Defeat teaches a lot, we are good students of the game

Indian tennis players are continuing to fight it out around the world. The early exit of Somdev Devvarman and Mahesh Bhupathi may be a dampener, but the rest of the lot promise to stay busy through the week.

Quite notably, the junior girls, the 16-year-old Asian junior champion, 14-year-old Pranjala Yadlapalli and Simran Kaur Sethi are getting a taste of the tough world of tennis in Beijing. The experience should make them better, even though early losses may trigger self doubts.

Qualifier Somdev Devvarman loses first round to fellow qualifier

KUALA LUMPUR, SEPT. 24:

The luck of the draw failed to inspire Somdev Devvarman as he lost 3-6, 3-6 to fellow qualifier Matteo Viola of Italy in the first round of the $984,300 Malaysian Open ATP tour event on Tuesday.

He had to be content with the 12 ATP points that he had collected in the qualifying event, and a prize purse of $8,970. It does pay to stay in the top-100.

There was some consolation and an extended stay for the 98^th ranked Somdev, as he got into the doubles draw with Rik De Voest of South Africa as alternates.

The wild card pair of Yuki Bhambri and Syed Mohd. Agil Syed Naguib of Malaysia, bowed out 2-6, 2-6 to the second-seeded crack combination of Julien Bennteau of France and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia.

The first round exit did not fetch any ATP points, but it was worth the flight from Chinese Taipei to Malaysia for the 287^th ranked Yuki as he shared $4,590 with his partner.

Mahesh Bhupathi finds less profit in doubles tennis

BANGKOK, SEPT. 24:

The top-seeded Mahesh Bhupathi and his Swedish partner Robert Lindstedt were shown the door with a 2-6, 6-3, 10-8 defeat by Daniel Gimeno-Traver of Spain and Paolo Lorenzi of Italy in the doubles pre-quarterfinals of the $567,530 Thailand Open ATP Tour event on Tuesday.

Mahesh had to split $2,970 with his partner. Some times, it does not pay to be in the top-10  of doubles !

Meanwhile, Leander Paes, seeded second with Daniele Bracciali of Italy, and the other Indian pair of Divij Sharan and Purav Raja were set for action on Wednesday.

Sanam Singh bows out meekly

NAPA (CALIFORNIA), SEPT. 24:

Davis Cupper Sanam Singh had a tough day as he lost singles and doubles rather tamely in the $50,000 Challenger tennis tournament on Tuesday.

Sanam lost 2-6, 4-6 to Bobby Reyolds of the US in the singles. In the doubles pre-quarterfinals, Sanam and Vijayant Malik were beaten 6-2, 6-2 by Denis Kudla and Donald Young of the US.

There were no ATP points to be gained and the prize was $620 for singles and $360 in doubles.

Saketh Myneni has easy passage

MESHREF (KUWAIT), SEPT. 24:

Top-seeded Saketh Myneni warmed up with a 6-0, 6-1 victory over compatriot Arpit Sharma in the first round of the $10,000 ITF men’s Futures tennis tournament on Tuesday. In the pre-quarterfinals, he was scheduled to play qualifier Sadio Doumbia of France.

Akash Wagh, who had negotiated the qualifying event like Saketh, bowed out in the first round as he was beaten 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-0 by the seventh seeded Torsten Wietoska of Germany. Meanwhile, Austrian Thomas Statzberger sent Jatin Dahiya packing with a 6-1, 6-1 victory.

Prajnesh Gunneswaran fights his way ahead

SHARM EL SHEIKH (EGYPT), SEPT. 24:

The eighth-seeded Prajnesh Gunneswaran fought his way past Marlon Oliveira of Brazil 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 in the first round of the $10,000 ITF men’s Futures tennis tournament on Tuesday.

However, Sasi Kumar Mukund ent down fighting 6-2, 3-6, 3-6 to qualifier Igor Sobolta of Ukraine in another first round encounter.

Mukund partnered Karim Scremin Ashraf El Hawan of Brazil and lost 3-6, 1-6 to the second-seeded Libor Salaba and Michal Schmid of the Czech Republic in the doubles pre-quarterfinals.

Notably, Prajnesh has not entered in the doubles event this week, after winning the title last week.

National Champion R. Ramkumar tastes defeat early

SEVILLA, SEPT. 24:

National champion R. Ramkumar was beaten 6-3, 6-4 by the seventh-seeded Alexander Rumyantsev of Russia in the first round of the $10,000 ITF men’s Futures tennis tournament on Tuesday.

In doubles, Ramkumar in partnership with Matwe Middelkoop of the Netherlands was seeded second, and the duo fought its way past Roberto Carballes Baena and Ricardo Ojeda Lara of Spain 6-1, 6-7(6), 10-6 in the pre-quarterfinals.

Pranjala Yadlapalli moves on, Asian junior champion Snehadevi Reddy loses first round

BEIJING, SEPT. 24:

Pranjala Yadlapalli defeated Jiayuan Xue of China 6-4, 6-4 in the first round of the ITF grade-2 junior tennis tournament.

Two other Indian girls Asian junior champion Snehadevi Reddy and Simran Kaur Sethi lost their singles matches, but pulled through into the quarterfinals of doubles.

The results:

Girls (first round): Ying zhang (Chn) bt Snehadevi Reddy 3-6, 6-3, 6-1; Jia Qi Kang (Chn) bt Simran Kaur Sethi 6-2, 6-4; Pranjala Yadlapalli bt Jiayuan Xue (Chn) 6-4, 6-4.

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Yijia Shao and Zhanian Wei (Chn) bt Yu-Ting Hsieh (Tpe) and Pranjala Yadlapalli 6-4, 6-4; Snehadevi Reddy and Simran Kaur Sethi bt Yuenu Li and Yanni Liu (Chn) 7-5, 6-1.

Indian under-16 boys team placed in a tough group in Junior Davis Cup

NEW DELHI, SEPT. 24:

India found itself clubbed with the top-seeded Russia and the
seventh-seeded Spain, apart from Argentina in group ‘A’ in the Junior
Davis Cup World Group under-16 tennis tournament being played in San
Luis Potosi, Mexico, from September 24 to 29.

India, represented by Asian Youth Games bronze medallist Garvit Batra,
Sumit Nagal and Sahil Deshmukh, was scheduled to open its campaign
against Russia.

The top two teams from each group will make the quarterfinals.

The groups: A: Russia, Spain, India, Argentina; B: Germany, Japan,
Norway, Mexico; C: US, Australia, Netherlands, Bolivia; D: Korea,
Peru, France, South Africa.