For the best, doubles is just a way to stay longer on court

The doubles has been in a bit of focus this week, especially with the country’s top two singles players Somdev Devvarman and Yuki Bhambri keeping themselves busy with it in Kuala Lumpur.

While Somdev got in as an alternate, Yuki had been given a doubles wild card. It helps the singles specialists spend more time on court, and earn some money to pay their bills.

We may have to remind ourselves that Somdev had won the doubles gold medal apart from the singles gold in the Guangzhou Asian Games in 2010. He had partnered Sanam Singh who is struggling to make the breakthrough from the Futures circuit, though he has the game to keep fighting in the Challenger circuit.

Somdev has showed the strength of character by making his way back into the top-100 of singles after a shoulder surgery that took a toll on his tennis for more than a year. Yuki has also been fighting back from injuries, but has added a trainer to his travel plans to stay fit and confident. The results are showing as he jumped 190 places to reach 287.

The doubles is only an occasional distraction for these two players, as they are determined to occupy the full court for a long time.

The new team in the big league, Divij Sharan and Purav Raja have done very well this season. They know that it is relatively easy to reach the top  than to stay there. They have been playing plenty of tournaments this season, and perhaps need to train better and invest in some expertise. They are ready to tease the best teams in the rest of the season, though the results in the last couple of tournaments may have been teasing them.

Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan has gone back to Africa in search of gold. He has chalked a fine plan to make the jump in the rankings, and get into the more profitable but exacting Challenger circuit. Jeevan had won the Asian junior doubles title twice with Sanam Singh, but the 329^th ranked Chennai lad is determined to break into the top 200.

Ankita Raina is keeping the Indian women’s tennis in focus with her efforts. She hopes to keep busy in Uzbekistan this week.

Somdev Devvarman has a fruitful time in Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR, SEPT. 25:

Asian Games double gold medallist in partnership with Rick De Voest of South Africa broke little sweat in beating Pablo Andujar of Spain and Victor Hansecu of Romania 6-3, 6-2 in the doubles pre-quarterfinals of the $984,300 Malaysian Open ATP Tour event on Wednesday.

Coming in place of Nikolay Davydenko and Dmitry Tursunov of Russia, as alternates, the Indo-South African combination has capitalised on the chance in setting up a quarterfinal clash against the second-seeded Julien Benneteau of France and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia.

In the process, Somdev also ensured 45 ATP doubles points and $7830 for the team.

Leander Paes in quarterfinals in Thailand Open

BANGKOK, SEPT. 25:

The second-seeded Leander Paes and Daniele Bracciali of Italy quelled a spirited challenge from James Cerretani of the US and Adil Shamasdin of Canada 7-5, 7-6(4) in the doubles pre-quarterfinals of the $567,330 Thailand Open on Wednesday.

The Indo-Italian combination was scheduled to play Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah of Colombia in the quarterfinals.

The Colombians scotched the hopes of Purav Raja and Divij Sharan with a 7-5, 7-5 victory in the first round.

Having joined the league of Mahesh Bhupathi and company in the best tournaments of the world, the new team, making waves this season, had to be content pocketing a prize purse of $2,970. The money may be handy but not winning ATP points may hurt at some stage, though it is not possible to win all the time in the big league, even for the very best, as Mahesh, or for that matter anyone may vouch.

Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan leads the Indian march in Africa

BURUNDI, SEPT. 25:

The second-seeded Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan sailed past Francesco Garzelli of Italy 6-4, 6-4 in the pre-quarterfinals of the $15,000 ITF men’s Futures tennis tournament on Wednesday.

Africa has been a happy hunting ground for the Chennai left-hander, ranked 329 in the world. He was happy to recover from a foot inflammation in time to make it to Africa, after pulling out from the Turkey event to seek medical attention in Germany.

Jeevan made the doubles semifinals with James Allemby of Britain. He was not alone in Africa, and was accompanied by six other Indians, but none of them, including Mithun Murali, could cross the second round in singles or doubles.

Of course, Jeevan had a chance to conserve his energy as he had a bye in the first round of both the singles and doubles.

Interestingly, the Indians form the majority from among 16 nationalities making 29 members of the main draw. In fact, there was no qualifying event, as everyone made it, with five being treated as qualifiers, and four given wild cards.

The break-up of players from various countries was: India (7), Burundi (4), Rwanda (2), Italy (2), Austria (2), Japan (2), France, Zimbabwe, Poland, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Britain, Gabon, Belgium, US and Canada.

The results:

Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Lorenzo Papasidero (Ita) bt Mithun Murali 5-7, 6-0, 6-3; Jeevan Nedunchehziyan bt Francesco Garzelli (Ita) 6-4, 6-4.

First round: Giles De Sousa (Fra) bt Rahul Sadhwani 6-0, 6-1; Alexander Lazov (Bul) bt Kunal Anand 6-0, 6-1; Lorenzo Papasidero bt Sagar Ahuja 6-1, 6-1; Mithun Murali bt Saidi Nkurunziza (Bdi) 6-0, 6-0; Jannis Liniger (Sui) bt Neishit Vakil 6-0, 6-0; Mark Fynn (Zim) bt Medhir Goyal 6-2, 6-1.

Doubles (quarterfinals): Lukas Jastraung and Gerald Melzer (Aut) w.o. George Barth (US) and Medhir Goyal; Yannick Mertens (Bel) and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan bt James Allemby (GBR) and Gilles De Sousa (Fra) 4-6, 6-3, 10-6.

Pre-quarterfinals: George Barth and Medhir Goyal bt Aymar Hugor Biyamba Nizila Star (Gab) and Anatole Bizimana (Rwa) 7-6(4), 7-6(1); Mark Fynn (Zim) and Hassan Nidayishimiye (Bdi) bt Rahul Sadhwani and Neishit Vakil 6-2, 6-2; Mariusz Kur (Pol)and Eric Vehovec (Can) bt Olivier Havugimana (Rwa) and Mithun Murali 3-6, 6-4, 10-6; Alexander Lazov (Bul) and Jannis Linger (Sui) bt Sagar Ahuja and Kunal Anand 6-3, 7-6(3).

Saketh Myneni retires in the second round in Kuwait

MESHREF (KUWAIT), SEPT. 25:

The top-seeded Saketh Myneni retired while trailing 0-5 against qualifier Sadio Doumbia of France in the pre-quarterfinals of the $10,000 ITF men’s Futures tennis tournament on Wednesday. He had already been feeling the heat literally, after going through the grind last week at the same place.

The other Indian in the second round, Siddharth Rawat went down with guns blazing 6-2, 6-7(3), 2-6 to the fifth-seeded Ivo Klec of Slovakia.

In the doubles quarterfinals, the fourth-seeded Patrick Davidson of the US and Saketh Myneni were beaten 7-6(3), 2-6, 10-5 by Liu Siyu and Wang Chuhan of China. The other Indian pair of Kaza Vinayak Sharma and Akash Wagh was beaten 6-2, 6-2 by the third-seeded Ruan Roelofse of South Africa and Tak Khunn Wang of France.

Ramkumar in doubles semifinals in Spain

SEVILLA, SEPT. 25:

The second-seeded R. Ramkumar and Matwe Middelkoop of the Netherlands cruised past wild card entrants Juan Pablo Canas Garcia and Pedro Dominguez Alonso of Spain 6-3, 6-0 in the doubles quarterfinals of the $10,000 ITF men’s Futures tennis tournament in Spain. National champion Ramkumar had earlier lost the first round of singles.

Ankita Raina in pre-quarterfinals

FERGANA (UZBEKISTAN), SEPT. 25:

The eighth-seeded Ankita Raina dismissed wild card Jamilya Sadykzhanova of Uzbekistan 6-0, 6-1 in the first round of the $25,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament on Wednesday.

The best ranked Indian woman was scheduled to face Yumi Miyazaki of Japan in the pre-quarterfinals.

However, Nidhi Chilumula lost to the seventh-seeded Basak Eraydin of Turkey 4-6, 1-6 in the first round.

In doubles pre-quarterfinals, Ankita Raina and Deniz Khazanuk of Issrael beat Anna Grigoryan and Tatiana Grigoryan of Russia 6-2, 6-2. The Indo-Israeli combination was scheduled to face the second-seeded Michaela Honcova of Slovakia and Veronika Kapshay of Ukraine in the quarterfinals.

Risika Sunkara top seed in Egypt

SHARM EL SHEIKH (EGYPT), SEPT. 25:

Rishika Sunkara was seeded No.1 in both singles and doubles in the $10,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament in Egypt. She was waiting to play her match, even as three other Indian girls lost their first round without much of a fight.

The results:

Singles (first round): Samantha Koelliker (Sui) bt Shivani Manchanda 6-0, 6-0; Evgeniya Svintsova (Rus) bt Anjana Kompally 6-0, 6-1; Erika Hendsel (Est) bt Ashmitha Easwaramurthi 6-4, 6-2.

Doubles (quarterfinals): Giulia Bruzzone (Ita) and Karina Venditti (Bra) bt Marcela Alves Pereira Valle (Bra) and Anjana Kompally 6-2, 6-0.

Pre-quarterfinals: Brenda Njuki (Swe) and Ashmitha Easwaramurthi bt Anastasiya Zubkova and Maria Zubkova (Rus) 6-1, 6-4.

Pranjala Yadlapalli in quarterfinals in China

BEIJING, SEPT 25:

The sixth-seeded Pranjala Yadlapalli beat Yi-Chi Ma of Chinese Taipei 6-2, 6-1 in the pre-quarterfinals of the ITF grade-2 junior tennis tournament on Wednesday. The 14-year-old Andhra girl was scheduled to play the second-seeded Ziyue Sun of China in the quarterfinals.

In the doubles quarterfinals, the second-seeded Snehadevi Reddy and Simran Kaur Sethi was beaten 7-5, 4-6, 10-6 by Sigi Cao and Qiu Yu Ye of China.