If you put your mind on the job, you can beat the best

The tennis players go through a tough grind and it takes a heavy toll on their physical reserves. It takes a lot to recover and play to strength from one match to another. Doubles can thus add to the demands.

However, if you have lost in the singles and do not have an early flight to catch to the qualifying event for the next tournament, you can have a nice time, enjoying the doubles and the added incentives that come with it.

Somdev Devvarman showed that he was enjoying the doubles as he made the semifinals in Kuala Lumpur with Rik De Voest of South Africa, beating the second seeds, a fine combination of Julien Benneteau of France and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia.

Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan, the talented left-hander from Chennai is playing well in Africa, by reaching the semifinals. Ankita Raina made light of the challenge to make the quarterfinals of the $25,000 women's tournament in Uzbekistan. Rishika Sunkara has had a cake walk so far in Egypt in the $10K event.

The under-16 players Sumit Nagal, Garvit Batra and Sahil Deshmukh disappointed a bit as they lost to the seeded teams, Russia and Spain. It should make them realise the magnitude of work ahead of them to make a mark in the professional circuit.

Somdev Devvarman in doubles semifinals

KUALA LUMPUR, SEPT. 26:

Somdev Devvarman in partnership with Rik De Voest of South Africa knocked out the second-seeded Julien Benneteau of France and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia in the doubles quarterfinals of the $984,300 Malaysian Open ATP Tour event on Thursday.

Now, the 31-year-old Benneteau is one of the players who has been doing well in both singles and doubles. He had won two doubles titles this season with the former World No.1 Nenad Zimonjic, including the big one in Monte Carlo on clay, when the duo beat the all-conquering Bryan twins, Bob and Mike, 14-12 in the super tie-break in the final.

In the London Olympics last year, Benneteau with Richard Gasquet had won the bronze medal in doubles, beating Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna 6-3, 6-4 along the way, in the second round. Zimonjic has won two Wimbledon and a French Open doubles title to his credit.

The Asian Games doubles gold medallist Somdev, who had won the singles gold as well by beating Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan in Guangzhou in 2010, was scheduled to play the doubles semifinals with Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay and Horacio Zeballos of Argentina.

Leander Paes and Daniele Bracciali in semifinals in Bangkok

BANGKOK, SEPT. 26:

The second-seeded Leander Paes and Daniele Bracciali of Italy had to fight it out 6-7(4), 7-6(8), 10-8 against Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah of Colombia in the doubles quarterfinals of the $567,530 Thailand Open ATP Tour event on Thursday.

In the semifinals, Paes and partner were scheduled to play the third-seeded Jamie Murray of Britain and John Peers of Australia.

Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan in the semifinals in Burundi

BUJUMBURA (BURUNDI), SEPT. 26:

The second-seeded Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan defeated Mark Fynn of Zimbabwe 6-1, 5-7, 6-3 in the quarterfinals of the $15,000 ITF men’s Futures tennis tournament on Thursday.

The talented left-hander will play Lukas Jastraung of Austria, the fourth seed in the semifinals. In the other half, the top-seeded Gerald Melzer of Austria was pitted against the third-seeded Yannick Mertens of Belgium.

In the doubles semifinals, Jeevan and Yannick Mertens outplayed Alexander Lazov of Bulgaria and Jannis Linger of Switzerland 6-3, 6-0.

In the final, the second-seeded Indo-Belgian duo will play the fourth-seeded Mark Fynn of Zimbabwe and Hassan Ndayishimiye of Burundi who beat the top-seeded Lukas Jastraung and Gerald Melzer of Austria 3-6, 7-6(4), 10-7.

Ramkumar in doubles final in Spain

SEVILLA, SEPT. 26:

The second-seeded R. Ramkumar and Matwe Middelkoop of the Netherlands made the doubles final as they got a walkover from the third-seeded Jose Checa-Calvo and Juan Lizariturry of Spain in the $10,000 ITF men’s Futures tennis tournament in Spain.

In the final, the Indo-Dutch combination will face the fourth-seeded Eduard Esteve Lobato and Oriol Roca Batalla of Spain.

Ankita Raina in the quarterfinals of $25K event in Uzbekistan

FERGANA (UZBEKISTAN), SEPT. 26:

The eighth-seeded Ankita Raina cruised into the quarterfinals with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Yumi Miyazaki of Japan in the $25,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament on Thursday.

In the quarterfinals, the 21-year-old Ankita, ranked a career-best 307, was scheduled to play the third-seeded Anastasiya Vasyleva of Ukraine.

In the doubles quarterfinals, however, Ankita and Deniz Khazaniuk of Israel went down fighting 2-6, 6-4, 7-10 to the second-seeded Michaela Honcova of Slovakia and Veronika Kapshay of Ukraine.

Rishika Sunkara in quarterfinals in Egypt

SHARM EL SHEIKH (EGYPT), SEPT. 26:

The top-seeded Rishika Sunkara blanked Linda Dubska of the Czech Republic 6-0, 6-0 in the pre-quarterfinals of the $10,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament on Thursday.

Rishika, playing on a wild card in the tournament and given a bye in the first round, will play qualifier Viktoriya Bogoslovskaya of Russia in the quarterfinals.

In the doubles quarterfinals, the top-seeded Rishika and Ipek Soylu of Turkey beat Brenda Njuki of Sweden and Ashmitha Easwaramurthi 6-2, 6-2. In the semifinals, the duo was set to play Viktoriya Bogoslovskaya and Evgeniya Svintsova of Russia, who beat Anabel Ossombi of Ukraine and Shivani Manchanda 6-0, 6-1.

Prajnesh Gunneswaran in quarterfinals in Egypt

SHARM EL SHEIKH (EGYPT), SEPT. 26:

The eighth-seeded Prajnesh Gunneswaran made the quarterfinals with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Maxxi Pongratz of Austria in the $10,000 ITF men’s Futures tennis tournament on Thursday.

In the semifinals, the 23-year-old Chennai lad will play the fourth-seeded Ivan Nedelko of Russia.

Pranjala Yadlapalli loses to second seed in Beijing

BEIJING, SEPT. 26:

Pranjala Yadlapalli was beaten 6-0, 4-6, 6-2 by the second-seeded Ziyue Sun of China in the quarterfinals of the ITF grade-2 junior tennis tournament on Thursday.

Even though the Chinese domination was on expected lines, the efforts of Pranjala, Snehadevi Reddy and Simran Kaur Sethi, would prepare them for the tougher challenges ahead.

Hopes of quarterfinals dashed for the Indian under-16 team in Junior Davis Cup

NEW DELHI, SEPT. 26:

The Indian boys were beaten 3-0 by the seventh-seeded Spain, in a
group ‘A’ league match of the Junior Davis Cup World Group competition
in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, on Wednesday.

It was the second successive defeat for the Indian boys after they
were beaten by an identical 3-0 margin, but in a more comprehensive
fashion by the top-seeded Russia.

Asian Youth Games bronze medallist Garvit Batra gave a good account of
himself but lost a tough three setter in the first match between the
No.2 players. Sumit Nagal was unable to swing the fortunes for the
team around, and the team lost the doubles as well in three sets.

With its hopes of making it to the quarterfinals dashed, India was
scheduled to play its last league match against Argentina.

The results (league): Spain bt India 3-0 (Alvaro Lopez San Martin bt
Garvit Batra 6-3, 4-6, 7-5; Jaume Antoni Munar Clar bt Sumit Nagal
7-5, 6-4; Pedro Martinez Portero and Jaume Antoni Munar Clar bt Sahil
Deshmukh and Sumit Nagal 6-3, 4-6, 6-1).

Russia bt India 3-0 (Andrey Rublev bt Garvit Batra 6-3,
6-3; Roman Safiullin bt Sumit Nagal 6-3, 6-1; Andrey Rublev and Evgeny
Tyurnev bt Sahil Deshmukh and Sumit Nagal 6-3, 6-3).