finalist at the weekend at home in Zagreb, was too much for Rainer Schuettler, with the veteran exiting 7-5, 6-2.

But the success story continued for France as seventh seed and last week’s Johannesburg champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga made a winning debut at the event, beating Dutch number 177 wild card France Jesse Huta Galung 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-4).

2008 Australian Open finalist Tsonga fired 15 aces in his win.

Defending champion Michael Llodra of France dulled the serving prowess of Ivo Karlovic, winning 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in their first-round encounter as the Croatian fired 25 aces.

Frenchman Marc Gicquel secured the day’s fourth Gallic victory over Russian Evgeny Korolev 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.

The 2007 champion Mikhail Youzhny earned the first quarter-final berth in an upset of Spanish sixth seed David Ferrer, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2.

The 26-year-old Russian Youzhny is riding his lowest ranking in seven years on 62nd, the result of last year’s Australian Open quarter-finalist dropping points after he lost in the Melbourne first round three weeks ago.

Mumbai, Feb 2: India’s star tennis player Sania Mirza said Monday that winning the Australian Open mixed doubles title with Mahesh Bhupathi was the best way she could make a comeback in the international circuit.

The duo was give a rousing welcome at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport Monday after they became the first Indian pair to win a Grand Slam mixed doubles.

“It is very special to win your first Grand Slam. After the injury it is a great way to come back. I am just living in the moment for now,” said Sania.

For Sania, who was making a comeback from a wrist injury, it was her maiden Grand Slam title and also the first by an Indian woman. The injury forced the 22-year-old Hyderabadi out of international circuit for most part of 2008 and she was out of top-100 in singles rankings.

Sania had also won the junior girls doubles at Wimbledon in 2003 with Russian Alisa Kleybanova.

For Bhupathi it was his 11th Grand Slam and seventh mixed doubles title. “We played very well. We are excited and happy to come home for some rest. Yes, definitely we will continue this pair,” he said.

The 34-year-old Bhupathi also finished runners-up in the men’s doubles with Mark Knowles of the Bahamas. They lost the title clash to Bob and Mike Bryan of the US.

Melbourne, Jan 31 : Yuki Bhambri today scripted history by becoming the first Indian to clinch the Australian Open junior singles title with an emphatic straight-set win over German Alexandros-Ferdinandos Georgoudas at the Melbourne Park here today.
Top seed Yuki swept aside the unseeded Georgousdas 6-3 6-1 in 57 minutes to pocket his first Grand Slam singles title, becoming the fourth Indian to do so in the process.

The other Indians in the elite list are Ramanathan Krishnan (1954 Junior Wimbledon champion), his son Ramesh Krishnan (1970 Wimbledon and French Open junior champion) and Leander Paes (1990 Junior Wimbledon and Junior US Open champion).

The Delhi boy, who lost in the semi-finals here last year, was at his dominant best from the start and seemed determined to lift the title this time.

He broke his German opponent in the fourth game of the opening set to go up 3-1 and then maintained his composure to seal it in 31 minutes.

Yuki didn’t look back and demolished Georgousdas 6-1 in just 26 minutes in the second set.

Yuki’s dominance in the match was evident from the 29 winners he hit as compared to his opponent’s 21.

He also converted four out of the seven break points that he earned and didn’t give away a single break point to the German.

Yuki, partnering Chinese Taipei’s Liang-Chi Huang, also made it to the semi-finals of the boys’ doubles event but the top-seeded duo lost to the Russian-Japanese pair of Mikhal Biryukov and Yasutaka Uchiyama 3-6 1-6 yesterday.

Melbourne, Jan 30  India’s Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza shrugged off an indifferent start while outplaying Czech pair Lukas Dlouhy and Iveta Benesova 6-4, 6-1 to enter the mixed doubles final at the Australian Open for the second successive year here Friday.

The Indians in the final will play France’s Nathalie Dechy and Andy Ram of Israel who overcame a stiff resistance from Spain’s seventh-seeded pair Anabel Medina Garrigues and Tommy Robredo 7-6 (7), 6-4 Thursday

Bhupathi, who has won six mixed doubles and four men’s doubles titles is on the verge of winning a Grand Slam double for the second time, having entered the men’s doubles final with Mark Knowles of Bahamas. Mahesh and Knowles play the Bryan twins Mark and Bob in Saturday’s final.

Bhupathi, considered one of the top doubles players, had entered both the men’s and mixed doubles finals at the U.S. Open in 1999, but could only win the mixed title with Japanese Ai Sugiyama, losing the men’s doubles final with Leander Paes.

Bhupathi’s last mixed doubles title was in 2006 when he and former women’s World No. 1 Martina Hingis won at the Australian Open and his last men’s doubles win came at the U.S. Open with Belarussian Max Mirnyi.

Bhupathi and Sania showed a stomach for fight with the latter making up for Bhupathi’s sluggish start. The 22-year old Hyderabadi excelled both at the net and from the baseline with some outstanding groundstrokes and volleys. Aamazingly, the Indians broke Dlouhy’s serve four times, twice in each set, to make their task easier in the 54-minute battle.

The only time the Indians trailed in the entire match was when Bhupathi dropped his first service game of the match and trailed 0-3. But Sania handled the situation remarkably well to pull the Indian pair back.

The Indians were back in the hunt after breaking Dlouhy for the first time, rallying from 0-40. From then on there was no looking back by the Indian pair. As they pounced on Dlouhy’s serve again the set was gone for the Czech pair and Bhupathi served it out.

Dlouhy continued to serve poorly and as Sania got into the overdrive, Bhupathi, too, chipped in with timely interceptions at the net to gain the upper hand straightaway in the second set. A demoralised Czech pair watched helplessly as the Indians struck winner after winner to take the set and the match.

Melbourne, Jan 27:India’s Mahesh Bhupathi stormed into the doubles semi-finals while Leander Paes faced a shock exit in the mixed doubles at the Australian Open here Tuesday.

Third seeded Bhupathi and his Bahamian partner Mark Knowles beat a resilient Lopez and Verdasco 6-1, 2-6, 6-4 in nearly an hour and a half at Melbourne Park.

However, top seeds Paes and Cara Black of Zimbabawe were stunned by Swiss Patty Schnyder and South Africa’s Wesley Moodie in the mixed doubles pre-quarterfinals, losing 1-6, 5-7.

Bhupathi and Knowles broke the Spaniards twice to take the first set in 26 minutes but Lopez and Verdasco fought back to draw level in the second set.

The decider saw the third seeds ward off a stiff challenge from their opponents to move to the last four where they meet Poland’s Lukasz Kubot and Austrian Oliver Marach, who shocked Polish pair Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski 6-2, 6-2.

In the juniors, top seed Yuki Bhambri marched into the third round with a 7-6(1), 6-0 win over Australian Stephen Hoh. The Indian will next meet 13th seeded Croat Dino Marcan, who defeated Australian Luke Saville 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.

However, it was end of the road for another Indian Kaza Vinayak Sharma in the singles who was handed a 1-6, 1-6 mauling by Justin Eleveld of the Netherlands.

Yuki also advanced to the doubles third round with partner Liang-Chi Huang of Chinese Taipei, beating Italian Marco Bortolotti and Vladzimir Kruk of Belarus 6-3, 6-4.

The top seeded Yuki and Huang will next play French fifth seeds Julian Obry and Adrien Puget.

But the Indian girls’ campaign in the tournament ended with Kyra Shroff and her Canadian partner Eugenie Bouchard losing 4-6, 1-6 to sixth seeded pair of American Christina McHale and Croatian Ajla Tomljanovic.

Melbourne, Jan 24 : Mahesh Bhupathi and his Bahamian partner Mark Knowles advanced to the Australian Open men’s doubles third round after a straight-set victory but it was curtains for Rohan Bopanna and his Finnish partner Jarkko Nieminen who lost their second-round match here today.
Third seeds Bhupathi and Knowles had to fend off a tough fight from the unseeded Russian pair of Igor Kunitsyn and Dmitry Tursunov before emerging 7-5 7-5 victorious in a 92-minute duel.

The Indo-Bahamian pair will next take on Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador and Tommy Robredo of Spain who defeated Bopanna and Nieminen 6-4 6-4 in the second round.

Bhupathi and Knowles played near flawless tennis with no double faults and just three unforced to their opponents’ 14 in the whole match. Though they had a slower service, the third seeded duo converted four out of nine break points that came their way.

Bopanna and Nieminen, on the other hand, were error-prone and committed as many as 16 unforced errors to their opponents’ 11.

Another Indian, Leander Paes, and his Czech partner Lukas Dlouhy, seeded fourth, had also sailed into the third round defeating unseeded Italian-Croat pairing of Fabio Fognini and Ivan Ljubcic 6-3 6-4 yesterday.

Partnering Sania Mirza, Bhupathi has also made it to the second round of the mixed doubles.

Melbourne,Jan 23:Indians had a great day at the Australian Open Friday in the doubles play. Mahesh Bhupathi, Sania Mirza, Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna all won their matches.

Bhupathi and Sania knocked out sixth-seeded Czech pair Pavel Vizner and Kveta Peschke, overcoming a second-set fight back, 6-2, 6-4, in the first round, reeling off six games straight after being down 0-4.

Paes and and his Czech partner Lukas Dlouhy, seeded fourth, recorded a comfortable 6-3 6-4 victory over Croatian Ivan Ljubicic and Italian Fabio Fognini to move into the third round.

Bopanna and his Finnish partner Jarkko Niemienen rallied from a set down to outlast Spanish pair Marcel Granollers and Santiago Ventura, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, in the first round.