Another bright week ahead for Indian tennis

Somdev Devvarman may have jumped one place to be ranked 97^th in the world ranking, but he has given another bright start for Indian tennis this week, by qualifying for the main draw of the China Open.

The 28-year-old Somdev beat two players ranked better than him, the 62nd ranked Robin Haase of the Netherlands and the 85^th ranked Paolo Lorenzi of Italy, to make the main event. He will be up against the 31^st ranked Fernando Verdasco of Spain in the first round.

The other leading players of the country, Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza will also be in action in the China Open.

In fact, Sania in partnership with Cara Black overcame a tricky second set to beat Kimiko Date-Krumm of Japan and Channelle Scheepers of South Africa 6-3, 6-3 in the first round. 

Quite interestingly, the team that had lost to Sania and partner in the final in Tokyo on Saturday, Hao-Ching Chan of Chinese Taipei and Liezel Huber of the US, recovered from being down 6-7(3), 1-4, survived two matchpoints in the super tie-break to beat the Williams sisters, Venus and Serena, 6-7(3), 6-4, 11-9.

In the lower rungs, Prajnesh Gunneswaran failed to win a game in the final of the $10,000 ITF men’s Futures tennis tournament in Egypt. A shocker for the talented left-hander from Chennai, but it has been a good season for him in which he has already won two singles titles and looks good for more.

A lot of Indian players, men and women, may continue to seek ranking points in Egypt which has already conducted 27 Futures for men and 37 women’s tournaments this year.

Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and company will continue to seek their fortune in Rwanda in Africa. Some others will be in action in Kuwait and Spain.

The Indian under-16 boys team beat Bolivia and finished 11^th among the top 16 teams of the world. The seventh-seeded Spain clinched the title and that could be some consolation for Garvit Batra, Sumit Nagal and Sahil Deshmukh as they had put up a splendid fight against Spain in the league.

Garvit had lost in three sets, while Sumit and Sahil lost the doubles in three sets. Sumit had lost the singles 5-7, 4-6 in the duel between the No.1 players. Of course, the boys need to work much more and scientifically to make progress in their career.

Somdev Devvarman qualifies for the China Open, faces Fernando Verdasco

BEIJING, SEPT. 29:

The 97^th ranked Somdev Devvarman fought his way past Paolo Lorenzi of Italy 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-3 in the second and final qualifying round of the $3,566,050 China Open ATP Tour event on Sunday.

He was scheduled to face the 31^st ranked Fernando Verdasco of Spain in the first round.

In the $1,437,800 Japan Open in Tokyo, Rohan Bopanna has been seeded fourth with Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France, and drawn to play Juan Monaco and Horacio Zeballos of Argentina in the first round.

Prajnesh Gunneswaran fails to win a game in the final

SHARM EL SHEIKH (EGYPT), SEPT. 29:

The eighth-seeded Prajnesh Gunneswaran was blanked 6-0, 6-0 by the second-seeded Enrique-Lopez Perez of Spain in the final of the $10,000 ITF men’s Futures tennis tournament on Sunday.

The 22-year-old Spaniard had dropped only two games in all in the first two matches and only one game in the first set in all of his five matches. It was his third title of the season, and fifth of his career.

Indian boys place 11^th in Junior Davis Cup

NEW DELHI, SEPT. 30:

Indian boys beat Bolivia 2-0 and placed 11^th in the Junior Davis Cup World Group under-16 tennis competition in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, on Sunday.

The seventh-seeded Spain which had figured in group ‘A’ with India, and had perspired to beat it, won the title beating the second-seeded Korea 2-1.

The final placings: 1. Spain, 2. Korea, 3. Australia, 4. Germany, 5. Russia, 6. US, 7. Japan, 8. France, 9. Norway, 10. South Africa, 11. India, 12. Bolivia, 13. Argentina, 14. Peru, 15. Netherlands and 16. Mexico.

The results (final): Spain bt Korea 2-1 (pedro Martinez Portero bt Kukeon Kang 7-6(6), 6-3; Jaume Antoni Munar clar lost to Seongchan Hong 1-6, 6-3, 2-6; Pedro Martinez Portero and Jaume Antoni Munar Clar bt Kukeon Kang and Yun seong Chung 6-3, 7-5).

11^th place: India bt Bolivia 2-0 (Garvit Batra bt Daniel Arrien 6-3, 6-2; Sumit Nagal bt Stephan Koenigsfest 7-6(4), 6-3).