Interesting times ahead . . .

The race is hotting up ! We are not exactly talking about Rohan Bopanna’s race to make it to the year-end championship in London.

Of course, he has made the quarterfinals in the Paris Masters in partnership with Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France, and has a tough track ahead.

We, actually, are talking about the race to gain selection for the Davis Cup Asia-Oceania group ‘I’ tie to be played against Chinese Taipei in Indore.

Somdev Devvarman who has got back into the top-100 after enduring a shoulder surgery and rebabilitation programme, should select himself. Thereafter, Yuki Bhambri with his good run in the Challengers in recent times, should count himself in as he is the second best ranked at 277, after Somdev.

Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan has been judiciously accumulating ATP points in Africa to be ranked 305, ahead of Saketh Myneni (313) who upset the top-seeded Tim Smyczek, the 83^rd ranked American in the first round of the ongoing $75,000 Challenger in charlottsville, US.

Sanam Singh (366), Sriram Balaji (452), Vijayant Malik (505), Prajnesh Gunneswaran (590), Karunuday Singh (637). R. Ramkumar (700), Vishnu vardhan (718) follow, spread over different distance from the top.

It will also be interesting to see whether the team can afford to have two doubles specialists in its attempt to ensure one, but crucial, rubber.

The women have also been travelling around the world, in different levels of tournaments, with Ankita Raina looking purposeful after breaking into the top-300.

The juniors are also spread out, and there is a lot to write about Indian tennis, which augurs well for the game in the country.

Rohan Bopanna in quarterfinals of Paris Masters

Rohan Bopanna enhanced his chances of making the season-ending Championship in London, as he in partnership with Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France beat John Isner and Nocholas Monroe of the US 7-6(2), 7-5 in the doubles pre-quarterfinals of the 3,204,745 Euros BNP Paribas Masters ATP-1000 tennis tournament in Paris.

The victory, after a bye in the first round, ensured 180 ATP points for the fifth-seeded Indo-French duo that is placed 14^th in the race with 1940 points.

With the fourth-seeded Ivan Dodig of Croatia and Marcelo Melo of Brazil in the same quarter and figuring in the top half with the top-seeded Bryan twins, Bob and Mike, the task is cut out for Bopanna and Vasselin.

Meanwhile, Leander Paes in partnership ith Daniel Nestor of Canada lost 4-6, 3-6 to Sandiago Gonzalez of Mexico and Scott Lipisky of the US in the pre-quarterfinals after a bye in the first round. The duo had to settle got 90 ATP points and $10,200.

The defeat will not hurt Paes as he had already ensured an entry in the season-ending championship by winning the US Open doubles title with Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic.

Saketh Myneni topples the No.1 seed in the $75K Challenger in the US

Saketh Myneni did his confidence a world of good as he beat the 83^rd ranked top seed Tim Smyczek of the US 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 in the first round of the $75,000 Challenger tennis tournament in Charlottesville, US.

The 313^th ranked Saketh was scheduled to play Chase Buchanan of the US, who sweated it out against compatriot Austin Krajicek 5-7, 7-6(2), 7-6(3).

The country’s No.1 player, the 91^st ranked Somdev Devvarman stumbled to a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Samuel Groth of Australia.

In the doubles pre-quarterfinals, the Asian Games champions Somdev and Sanam Singh beat Mitchell Frank and Max Styslinger of the US 6-2, 6-3. They were scheduled to play the second-seeded Austin Krajicek and Tennys Sandgren of the US in the quarterfinals.

Earlier, in the singles qualifying event, Prajnesh Gunneswaran lost 6-7(5), 6-7(0) in the second round to Alexios Halebian of the US after having beaten compatriot Vijayant Malik 6-2, 6-4 in the first.

The second-seeded Sanam Singh, however, lost 4-6, 3-6 to Denis Zivkovic of the US in the first qualifying round.

Yuki Bhambri in quarterfinals of $50K Traralgon Challenger in Australia

The eighth-seeded Yuki Bhambri fought his waypast Michael Venus of New Zealand 1-6, 6-3, 7-6(4) in the pre-quarterfinals of the $50,000 Challenger tennis tournament in Traralgon, Australia.

The 277^th ranked Yuki, who had earlier got past qualifier Brendon Moore of Australia when the latter with the former world No.1 junior leading 6-2, 1-0, will play the fourth-seeded Tatsuma Ito of Japan in the quarterfinals.

In doubles, however, Yuki inpartnership with Mitchell Krueger of the US was beaten 6-4, 6-4 by Maerick Banes and Gavin Van Peperzeel of Australia in the pre-quarterfinals.

Divij Sharan and Purav Raja lose first round in a Challenger in Germany

The top-seeded Divij Sharan and Purav Raja were beaen 7-5, 5-7, 10-3 by wild cards Robin Kerr and Maximilan Marterer of Germany in the pre-quarterfinals of the 30,000 Euros Challenger tennis tournament in Eckental, Germany.

In a breakthrough season in which the duo qualified for the main draw of Wimbledon, and won itstheir maiden ATP Tour title, Divij and Purav have taken the defeats in their stride to stay afloat in the big league.

Vijay Sundar Prashanth loses early in Edgbaston

Vijay Sundar Prashanth had to endure an early exit as he was beaten 6-3, 6-4 by Nicolas rosenzweig of France in the $10,000 ITF men’s Futures tennis tournament in Edgbaston, Britain.

In partnership with Adam Chadaj of Poland, Vijay lost the doubles pre-quarterfinals 3-6, 2-6 to the third-seeded Erik Crepaldi of Italy and James Marsalek of Britain.

Ankita Raina has a tough time in Chinese Taipei

The country’s No.1 woman tennis player, Ankita Raina had a rough time, losing the first round of both singles and doubles in the $50,000 ITF women’s tournament in Chinese Taipei.

The 20-year-old Ankita who trains with Hemant Bendre in Pune, lost 3-6, 3-6 to Wen-Hsin Hsu of Chinese Taipei in singles. In partnership with Gloia Barbieri of Italy, Ankita lost the doubles pre-quarterfinals 6-7(3), 2-6 to Shao-Yuan Kao and Hua-Chen Lee of Chiense Taipei.

Ranked 301, Ankita has been trying her best to compete in the higher level, after having won three singles titles in the $10,000 events this season, and four overall. She had made the second round of the $25,000 event in Japan last week, after having made the quarterfinals of another $25K event in Fergana, Uzbekistan.

The tough matches abroad in the relatively big events, will prepare Ankita well for the two $25K events scheduled to be held in Pune and Mumbai over the next few weeks before the year runs out.

Victoria Chehal loses second qualifying round in $50K event in Australia

The confidence with which the Indian girls are travelling around the world in search of WTA points is quite impressive. Victoria Chehal ventured into the qualifying of the $50,000 ITF women’s tournament in Bendigo, Austrlaia, and won a round as well.

Victoria lost 3-6, 3-6 to the second-seeded Emma Hayman of New Zealand after having beaten Hene Demiri of Australia 6-4, 6-0 in the first qualifying round.

In the doubles qualifying event, the 16-year-old Victoria in partnership with Michika Ozeki of Japan was beaten 6-2, 6-1 by Naiktha Bains and Ashlinq Sumner of Australia.

Rashmi Teltumbde in the $50K ITF women’s event in the US

Rashmi Teltumbde ws beaten 6-3, 6-1 by the eighth-seeded Blair Shankle of the US in the second qualifying round of the $50,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament in New Braunfels, Texas.

Rashmi had beaten Valentina Starkova of Kazakhstan 7-5, 6-2 in the first round of the qualifying event.

Shweta Rana, Arantxa Andrady in second round in Egypt

National runner-up Shweta Rana blanked compatriot and qualifier Tanisha Rohira 6-0, 6-0 in the first round of the $10,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.

Arantxa Andrady also made it to the second round as her opponent wild card entrant Anke Poncelet of Belgium retired with the Indian girl leading 5-2 in the first set.

Seeded second with Giulia Bruzzone of Italy, Shweta Rana had a bye in the first round of doubles. The duo was set to play the quarterfinals against Vishesh Vishnu and Janneke Wikkerink of the Netherlands who had a walkover in the first round.

The results

Singles (first round): Caroline Daxhelet (Bel) bt Ashmitha Easwaramurthi 6-4, 6-2; Arantxxa Andrady bt Anke Poncelet (Bel) 5-2 (retired); Tanya Samodelok (Rus) bt Manya Nagpal 7-6(8), 6-2; Natalija Kostic (Srb) bt Vishesh Vishnu 6-1, 6-1; Shweta Rana bt Tanisha Rohira 6-0, 6-0.

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Ksenia Dmitrieva (Rus) and Paulina Lewandowska (Pol) bt Manya Nagpal and Tanisha Rohira 6-2, 2-6, 11-9; Alice Bacquie (Fra) and Tessa Breve (Ned) bt Yuliya Hnateyko (Ukr) and Ashmitha Easwaramurthi 6-7(6), 6-4, 10-3; Caroline Daxhelet (Bel) and Lenia Lutzeier (Ger) bt Nonna Kurginyan (Rus) and Arantxxa Andrady 6-4, 6-3; Janneke Wikkerink (Ned) and Vishesh Vishnu w.o. Louise Brunskog (Swe) and Linda Dubska (Cze).

Sowjanya Bavisetti retires in the first round in Spain

Injuries continued to trouble Sowjanya Bavisetti as she retired at 0-6, 0-4 against Andrea Lazaro Garcia of Spain in the first round of the $10,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament in Benicarlo, Spain.

However, Sowjanya, seeded second in doubles with Ai Wen zhu of China made the semifinals with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Natalia Garcia Molina and Ana Royo Marco of Spain, after a bye in the first round.

Pranjala Yadlapalli in second round in ITF grade-2 tournament in Korea

The eighth-seeded Pranjala Yadlapalli fought her way past Lizette Cabrera of Australia 6-3, 7-6(10) in the girls first round of the ITF grade-2 junior tennis tournament in Chuncheon City, Korea.

Dhruthi Venugopal, coached by Sandeep Kirtane, ran into the third-seeded Sara Tomic of Australia in the first round and lost in straight sets.

The results

Girls (first round): Sara Tomic (Aus) bt Dhruthi Venugopal 6-4, 6-2; Pranjala Yadlapalli bt Lizette Cabrera (Aus) 6-3, 7-6(10).

Qualifying event (first round): So Hyon Kim (Kor) bt Vasanti Shinde 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(5).

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Kim Dabin (Kor) and Qiu Yu Ye (Chn) bt Maddison Inglis (Aus) and Vasanti Shinde 6-3, 6-2.

Tejas Kapoor makes it as lucky loser in Thailand

Tejas Kapoor and Kaaviya Balasubramanian made it as lucky losers in the main draws of boys and girls sections respectively, but failed to cross the first round in the ITF grade-4 junior tennis tournament in Nonthaburi, Thailand.

The results

Boys: Singles (first round): Suthinan Tanthaseraneewat (Tha) bt Tejas Kapoor 6-2, 6-1.

Qualifying event (third and final round): Adrian Andrezejczuk (Pol) bt Tejas Kapoor 6-1, 6-4; Second round: Tejas Kapoor bt Sutthipat Yunkratog (Tha) 4-6, 6-0, 3-1 (retired); Joachim Samson (Phi) bt Ramakrishnan Rengaraj 6-1, 6-2.

Doubles (first round): Sarunwat Prasertpaak and Thanaphak Trisattayakul (Tha) bt Tobias Lentz (Den) and Tejas Kapoor 6-0, 6-1.

Girls

Singles (first round): Pirada Suwanarux (Tha) bt Kaaviya Balasubramanian 6-4, 6-1.

Qualifying event (third and final round): Alvina Lai (Hkg) bt Niditra Rajmohan 6-1, 6-2; Srikanya Burananayok (Tha) bt Kaaviya Balasubramanian 7-5, 6-1.

Doubles (first round): Pichayatida Jandaeng and Priyachanok Sukkanha (tha) bt Wi Joanne Koh (Sin) and Niditra Rajmohan 6-2, 6-0.

Kushaan Nath qualifies and loses second round in Kuwait

Qualifier Kushaan Nath lost 4-6, 1-6 to Mattia Bedolo of Italy in the boys second round of the ITF grade-4 junior tennis tournament in Kuwait.

However, he made the doubles semifinals with Mohab Hamed of Egypt.

The results

Boys (second round): Mattia Bedolo (Ita) bt Kushaan Nath 6-4, 6-1; First round: Kushaan Nathbt Kaan Tuna (Tur) 6-0, 6-0.

Qualifying event (third and final round): Kushaan Nath bt Tamim Hallak (Lib) 6-0, 6-1; Second round: Kushaan Nath bt Rafaan Kabir (Phi) 6-0, 6-0; Mattia Bedolo (ita) bt Taran Mundkur 6-1, 6-0; First round: Taran Mundkur bt Abdulaziz Albayouk (KSA) 6-0, 6-2.

Doubles (quarterfinals): Mohab Hamed (Egy) and Kushaan Nath bt Armon Rabiee (GBR) and Kaan Tuna (Tur) 6-4, 6-1; Pre-quarterfinals: Mohab Hamed and Kushaan Nath bt Hadi Jamal and Hussain Jamal (Kuw) 6-1, 6-2; Fahad Al Janahi (UAE) and Dawood Sayed Hashim bt Abdella Nedim Mohammed (Eth) and Taran Mundkur 6-2, 6-0.

Girls (second round): Mina Guner Karamercan (Tur) bt Sanjana Sudhir 6-1, 6-3; First round: Anita Ance Detlava (Lat) bt Simran Kaur 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Anita Ance Detlava (Lat) and Katarina Weymouth (GBR) bt Mina Guner Karamercan (Tur) and Sanjana Sudhir 2-6, 6-4, 10-7; Pre-quarterfinals: Berfu Cengiz and Defne Olcay (Tur) bt Lara Schmid (Ger) and Simran Kaur 6-0, 6-1.

Fascinating action, hints at a bright future

It has been a fascinating week of tennis action. While the under-16 and under-14 players reinforced the point that Indian tennis had strong roots for a fabulous future ahead, in the Fenesta National Championship in Delhi, the rest slugged it out around the world.

From Rohan Bopanna in Basel to Garvit Batra and Dhruthi Venugopal in the ITF junior grade-2 event in Thailand, Indian tennis did a lot to write about.

National women’s runner-up Shweta Rana, supported by Amira Foods and coached by Todd Clark, saved two matchpoints from 2-5 in the second set to win a second round in Egypt. Tennis is often about the guts and having the will to fight it out. Despite her limitations, Shweta continues to assert her strong self-belief.

Yuki Bhambri in the $50K Melbourne Challenger and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan in the $15K + H men’s ITF Futures event in Lagos continued to inch closer to the country’s No.1 Somdev Devvarman, in the race to ensure Davis Cup berths for the Asia-Oceania first round tie against Chinese Taipei scheduled to be held in Indore early next year. Yuki did very well to make the quarterfinals while Jeevan made his fifth final of the season.

The others like Saketh Myneni, Sanam Singh, Sriram Balaji, Vijayant Malik, Karunuday Singh are likely to step it up over the next few weeks, particularly with three events scheduled in India.

Prarthana Thombare has been getting the results to match her strong game in recent weeks, as she made the quarterfinals of the $25,000 tournament in Lagos. The more she believes in her game, the athletic Prarthana with good strokes would be able to make further progress.

It should inspire the entire Indian women’s tennis, spearheaded by Ankita Raina to take more meaningful steps forward.

Bopanna seeded fifth in Paris, Leander Paes seventh

Rohan Bopanna and Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France were seeded fifth and given a bye in the first round of doubles in the 3,204,745 Euros NBP Paribas Masters ATP 1000 tennis tournament in Paris.

It will be the last chance for Bopanna to qualify for the World Championship in London. The Indo-French pair will play the winner of the match between John Isner/Nicholas Monroe of the US and Jonathan Marray (GBR)/Igor Sijsling (Ned).

Seeded at the top, Bopanna and Vasselin had lost the doubles quarterfinals 4-6, 4-6 to the eventual finalists Julian Knowle and Oliver Marach of Austria in the 1,988,835 Euros Swiss Indoors ATP tennis tournament in Basel, Switzerland.

The duo collected 90 ATP points and shared 10,570 Euros.

Meanwhile, Leander Paes who had ensured his entry in the season-ending championship for the top eight teams in the world in London, with the US Open triumph with Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic, will play in Paris with Daniel Nestor of Canada.

The Indo-Canadian combination has been seeded fifth and given a bye. They will play the winner of the match between Santiago Gonzalez (Mex)/Scott Lipsky (US) and Jamie Murray (GBR)/John Peers (Aus). Paes and partner may play the No.2 ranked and seeded team, Alexander Peya of Austria and Bruno Soares of Brazil in the quarterfinals in the draw of 32.

Ranked 14 in the world behind Bopanna (No.5) and Paes (No.10), Mahesh Bhupathi has skipped the Paris Masters as well. Having changed his mind about retiring by the end of the current season, Mahesh has apparently taken it easy, possibly focusing on various other commitments.

Yuki Bhambri loses quarterfinals of the $50,000 Melboure Challenger

Yuki Bhambri lost 3-6, 4-6 to the fifth-seeded James Duckworth of Australia in the quarterfinals of the $50,000 Melbourne Challenger.

The 287^th ranked Yuki had scored a 6-1, 7-6(5) victory in the pre-quarterfinals over qualifier Maverick Banes of Australia, who incidentally had shown the door to the second-seeded Stephane Robert of France.

The quarterfinals fetched 15 ATP points and $1460. Yuki in partnership had to share $360 with his doubles partner Yasutaka Uchiyama of Japan, as the duo had lost the first round 4-6, 6-3, 5-10 to the third-seeded Bradley Klahn of the US and Michael Venus of New Zealand.

The 21-year-old Yuki will play another $50,000 Challenger in Trarolgon, Victoria, in which he has been seeded eighth and drawn to play qualifier Brendon Moore of Australia.

In doubles, Yuki has partnered Mitchell Krueger of the US, and will play the Aussies, Maverick Banes and Gavin van Peperzeel. A victory will fetch a prize fight against the top-seeded Chris Guccione and Matt Reid of Australia, the only team to enjoy a bye in the first round.

Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan loses final in Lagos, Nigeria

The second-seeded Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan went down 4-6, 3-6 to the fourth-seeded Ante Pavic of Croatia in the final of the $15,000 + H men’s ITF Futures tennis tournament in Lagos, Nigeria.

It was the fifth final loss this season for the 25-year-old Jeevan who had won his fifth singles title in Coimbatore earlier in the season.

The 309^th ranked Jeevan who collected 20 ATP points had outplayed the eighth-seeded Andre Gaspar Murta of Portugal 6-1, 6-2 in the semifinals. He beat compatriot and former national champion V. M. Ranjeet in a tough quarterfinals, 7-6(4), 7-5.

Ranjeet had done very well earlier to beat Vishnu Vardhan 6-3, 6-4 in the pre-quarterfinals.

In doubles, Mithun Murali did well to reach the semifinals with Tunde Segodo of Benegal and lost 1-6, 3-6 to the top-seeded Ante Pavic of Croatia and Ruan Roelofse of South Africa, who eventually went on to win the title.

Murali and partner had earlier beaten Sunday Maku and Lawal Shehu of Nigeria 3-6, 6-2, 10-8.

Vijay Sundar Prashanth loses doubles quarterfinals in Tipton, Britain

The second-seeded Vijay Sundar Prashanth and Adam Chadaj of Poland lost the doubles quarterfinals 4-6, 4-6 to Graeme Dyce and Calum Gee of Britain in $10,000 ITF men’s Futures tennis tournament in Tipton, Britain.

Ramkumar loses doubles final in Spain

National champion R. Ramkumar in partnership with David Perez Sanz of Spain made the doubles final, but lost to the fourth-seeded Antonio Campo and Omar Giacalone of Italy 6-3, 4-6, 6-10, in the $10,000 ITF men’s Futures tennis tournament in El Prat De Llobregat, Spain.

In the semifinals, the Indo-Spanish pair had outplayed Martin Salazar of Spain and Jean-Marc Werner of Germany y 6-0, 6-2. The duo had eased past wild cards Bogdan Didenko of Ukraine and Alan Gadjiev of Uzbekistan 6-3, 6-2 in the quarterfinals, after having endured a tough first round against Jason Kubler (Aus) and Pol Toledo Bague (Esp) in the first round.

Prarthana loses quarterfinals in the $25,000 ITF women’s tournament in Lagos, Nigeria

Prarthana Thombare lost 0-6, 4-6 to the second-seeded Nina Bratchikova of Russia in the quarterfinals of the $25,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament in Lagos, Nigeria.

The 19-year-old Prarthana who had made the quarterfinals of a similar tournament last week in Lagos, had earlier beaten the eighth-seeded Conny Perrin of Switzeraland 6-2, 7-6(11) in the pre-quarterfinals.

In doubles, Prarthana and Rishika Sunkara went down 3-6, 6-7(5) to the third-seeded Margarita Lazareva and Anna Morgina of Russia in the quarterfinals.

Shweta Rana loses quarterfinals in Egypt

National runner-up and the third-seeded Shweta Rana lost 1-6, 2-6 to Pauline Payet of France in the quarterfinals of the $10,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.

The 20-year-old Shweta had made a dramatic recovery in the pre-quarterfinals from being two matchpoints down in the eighth game of the second set to record a memorable 6-7(4), 7-5, 6-4 victory over Karina Venditti of Brazil.

Incidentlaly, Payet had accounted for qualifier Sneha Padamata 6-2, 6-1 in the pre-quarterfinals. The seventh-seeded Natasha Palha had also bowed out 2-6, 2-6 to Elise Mertens of Belgium in the pre-quarterfinals.

In doubles semifinals, the top-seeded Shweta and Natalja Kostic of Serbia went down fighting 2-6, 7-6(5), 9-11 to the fourth-seeded Valieriya Strakhova of Ukraine and Karina Venditti of Brazil.

The Indo-Serbian pair had earlier beaten Tessa Breve of the Netherlands and Viktoriya Mun of Belarus 6-7(4), 6-4, 10-4 in the quarterfinals.

Natasha palha and Valeria Prosperi of Italy also made the doubles semifinals before losing 3-6, 1-6 to the second-seeded Elise Mertens of Belgium and Sandra Zaniewska of Poland, the eventual champions.

The third-seeded Natasha and partner had beaten Ksenia Dmitrieva of Russia and Martina Pradova of the Czech Republic 7-5, 6-3 in the quarterfinals.

Pranjala Yadlapalli loses first round of doubles also in Osaka

Pranjala Yadlapalli in partnership with Suyeon Choi of Korea lost 1-6, 2-6 to the fifth-seeded Ziyue Sun and Ying Zhang of China in the doubles first round of the Osaka Mayor’s Cup World Super Junior tennis championship in Japan. She had lost in the first round of singles .

Garvit Batra, Dhruthi Venugopal lose quarterfinals of ITF grade-2 tournament in Thailand

The seventh-seeded Garvit Batra lost the quarterfinals 4-6, 4-6 to the top-seeded Boris Pokotilov of Russia in the ITF grade-2 junior tennis tournament in Nonthaburi, Thailand.

The Asian Youth Games bronze medallist, Garvit had beaten Xi Qi of China 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 in the pre-quarterfinals after having outplayed qualifier Warit Boonrak of Thailand 6-2, 6-1 in the second round in a draw of 64.

Dhruthi Venugopal also lost the quarterfinals, 4-6, 1-6, to the top seed and eventual champion Kamonwan Buayam of Thailand.

She had fought her way past Anna Grigoryan of Russia 7-5, 5-7, 7-5 in the pre-quarterfinals after dismissing qualifier Phonephathe Philavong of Laos 6-3, 6-1 in the second round.

Qualifier Tanasha Khandpur lost the second round 0-6, 0-6 to the second-seeded Anna Kalinskaya of Russia.

In doubles, Dhruthi and Vasanti Shinde lost the second round, 4-6, 7-5, 6-10 to Plobrung Plipuech and Bunyawi Thamchaiwat of Thailand.

In boys doubles, Sahil Deshmukh in partnership with Runhao Hua of China had a fine run to the final, before the duo lost 4-6, 4-6 to the eighth-seeded Pruchya Isarow and Teeradon Tortrakul of Thailand.

In the semifinals, Sahil and the Chinese beat the top-seeded Bogdan Bobrov and Boris Pokotilov of Russia 7-6(2), 6-2. The Indo-Chinese pair beat Alex De Minaur and Mitchell Harper of Australia 6-3, 6-1 in the quarterfinals, after having beaten Garvit Batra and Armando Soemarno of Indonesia 6-3, 2-6, 10-8 in the earlier round in a draw of 32.

Sanjana Sudhir loses quarterfinals in ITF juniors in Dubai

Sanjana Sudhir went down fighting 6-4, 3-6, 3-6 to the fifth-seeded Habiba Shaker of Egypt in the third round of the ITF grade-4 junior tennis tournament in Dubai.

In doubles, the top-seeded Sanjana and Tessah Andrianjafitrimo of France lost 3-6, 5-7 to the third-seeded Natalya Malenko and Yelyzaveta Pletnyeva of Ukraine in the final.

In the semifinals, the top seeds beat the fourth-seeded Nancy Fawzy of Egypt and Luciana Rabines of the US 7-6(2), 6-1. It was a revenge victory, as the Egypt-US pair had beaten Karishma Bhawnani and Simran Noronha 6-3, 7-5 in the quarterfinals. Sanjana and partner had won 6-1, 6-1 against Habiba Khaled Aly of Egypt and Yuliya Kim of Uzbekistan in the quarterfinals.

Rikeetha loses singles quarterfinals and doubles final in South Africa

The second-seeded Rikeetha Pereira lost the quarterfinals 3-6, 0-6 to the fifth-seeded  Mari Van Heerden of South Africa in the ITF grade-5 junior tennis tournament in Stellenbosch, South Africa.

Rikeetha had beaten Juliane Schuckmann of Namibia 6-0, 6-1 in the second round.

In doubles, the second-seeded Rikeeth and Varia Klaric of Serbia lost the final 6-2, 2-6, 7-10 to Rachel Papavaslopoulos of the US and Holly Thompson of Britain.

The Indo-Serbian combination had won the semifinals 6-3, 6-3 against Barbara Huyskes and Eva Vedder of the Netherlands; and the quarterfinals in a more dramatic fashion 6-4, 5-7, 10-7 against Danielle Du Plooy and Ninette Van Vreden of South Africa. It was a straightforward 6-3, 6-4 win in the first round against Rouxanne Janse Van Rensburg and Lindsay Truscott of South Africa.

Another lively week ahead with plenty of action . . .

Rohan Bopanna has announced that he would be partnering his long-time friend Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan on the professional tour next year.

Of course, Prajwal Hegde, the Times of India Tennis Editor had written about it before others from Shanghai.

The race for London is reaching its climax, Bopanna’s priority at the moment is to make it with Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France. He had made the final with Mahesh Bhupathi in the last edition in the World Championship in London.

Bopanna has been seeded No.1 in the 1,988,835 Euros Swiss Indoors ATP Tour event in Basel, Switzerland. The duo, ranked 14^th in the race with 1850 points, will open its campaign against Lukasz Kubot of Poland and Andreas Seppi of Italy. It is a 500-point event, and even a title victory will only take the pair close to the top-eight. It will be Paris that offers 1000 ATP points that would clear the air on the subject.

While Sania Mirza has wound up her season, Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi are not playing this week. Both should be seen in action with their partners next week in Paris. Paes and Radek Stepanek of the CzechRepublic are in the seventh spot with 2990 points while Bhupathi, playing with different partners including Bopanna this season has not been able to make the cut for the year-end championship.

Interestingly, Qureshi, who had made the cut with Bopanna for the top-eight teams before the duo split to prepare in earnest for the London Games, is ranked sixth in the race with Jan-Julien Rojer of the Netherlands, with 3215 points.

Yuki Bhambri in the second round of the $50,000 Melboure Challenger

The 287^th ranked Yuki Bhambri, ranked the second best after Somdev Devvarman (90) got off to a comfortable start in the $50,000 Melbourne Challenger, as he beat the rain to sail past qualifier James Lemke of Australia 6-4, 6-0.

In the pre-quarterfinals, the 21-year-old Yuki will play another qualifier Maverick Banes of Australia who ousted the second-seeded Stephane Robert of France 7-6(6), 1-6, 6-3.

Yuki in partnership with Yasutaki Uchiyama of Japan was scheduled to play the third-seeded Bradley Klahn of the US and Michael Venus of New Zealand in the doubles pre-quarterfinals on Tuesday itself, but rain washed out play for the day.

Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan, Vishnu Vardhan, VM Ranjeet and Mithun Murali taste success in Lagos, Nigeria

The second-seeded Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan defeated Clifford Enosoregbe of Nigeria 6-4, 7-5 in the first round of the $15,000 + H men’s ITF Futures tennis tournament in Lagos, Nigeria.

The seventh-seeded V. M. Ranjeet, Vishnu Vardhan and qualifier Mithun Murali also joined him in the second round. Interstingly, Ranjeet and Vardhan will play each other in the second round, and the winner may challenge Jeevan in the quarterfinals.

Well, you travel around the world to Africa, to beat each other in search of the crucial ATP points that promise a better life !

The second-seeded Jeevan and Ranjeet have given a walkover in the first round of doubles.

The results:

Singles (first round): Mithun Murali bt Robert Mensah Kpodo (Gha) 6-3, 6-1; V. M. Ranjeet bt Joseph Imeh Ubon (Ngr) 7-5, 4-6, 6-0; Vishnu Vardhan bt Eric Vehovec (Can) 6-3, 6-2; Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan bt Clifford Enosoregbe (Ngr) 6-4, 7-5.

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Tunde Segood (Ben) and Mithun Murali bt Alexei Filenkov (Rus) and Andre Gaspar Murta (Por) 4-6, 6-3, 10-8; Candy Idoko (Ngr) and Daouda Ndiaye (Sen) w.o. Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and V. M. Ranjeet.

Qualifying event (second and final round): Mithun Murali bt Albert Bisong Bikom 6-3 7-5; First round: Mithun Murali bt Sunday Maku (Ngr) 6-3, 6-0.

Vijay Sundar Prashanth loses first round in Tipton, Britain

Vijay Sundar Prashanth was beaten 6-4, 6-1 by qualifier Jesper Brunstrom of Sweden in the first round of the $10,000 ITF men’s Futures tennis tournament in Tipton, Britain.

In doubles, Vijay was seeded No.2 with Adam Chadaj of Poland and given a bye in the first round. The duo was set to play Graeme Dyce and Calum Gee of Britain in the quarterfinals.

Ramkumar loses first round in Spain

National champion R. Ramkumar was beaten 6-1, 1-6, 6-2 by the third-seeded Lamine Ouahab of Algeria in the first round of the $10,000 ITF men’s Futures tennis tournament in El Prat De Llobregat, Spain.

In doubles, however, seeded second with David Perez Sanz of Spain, Ramkumar made the quarterfinals, with a 7-6(4), 7-6(7) victory over Jason Kubler of Australia and Pol Toledo Bague of Spain.

Two other Indians figured in the qualifying event, but were beaten in the first round. Rahul Somani was beaten 6-1, 6-0 by Keshav Vellodi of the US while the sixth-seeded Rakshit Rishi went down fighting 2-6, 6-1, 4-6 to Giovanni Grieco of Italy.

Vinod Gowda loses first qualifying round in the US

In the absence of Sanam Singh and Vijayant Malik, there was a surprise Indian entry int he $10,000 ITF men’s Futures tennis tournament in Birmingham, US.

Vinod Gowda, however, was unable to sustain the Indian challenge and lost in the first qualifying round 1-6, 6-2, 2-6 to William Kallberg of Sweden in the draw of 128.

Prarthana progresses in the $25,000 ITF women’s tournament in Lagos, Nigeria

Prarthana Thombare continued to assert her good game as she beat qualifier Ester Masuri of Israel 6-2, 6-0 in the first round of the $25,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament in lagos, Nigeria.

However, the rest of the Indian players, Rishika Sunkara, Nidhi Chilumula, qualifiers Kyra Shroff and Smriti Joon were beaten in the first round.

Prarthana was scheduled to play the eighth-seeded Conny Perrin of Switzeraland who had beaen Nidhi 6-1, 6-1.

The results:

Singles (first round): Channel Simmonds (RSA) bt Rishika sunkara 6-4,6-1; Anna Morgina bt Kyra Shroff 6-4, 6-2; Naomi Broady (GBR0 bt Smriti Joon 6-2, 6-1; Conny Perrin (Sui) bt Nidhi Chilumula 6-1, 6-1; Prarthana Thombare bt Ester Masuri (Isr) 6-2, 6-0.

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Rishika Sunkara and Prarthana Thombare bt Zarah Razafimahatratra (Mad) and Jasmin Steinherr (Ger) 6-2, 6-7(5), 10-7; Dalila Jakupovic (Slo) and kyra Shroff bt Nina Bratchiova (Rus) and Ines Murta (Por) 7-6(3), 6-2.

Qualifying event (second and final round): Kyra Shroff bt Ines Murta (Por) 3-6, 6-3, 6-3; Aminat Quadri (Ngr) bt Nikita Deshmmukh 6-0, 6-2; Smriti Joon bt Blessing Samuel (Ngr) 7-5, 6-1; First round: Kyra Shroff bt Crystal Ogochukwu Nzewi and abiodun Oyegoke (Ngr) 6-0, 6-0; Nikita Deshmukh bt Tega Richad (Ngr) 6-3, 6-0; Smriti Joon bt Hennetta Ogude (Ngr) 6-1, 6-0.

Shweta Rana in second round in Egypt

National championship runner-up Shweta Rana beat qualifier Iva Ivkovic of Serbia 6-0, 7-6(2) to make the second round of the $10,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.

The 20-year-old Shweta, seeded third, was scheduled to play Karina Vendittti of Brazil.

While wild card Tanisha Rohira was beaten 6-1, 6-0 by the top-seeded Sandra Zaniewska of Poland, three other Indians, the seventh-seeded Natasha Palha and qualifiers Ashmitha Easwaramurthi and Sneha padamata were yet to play their first round.

Only 10 players figured in the qualifying event scheduled to spot eight qualifiers, and thus Sneha Padamata and Ashmitha Easwaramurthi were deemed qualified without playing a match.

The doubles action was yet to kick off with the top-seeded Shweta Rana and Natalija Kostic of Serbia being given a bye into the quarterfinals. The third seeded Natasha Palha and Valeria Prosperi of Italy were also seeded straight into the quarterfinals.

The results:

Singles (first round): Sandra Zaniewska (Pol) bt Tanisha Rohira 6-1, 6-0; Shweta Rana bt Iva Ivkovic (Srb) 6-0,7-6(2).

Pranjala Yadlapalli loses first round in Osaka

Pranjala Yadlapalli was beaten 7-5, 6-2 by Kimika Sakata of Japan in the girls first round of the Osaka Mayor’s Cup World Super Junior tennis championship in Osaka, Japan.

In doubles, she partnered Suyeon Choi of Korea and was scheduled to take on the fifth-seeded ziyue Sun and Ying Zhang of China.

Garvit Batra and Dhruthhi Venugopal in second round in ITF juniors event in Thailand

Garvit Batra and Dhruthi Venugopal made it to the second round in the boys and girls sections respectively in the ITF grade-2 junior tournament in Nonthaburi, Thailand.

Qualifier Tanasha Khandpur also continued with her good run and made the second round in which she was scheduled to face the second-seeded Anna Kalinskaya of Russia.

The results:

Boys:

Singles (first round): Garvit Batra bt Jonatan Lundstedt (Swe) 6-3, 6-3; Tanatuch Boonsiri (Tha) bt Ramakrishnan Rengaraj 6-0, 6-0; Ulugbek Fayzullaev (Uzb) bt Sahil Deshmukh 1-6, 6-4, 6-1.

Doubles (first round): Sirawit Daosaengsawang and Phongsapak Kerdlaphee (Tha) bt Tejas Kapoor and Ramakrishnan rengaraj 6-2, 6-2; Runhao Hua (Chn) and Sahil Deshmukh bt Pattanapong Borisutpong and Ratana Tripoj (Tha) 6-2, 6-1; Armando C. Soemarno (Ina) and Garvit Batra bt Jirat Navasirisomboon and Chanintom Silakul (Tha) 6-3, 4-6, 12-10.

Qualifying event (third and final round): Ramakrishnan Rengaraj bt John Bryan Decasa (Phi) 6-4, 6-1; Tanatuch Boonsiri (Tha) bt Tejas Kapoor 6-2, 6-1; Second round: Robert Rasmussen (Swe) bt Priyank soni 6-4, 6-1; Ramakrishnan Rengaraj bt Michael Phonwisut (Tha) 4-6, 6-0, 6-2; Tejas Kapoor bt Kasidit Srivisate (Tha 6-4, 6-1; First round: Priyank soni bt Suppasan Suppamaneevitsiri (Tha) 6-0, 6-1.

Girls (first round): Dhruthi Venugopal bt Kamonluk Kittitanom (Tha) 6-4, 6-4; Sawariya Vasupongchai (Tha) bt Kaaviya Balasubramanian 6-3, 6-1; Thanthita Suetrong (Tha) bt Vasanti Shinde 6-2, 6-4; Tanasha Khandpur bt Vetaka Thipwongthong (Tha) 6-2, 7-5.

Doubels (first round): Parima Leenabanchong and Chutima Mijaroen (Tha) bt Alvina Lai (Hkg) and Kaaviya Balasubramanian 6-4, 7-6(1); Vasanti Shinde and Dhruthi Venugopal bt Amarie Settiwongse and Juthamas Thaipakdee (Tha) 6-1, 6-1; Rheeya Doshi (Sin) and Tami Grende (Ina) bt Phonephathep Philavong (Lao) and Niditra Rajmohan 6-1, 6-4.

Qualifying event (third and final round): Tanasha Khandpur bt anchana Sonkaew (Tha) 4-6, 7-5, 6-1; Parima Leenabanchong (Tha) bt Niditra Rajmohan 1-6, 6-0, 6-0; Kaaviya Balasubramanian bt Ananya Chantharobol (Tha) 6-3, 6-2.

Sanjana Sudhir in quarterfinals in ITF juniors in Dubai

The third-seeded Sanjana Sudhir defeated Yelyzaveta Pletnyeva of Ukraine 6-3, 6-4 to make the quarterfinals of the ITF grade-4 junior tennis tournament in Dubai.

In doubles, she was seeded No.1 with Tessah Andrianjafitrimo of France, and given a bye in the first round.

The results:

Boys (pre-quarterfinals): Shamael Chaudhary (GBR) bt Dhir Gala 6-3, 6-1; First round: Sherzodbek Radjabov (Uzb) bt Harman Suri 6-4, 7-6(2); Karim Najia (GBR) bt Dhruv Bahl 6-4, 6-2; Ghassan Alansi (Yem) bt Karan Soni 6-0,6-0; Akram El Sallaly (Egy) bt Brent Dixon 6-2, 6-1; Dhir Gala bt Saulius Pakstys (Ltu) 6-0, 6-3.

 Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Danlil Mischshenko (Kaz) and Alexey Prokopchuk (Ukr) bt Brent Dixon and Dhir Gala 6-1, 6-1; Karim Najia (GBR) and Ashkan Shekarriz (Iri) bt Adham Hesham Gabr (Egy) and Harman Suri 6-3, 6-3; Ghassan Alansi (Yem) and Kareem Allaf (Syr) bt Alex Smith (Aus) and Karan Soni 6-3, 6-2.

Qualifiying event (third and final round): Harman Suri bt Ritvik Bhawnani (UAE) 6-4, 6-3; Dhruv Bahl bt Alex Smith (Aus) 6-3, 6-1; Second round: Harman Suri bt Vijay Gupta 6-1, 6-2; Dhruv Bahl bt Marius Pakstys (Ltu) 6-1, 6-1; Saulius Pakstys (Ltu) bt Anshul Choubal 6-4, 4-6, 6-3; Nour Nehme (Lib) bt Puneet Varier 4-6, 6-1, 6-2; Muhammad Tlaha Surmawala (Pak) bt Akshay Kalyan 6-3, 6-1.

Girls (pre-quarterfinals): Sanjana sudhir bt Yelyzaveta Pletnyeva (Ukr) 6-3, 6-4; First round: Madeleine Gauthier (US) bt Simran Noronha 6-4, 6-4; Habiba Shaker (Egy) bt Simran Kaur 6-0, 6-1; Malin Buechner (Ger) bt Karishma Bhawnani 6-0, 6-0; Rana Essam (Egy) bt Rai Sengupta 6-2, 6-2.

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Karishma Bhawnani and Simran Noronha bt Naglaa Gabr (Egy) and Lara Schmid (Ger) 6-4, 6-2; Madeleine Gauthier (US) and Xeniya Prokopchuk (Ukr) bt Simran Kaur and Rai Sengupta 7-5, 6-1.

Rikeetha in second round in South Africa

The second-seeded Rikeetha Pereira defeated Lucy Stofberg of South Africa 6-1, 6-0 in the first round of the ITF grade-5 junior tennis tournament in Stellenbosch, South Africa.

In doubles, Rikeetha was seeded second with Vania Klaric of Serbia.

Champions make a fresh start . . . don't look for the missing players !

Everyone aspires, but few achieve. The Fenesta National tennis championship had looked quite open, but it was the top-seeded Mohit Mayur and the defending champion Prerna Bhambri who walked away with the trophy and an equal prize purse of Rs.150,000.

After being based in Spain and competing in tournaments in the tough European circuit, the 20-year-old Mohit had grappled with a back injury. He did not have much to speak for in the four tournaments that he competed in the ITF men’s circuit this season, in which he had failed to qualify for the main event in two.

It was decided that he should train with former Davis Cup coach Nandan Bal in Pune for a few weeks in preparation for the National championship. One of the best coaches in the country, who has guided many players over the years, Nandan was able to tune the game of the bespectacled Mohit nicely to help the lad peak at the right time.

One thing that Nandan did was to ensure that Mohit would retain his attacking instinct rather than become defensive. If you want to make the jump to the next level, you just cannot afford to hesitate with your serve or strokes. You have to go for it, with confidence and good technique.

It had looked that Arjuna Kadhe, who partnered Mohit for the doubles title, would pose a serious challenge, but he was unable to rise to the occasion. Mohit served strong and stroked with intelligence, unleashing the passing shots with effortless ease, to outplay the 19-year-old Arjun 6-3, 6-1.

Prerna Bhambri had been struggling with a shoulder injury, and thus chose to relaunch her career in the National championship. She was not at her best in terms of the quality of her game, but there was no dearth of determination.

In contrast, the top-seeded Shweta Rana, who has been playing regularly in the international circuit had put too much pressure on herself, and thus was not able to face the challenge with equanimity at the crunch. Prerna won the final 7-5, 6-2 in about two hours, and there was a lot of excitement, particularly in the first set.

Shweta was playing the tournament to win it. She was perhaps more worried about the result rather than the process. Yet, she had done very well to win the doubles title with Olympian Rushmi Chakravarthi.

For coach Todd Clark who has been training Shweta at the Harvest Tennis Academy in Jassowal, Ludhiana, for about three years, it was an encouraging sign that she managed to win a title from ten finals this season, in singles and doubles. Nothing teaches like experience !  Shweta had beaten a string of good players, but lost to the best. She had lost the women’s final in the national championship in 2007 as well.

Hardeep Singh Sandhu from Punjab and Sai Samhitha from Tamil Nadu won the junior boys and girls titles respectively, to fetch themselves a minor launching pad.

Good training and quality competition is the only way for progress. If most of the leading Indian players get it at the international level, it will be unfair to expect them to honour the national championship, even though most of them may have never won the national title.

Of course, with varying views from different sides, this topic deserves to be addressed properly.

For the time being, let us appreciate the champions, rather than look for the missing players !

Natasha Palha loses semifinals in Egypt

The fourth-seeded Natasha Palha lost 2-6, 3-6 to the fifth-seeded Elise Mertens of Belgium in the semifinals of the $10,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.

The 19-year-old Goan girl who had a made a final earlier this year in Chennai, had beaten the seventh-seeded Valeria Prosperi of Italy in the quarterfinals.

Vishnu Vardhan loses semifinals, Jeevan and Ranjeet quarterfinals in doubles

The second-seeded Vishnu Vardhan and Hiroki Kondo of Japan lost 6-1, 3-6, 10-12 to Boma Coric and Dino Marcan of Croatia in the doubles semifinals of the $15,000 + H men’s ITF Futures tennis tournament in Lagos, Nigeria.

In the quarterfinals, Vishnu and partner had outplayed Pekun Alkingbade and Kehinde Alade of Nigeria 6-1, 6-1.

However, the third-seeded Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and V. M. Ranjeet were beaten 3-6, 6-3, 10-6 by Sunday Maku and Lawal Shehu of Nigeria in the quarterfinals.

Paramveer Singh Bajwa loses semifinals in ITF junior tournament in Colombo

Paramveer Singh Bajwa was beaten 6-3, 6-2 by Nishangan Nadaraja of Sri Lanka in the semifinals of the ITF grade-4 junior tennis tournament in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Meanwhile, Issha Budwal and Praneetha Sathishkumar made the girls doubles final with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Xenia Prokopchuk of Ukraine and Angelia Raman. The duo was scheduled to face Khim Iglupas and Roxanne May Resma of the Philippines.

Dhruthi Venugopal loses semifinals in ITF junior grade-3 tournament in Kuching, Malaysia

The sixth-seeded Dhruthi Venugopal was beaten 6-4, 6-0 by the second-seeded Yijia Shao of China, in the 22^nd Sarawak Chief Minister’s Cup ITF junior grade -3 tennis tournament in Kuching Malaysia.

However, Dhruthi and Vasanti Shinde went down fighting 7-6(2), 3-6, 7-10 to the top-seeded Kim Dabin of Korea and Tamachan Momkoonthod of Thailand in the doubles quarterfinals.

The results:

Boys (second round): Daniel Nolan (Aus) bt Sasha Kingsley 6-1, 6-2.

First round: Atikan Juprang (Tha) bt Kunaal Namashivaya 6-0, 6-0; Sasha Kingsley bt Marco Danielo Geronimo (Mas) 6-1, 6-1.

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Francois Kellerman and Okkie Kellerman (RSA) w.o. Nawakarn Khunjan (Tha) and Kunaal Namashivaya.

First round: Sherwin Foo (Sin) and Hua-Chen Yu (Tpe) bt Ranveer Singh Ryan (Mas) and Sasha Kingsley 6-1, 6-2.

Girls (semifinals): Yijia Shao (Chn) bt Dhruthi Venugopal 6-4, 6-0.

Quarterfinals: Dhruthi Venugopal bt Claire Yoonkee Choi Spackman (Hkg) 6-3, 6-0.

Pre-quarterfinals: Julie Noe (Den) bt Vasanti Shinde 6-0, 7-6(4); Dhruthi Venugopal bt Yi-Chi Ma (Tep) 6-2, 6-3.

Second round: Dhruthi Venugopal bt Milana Lysova (Rus) 6-2, 6-0; Vasanti Shinde bt Ashley Kei Yim (Sin) 6-0, 6-1.

Doubles (quarterfinals): Dabin Kim and Tamachan Momkoonthod (Tha) bt Vasanti Shinde and Dhruthi Venugopal 6-7(2), 6-3, 10-7.

Pre-quarterfinals: Vasanti and Dhruthi bt aslina Chuaan Ping (Mas) and Bunyawi thamchaiwat (Tha) 6-3, 6-1.

The success is in joining the race . . .

The National championship is in full swing, trying to keep pace with the aspirations of most of the young players. It is a big platform for the young talent , and some of the proven champions like Nitten Kirrtane and Rushmi Chakravarthi to emphasise their ability to compete at this level, despite lack of experience or the unbridled youthful energy.

For the No.1 seeded players like Mohit Mayur, with an explosive serve and an intimidating forehand, or the short-built Shweta Rana who tries to be swift on the court like the Japanese, it could be a launching pad for a better tennis career.

Most of the other leading players and a number of young ones, are around the world, trying to make the jump. Yuki Bhambri and company have had a mixed bag, as the week grinds to an end. Indian tennis has been busy over the week-ends which has been a good sign as the players have been able to go deep into the draw and win a few titles as well. Most of the times, they are successful in the doubles. However, the commitment the players, their parents and the coaches have shown to stick it out is commendable.

The success is in joining the race. You never know what is in store !

Prarthana loses in the  quarterfinals of the $25,000 ITF women’s tournament in Lagos, Nigeria

Prarthana Thombare did very well to make the quarterfinals of the $25,000 ITF women’s tournament in Lagos, Nigeria, before being beaten by the seventh-seeded Naomi Broady of Britain.

It was a bit of a disappointment for Prarthana as she had earlier beaten the third-seeded Eva Birnerova of the Czech Republic 6-1, 6-2 In the pre-quarterfinals.

The Indian players found the doubles surprising tough to crack as they lost the first round. Rishika Sunkara and Prarthana were beaten 3-6, 6-2, 10-7 by Margarita Lazareva of Russia and Jasmin Steinherr of Germany. Nidhi Chilumula in partnership with Michaela Frlicka of Germany was beaten 6-2, 6-2 by the third-seeded Fatima Al Nabhani of Oman and Cristina Dinu of Romania.

Natasha Palha in quarterfinals in Egypt

The fourth-seeded Natasha Palha cruised into the quarterfinals of the $10,000 ITF women’s tournament in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Ella Leivo of Frinland.

The 19-year-old Goan was scheduled to face the seventh-seeded Valeria Prosperi of Italy in the quarterfinals.

In the doubles quarterfinals, Natasha and Sneha Padamata were beaten 6-2, 6-1 by Paulina Payet of France and Liudmila Vasilyeva of Russia. In another quarterfinal, Ashmitha Easwaramurthi in partnership with Katy Dunne of Britain was beaten 7-6(4), 6-1 by the second-seeded Ola Abou Zekry of Egypt and Karina Venditti of Brazil.

Vishnu Vardhan, Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan, Mithun Murali lose quarterfinals

Vishnu Vardhan went down fighting 7-6(5), 2-6, 1-6 to the sixth-seeded Boma Coric of Croatia in the quarterfinals of the $15,000 + H men’s ITF Futures tennis tournament in Lagos, Nigeria.

It was a good run for Vishnu, returning to the circuit after a break, as he had beaten the fourth-seeded Dino Marcan of Croatia 6-2, 7-6(5) in the second round.

The two other Indians in the fray, the third-seeded Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and qualifier Mithun Murali also lost in the quarterfinals, understandably in contrasting fashion.

The results:

Singles (quarterfinals): Boma Coric (Cro) bt Vishnu Vardhan 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-1; Andre Gaspar Murta (Por) bt Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan 6-2, 2-6, 6-4; Ante Pavic (Cro) bt Mithun Murali 6-1, 6-2.

Pre-quarterfinals: Vishnu Vardhan bt Dino Marcan (Cro) 6-2, 7-6(5); Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan bt Sanni Adamu (Ngr) 6-2, 6-3; Mithun Murali bt Joseph Imeh Ubon (Ngr) 6-4, 4-6, 6-0.

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and V. M. Ranjeet bt Candy Idoko and Nonso Madueke (Ngr) 6-1, 6-2.; Hiroki Kondo (Jpn) and Vishnu Vardhan bt Henry Atseye (Ngr) and Eric Vehovec (Can) 6-2, 6-2.

Yuki Bhambri loses quarterfinals in Sydney

The top-seeded Yuki Bhambri was beaten 6-2, 7-5 by the sixth-seeded Yasutaka Uchiyama of Japan in the quarterfinals of the $15,000 ITF men’s Futures tennis tournament in Sydney, Australia.

Yuki, seeded third with Yasutaka Uchiyama, had to endure a 4-6, 3-6 loss in the doubles final as well, against the top-seeded Dane Propoggia of Australia and Jose Statham of New Zealand.

Sriram Balaji loses second round in Germany

The third-seeded Sriram Balaji went down fighting 6-4, 4-6, 2-6 to Alexander Ritschard of Switzerland in the pre-quarterfinals of the $10,000 ITF men’s Futures tennis tournament in Essen, Germany.

As expected, Balaji and Miki Jankovic of Serbia made the doubles final, albeit with a walkover in the semifinal from Michel Dornbusch and Jonas Koenig of Germany.

The results:

Doubles (quarterfinals): Sriram Balaji and Miki Jankovic (Srb) bt Peter Torebko and Holger Zuehlsdorff-Pavlovic (Ger) 3-6, 6-3, 10-7; Pre-quarterfinals: Balaji and Jankovic bt Jan Oliver Sadlowski and Johann Willems (Ger) 6-3, 7-5.

Sanam Singh and Vijayant Malik lose first round in the US circuit

The third-seeded Sanam Singh went down fighting7-6(6), 2-6, 6-7(2) to the 809^th ranked Andrew Harris of Australia in the first round of the $15,000 ITF men’s Futures tournament in Mansfield, Texas, US.

The fifth-seeded Vijayant Malik also crashed to a 2-6, 3-6 defeat in the first round at the hands of qualifier Jakob Sude of Germany.

In the doubles pre-quarterfinals, Sanam and Vijayant were beaten 7-5, 6-4 by Mindaugas Celedinas of Lithuania and Marek Pesicka of the Czech Republic.

R. Ramkumar loses doubles semifinals in Spain

The second-seeded R. Ramkumar and David Perez Sanz of Spain were beaten 6-4, 4-6, 10-6 by the third-seeded Jordi Munoz-Abreu of Venezuela and Mark Vervoort of the Netherlands in the doubles semifinals of the $10,000 ITF men’s Futures tournament in El Prat De Liobregat, Spain.

In the quarterfinals, the Indo-Spanish duo had beaten Javier Fernandez and Sergio Martos Gornes of Spain 6-3, 6-1.

Purav Raja and Divij Sharan lose early

With the top guns not competing this week, it was left to Purav Raja and Divij Sharan to sustain the Indian presence in the big league, but the duo had to endure a first round exit in the $823,550 Kremlin Cup in Moscow on Wednesday.

Divij and Purav who had made the final of the $125,000 Challenger in Tashkent last week, lost 4-6, 6-3, 5-10 to Alex Bogomolov Jr. of Russia and Dudi Sela of Israel in the pre-quarterfinals and had to return empty handed in terms of ATP points. The duo split $3,910.

Even as the national championship gathers momentum in New Delhi, the Indian players are spread around the world in the US, UK, Australia, Spain, Germany, Nigeria, Kazakhstan and Egypt. Of course, there were more than two dozen juniors competing in Sri Lanka, projecting a healthy sign for the future.

Prarthana makes progress in the $25,000 ITF women’s tournament in Lagos, Nigeria

Prarthana Thombare was the only Indian girl among four to make it to the pre-quarterfinals of the $25,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament in Lagos, Nigeria.

Prarthana beat qualifier Loveth Nnadozie of Nigeria 6-1, 6-1, while three others including Kyra Shroff lost first round. Nidhi Chilumula and Rishika Sunkara went down in three sets to Russian and German opponents respectively.

The results:

Singles (first round): Margarita Lazareva (Rus) bt Nidhi Chilumula 7-5, 6-7(6), 6-3; Prarthana Thombare bt Loveth Nnadozie (Ngr) 6-1, 6-1; Jasmin Steinherr (Ger) bt Kyra Shroff 6-3, 6-2; Michaela Frlicka (Ger) bt Rishika Sunkara 6-7(2), 6-3, 7-5.

Qualifying event (second and final round): Kyra Shroff bt Aminat Quadri (Ngr) 6-1, 6-0; Loveth Nnadozie bt Nikita Deshmukh 6-2, 7-5; Ines Murta (Por) bt Smriti Joon 6-1, 6-1; First round: Nikita Deshmukh bt Carole Joelle Ateba (Cmr) 7-5, 6-0; Smriti Joon bt Osariemen Airhunmwunde (Ngr) 6-4, 6-0.

Natasha Palha moves ahead

Fourth-seeded Natasha Palha defeated Harmony Tan of France 7-5, 6-3 in the first round of the $10,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.

The results:

Singles (first round): Angelina Gordienko (Rus) bt Shivani Manchanda 6-0, 6-0; Natasha Palha bt Harmony Tan (Fra) 7-5, 6-3.

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Katy Dunne (GBR) and Ashmitha Easwaramurthi bt Ida Alfredsson (Swe) and Teesa Breve (Ned) 6-3, 6-0.

 Vishnu Vardhan, Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan, Mithun Murali progress

Vishnu Vardhan scored a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Abdullah Hamidu of Nigeria in the first round of the $15,000+H ITF men’s Futures tournament in Lagos, Nigeria.

The results:

Singles (first round): Vishnu vardhan bt Abdullah Hamidu (Ngr) 6-2, 6-2; Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan bt Henry Atseye (Ngr) 6-1, 6-0; Mithun Murali bt Daouda Ndiaye (Sen) 6-3, 7-6(3).

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and V. M. Ranjeet bt Candy Idoko and Nonso Madueke (Ngr) 6-1, 6-2.

Qualifying event (second and final round): Mithun Murali bt Pekun Akingbade (Ngr) 6-2, 6-4; First round: Mithun Murali bt Kehinde Alade (Ngr) 6-2, 6-2.

Yuki Bhambri in quarterfinals in Sydney

The top-seeded Yuki Bhambri defeated Gavin Van Peperzeel of Australia 6-4, 6-3 in the pre-quarterfinals of the $15,000 ITF men’s Futures tennis tournament in Sydney, Australia, on Wednesday.

The 284^th Yuki had earlier beaten qualifier Scott Browne of Australia 6-1, 6-0 in the first round.

In the quarterfinals, Yuki was scheduled to face his doubles partner, the sixth-seeded Yasutaka Uchiyama of Japan. The Indo-Japanese pair, seeded third, made the doubles final and was set to face the top-seeded Dane Propoggia of Australia and Jose Statham of New Zealand.

The results:

Doubles (semifinals): Yuki Bhambri and Yasutaka Uchiyama (Jpn) bt Maverick Banes and GavinVan Peperzeel (Aus) 7-6(3), 6-2; Quarterfinals: Bt. Jacob Scott (Aus) and Yusuke Watanuki (Jpn) 6-1, 6-1; Pre-quarterfinals: Bt. Blade Fong and Marious Zelba (Aus) 6-2, 6-2.

Sriram Balaji struggles

The third-seeded Sriram Balaji defeated Marin Netuschil of Germany 7-6(6), 4-6, 6-2 in the first round of the $10,000 ITF men’s Futures tennsi tournament in Essen, Germany.

Balaji was seeded third in doubles as well with Miki Jankovic of Serbia.

Sanam Singh and Vijayant Malik continue in the US circuit

Sanam Singh and Vijayant Malik were seeded third and fifth respectively in the $15,000 ITF men’s Futures tennis tournament in Mansfield, Texas. The duo, however, did not get a seeding in doubles.

Karunuday Singh ousted in Kazakhstan

The second-seeded Karunuday Singh was beaten 6-2, 6-4 by Temur Ismailov of Uzbekistan in the first round of the $10,000 ITF men’s Futures tennis tournament in Shymkent, Kazakhstan.

Vijay Sundar Prashanth loses first round in Britain

Vijay Sundar Prashanth was beaten 6-3, 6-1 by the fifth-seeded Joris De Loore of Belgium in the first round of the $10,000 ITF men’s tennis tournament in Loughborough, Britain.

R. Ramkumar loses first round in Spain

National champion R. Ramkumar was beaten 6-3, 6-3 by the top-seeded Jordi Samper-Montana of Spain in the first round of the $10,000 ITF men’s Futures tennis tournament in El Prat De Llobregat, Spain.

However, in doubles, the second-seeded Ramkumar and David Perez Sanz of Spain beat Nikita Kardivar of the US and Alexander Zhurbin of Russia 6-2, 6-4 in the pre-quarterfinals.

Paramveer Singh Bajwa in semifinals in ITF juniors tournament in Colombo

Paramveer Singh Bajwa beat the eighth-seeded Phillip Johan De Bruyn of South Africa 6-1, 6-2 in the boys quarterfinals of the ITF grade-5 junior tennis tournament in Colombo.

Arjun Ramakrishnan lost to Nishangan Nadaraja of Sri Lanka in the quarterfinals, after having beaten the top-seeded Ho Jun Lee of Chinese Taipei 6-1, 6-3 in the second round.

Among the girls, Isha Budwal managed to reach the quarterfinals before she bowed out tamely to the fourth-seeded Holy Hutchinson of Britain.

The results:

Boys (quarterfinals): Nishangan Nadaraja (Sri) bt Arjun Ramakrishnan 6-4, 6-2; Paramveer Singh Bajwa bt Phillip Johan De Bruyn (RSA) 6-1, 6-2.

Pre-quarterfinals: Arjun Ramakrishnan bt Ho Jun Lee (Tpe) 6-1, 6-3; Paramveer Singh Bajwa bt Bo Yui Huang (Tpe) 7-6(5), 6-2; robin Hao Nguy (Hkg) bt Indra Patwardhan 6-3, 6-3.

First round: Ho Jun Lee bt Nihit Rawal 6-0, 6-3; Arjun Ramakrishnan bt Igor Barzasekov (tkm) 6-4, 6-3; Paramveer Singh Bajwa bt Chehan Deepal Fernando (Sri) 6-4, 6-1; Phillip Johan De Bruyn (RSA) bt Richie Agarwal 6-1, 6-4; Indra Patwardhan bt Avishka perera (Sri) 6-0, 6-3; Ching-Yang Meng (Tpe) bt Mohit Jain 6-3, 6-2.

Qualifying event (third round): Nihit Rawal bt Zu Zinyang Tan (Mas) 6-2, 6-3; Second round: Nihit Rawal bt Supun Pathirage (Sri) 6-3, 6-3; John Bryan Decasa (Phi) bt Ramakrishnan Rengaraj 4-6, 6-2, 6-4; First round: John Bryan Decasa bt Sharanraj Yuvaraj 7-5, 6-3.

Doubles (quarterfinals): Dhanushka Pabeywardena and Avishka Perera (Sri) bt Igor Barzasekov (Tkm) and Mohit Jain 6-1, 6-3.

Pre-quarterfinals: Igor Barzasekov and Mohit Jain bt Phillip Johan De Bruyn (RSA) and Charlie Ridout (GBR) 6-1, 6-1; Ho Jun Lee (Tpe) and zu Zinyang Tan (Mas) bt Paramveer Singh Bajwa and Nihit Rawal 6-4, 7-5; Joshua Liu (Sin) and Hong Kit Jack Wong (Hkg) bt Richie Agarwal and Indra Patwardhan 6-4, 6-2; Itchya Mesommon and Thuwanon Pattananawapong (Tha) bt Anish Wijesinghe (Sri) and Christian Cummings 6-4, 6-3.

Girls (quarterfinals): Holy Hutchinson (GBR) bt Isha Budwal 6-1, 6-0.

Pre-quarterfinals: Holy Hutchinson bt Nikita Anand 1-6, 6-1, 6-0; Isha Budwal bt Chi Chen (Tpe) 6-2, 6-3; Nethmi Himashi Waduge (Sri) bt Shrishti Daas 7-5, 6-3; Pei Hsuan Chen (Tpe) bt Lalita Devarakonda 6-4, 6-1.

First round: Ria Vaidya (Sin) bt Apekshita Alkesh 6-0, 6-0; Roxanne May Resma (Phi) bt Nidhi Surapaneni 6-3, 7-6(7); Fang-Hsien Wu (Tpe) bt Shamika Dhar 6-0, 6-1; Holy Hutchinson bt Kaaviya Balasubramanian 6-2, 6-3; Nikita Anand bt Hasindhi Lokuge (Sri) 6-2, 6-4; Isha Budwal bt Watsachol Sawasdee (tha) 7-5, 6-0; Shrishti Daas bt Khee Yen Wee (Sin) 6-1, 6-2; Nethmi Himashi Waduge bt Praneetha Sathishkumar 6-1, 5-7, 6-3; alitaDevarakonda bt Kavindya De Silva (Sri) 6-0, 6-3; Xeniya Prokopchuk (Ukr) bt Sharlee Deshmukh 6-1, 6-0; Holly Horsfall (GBR) bt Roma Chandiran 7-5, 6-4; May Wanvisa Thurakitseree (Tha) bt Madhumitha Meenakshi PV Rajan 6-3, 6-1.

Qualifying event (Second round): Apekshita Alkesh bt Angelia Raman 6-4, 6-2; Kaaviya Balasubramanian bt Shmika Dhar 6-0, 66-1; Franziska_Marie Ahrend (Ger) bt Anusha Dhar 6-1, 6-2; Madhumitha Meenakshi PV Rajan bt Melissa Jayawardane (Sri) 6-0, 6-1; First round: Angella Raman bt Rukshana Abdeen (Sri) 6-2, 6-1; Kaaviya Balasubramanian bt Alvina Lai (Hkg) 6-4, 6-1; Franziska_Marie Ahrend bt Niditra Rajmohan 6-1, 6-0; Melissa Jayawardane bt Thasoorika Thavagnanasooriyam 6-1,, 6-1; Madhumitha Meenakshi PV Rajan bt Jasmine Khoshabeh (Iri) 6-1, 6-0.

Doubles (quarterfinals): Isha Budwal and Praneetha Sathishkumar bt Kaaviya Balasubramanian and Niditra Rajmohan 3-6, 6-1, 10-2; Pei Hsuan Chen and Fang-Hsien Wu (Tpe) bt Nikita Anand and Roma Chandiran 6-4, 6-4.

Pre-quarterfinals: Isha Budwal and Praneetha Sathishkumar w.o. Ria Vaidya (Sin) and May Wanvisa Thurakitseree (Tha); Kaaviya Balasubramannian and Niditra Rajmohan bt Kavindya De Silva and Nethmi Himashi Waduge (Sri) 6-0, 6-3; Chi Chen (Tpe) and Wataschol Sawasdee (Tha) bt Shrishti Daas and Sharlee Deshmukh 6-4, 6-3; Xeniya Prokopchuk (Ukr) and Angella Raman bt Chak Lam Chan (Hkg) and Sadaf Sadeghvaziri (Iri) 6-3, 6-3; Nikita Anand and Roma Chandiran bt Hasindhi Lokuge (Sri) and Shamika Dhar 6-0, 6-2; Khee Yen Wee (Sin) and Madhumitha Meenakshi PV Rajan bt Medhira Samarasinghe and Rushika Wijesooriya (Sri) 6-0, 7-5; Khim Iglupas and Roxanne May Resma (Phi) bt Lalita Devarakonda and Nidhi Surapaneni 6-1, 6-0.

TNTA defies AITA on royalty for Chennai Open

I think, the following report, carried briefly in the newspaper, deserves much attention:

It was greed that killed the golden goose. That was old story. Modern times
have a twist to the tale. In the latest scenario, the All India Tennis
Association (AITA) has been struggling to ensure the continued supply of
the golden egg from the goose.

After enjoying the benefits of ‘royalty’ or ‘sanctioning fee’, of about
$40,000 every year, a princely 10 per cent of the total prize money of the
Chennai Open ATP Tour event for the last 17 years, the AITA has been
shocked about the good flow of money drying up, all of a sudden.

The Tamil Nadu Tennis Association (TNTA) which has reworked the contract of
the ATP tennis tournament in Chennai for the next three years with the
International Management Group (IMG), has refused to pay any money to the
national tennis federation. In fact, it has asked for subsidy as in the
case of the smaller ITF men’s and women’s tournaments.

In an efficient move, the TNTA has taken the requisite permission from the
Government, without having to go through the AITA. Basically, national
federations have nothing to do with the ATP tournament. After the first
edition of the ATP event was held in Delhi in 1996, it had to be shifted to
Chennai owing to advertisement restrictions for tobacco in the Capital.

The tournament continued to pay good money to the AITA, till some of the
officials in the organising committee realised that it was unnecessary
expenditure. The argument has been that nowhere in the world does the
national federation take money for holding such tournaments. It has been
quoted that some of the federations actually pay money to the organisers of
such events.

Reportedly, the AITA, buoyed by the flow of a few crore rupees from the
event over the years, stretched itself by trying to get a percentage of the
‘appearance fee’ that was being paid to the top players to ensure a quality
field for the Chennai Open.

The TNTA officials were also disappointed that holding the mega event did
not fetch them matching voting power, as per the AITA Constitution. The
national federation insisted that the tournament was hosted by the IMG and
the TNTA had no significant role in hosting the same. With the Tamil Nadu
government ensuring all the money, through a consortium of sponsors, the
TNTA realised that its expenditure was unnecessarily increased owing to the
‘unwarranted sanctioning fee’, and put a stop to the practice.

Taken aback at the turn of events, the AITA has argued that the TNTA was
not authorised to take the government clearance, without going through the
National federation.

As a counter, it was pointed out that the AITA did not charge any such fee
for all the $10,000 and $15,000 events that were being conducted in the
country, as well as the $125,000 WTA women’s tournament that was held in
Pune last year. In fact, Tamil Nadu will be hosting an additional $50,000
Challenger for men in February next year.

It may be recalled that the AITA had a running battle with Vijay Amritraj
on the conduct of Challenger tennis tournaments in the early 1990s, for
directly dealing with the ATP. The TNTA officials were upset that none of
them have been able to get into the primary office-bearer posts like
president, secretary general or treasurer of the AITA, after P. L. Reddy
had served as secretary till 1988.

The TNTA officials felt that the State-supported Asian junior champion
Snehadevi Reddy being denied a wild card for the National championship was
unfair and a childish reaction of the AITA for being snubbed on the royalty
fee.

Players continue to get caught in the cross fire

The Indian players are like sitting ducks. They continue to be caught in the cross fire as officials play politics.

The denial of a wild card for the women’s event in the national tennis championship to the Asian junior champion Snehadevi Reddy is a classic example.

It was a joke that wild cards were selectively given while most of the players were upgraded from the qualifying list to the main draw.

It is no secret that the Tamil Nadu Tennis Association is at war with the All India Tennis Association (AITA) and Karti Chidambaram continues to be a thorn in the flesh for the National federation.

Snehadevi represents Tamil Nadu, and thus had to be refused her rightful place. She did qualify for the main draw, dropping a mere four games in three rounds, but the whole episode left a bad taste.

It was otherwise a good week for the Indian players, as Divij Sharan and Purav Raja made the final of the $125,000 Challenger in Tashkent.

Sanam Singh and Vijayant Malik won the doubles final in the $15,000 ITF men’s Futures tournament in the US. Natasha Palha also made the doubles final in the $10,000 ITF women’s tournament in Egypt with Karina Venditti of Brazil.

This week promises to be more exciting with Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan venturing into Nigeria, even though Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna will preserve themselves possibly focusing towards a strong finish for the season. The trick is to make the right choice.

Purav Raja and Divij Sharan lose the final in $125K Tashkent Challenger

The second-seeded Divij Sharan and Purav Raja went down without much of a fight 4-6, 4-6 to the unseeded Mikhail Elgin and Teymuraz Gabashvili of Russia in the doubles final of the $125,000 Challenger tennis tournament in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

The Indian pair, quite pleased to be contesting the final after a string of early exit, got off the blocks on the wrong foot in both the sets, getting broken in the first game. The duo that had qualified for Wimbledon and won an ATP Tour title in Colombia, did break back in the first set, but was unable to find a way to win.

They had to be content with 75 ATP points and sharing $4500. The good news was that Divij and Purav got an entry into the $823,550 Kremlin Cup in Moscow, Russia, this week. They will be up against Alex Bogomolov jr. of Russia and Dudi Sela of Israel in the pre-quarterfinals.

Sanam Singh loses in quarterfinals in Huston Futures

The second-seeded Sanam Singh was beaten 7-6(3), 6-0 by the eighth-seeded Tyler Hochwalt of the US in the quarterfinals of the $15,000 ITF men’s Futures tennis tournament in Houston, Texas.

There was some consolation as the unseeded Sanam and Vijayant Malik won the doubles title with a 7-6(5), 6-4 victory over the fourth-seeded Evan King of the US and Costin Paval of Romania.

By choosing the American and Canadian tournaments, both the Chandigarh lads, Sanam and Vijayant, have tried to jointly improve their ranking and game.

Sriram Balaji loses semifinals in Germany

The fifth-seeded Sriram Balaji lost 2-6, 3-6 to Erik Crepaldi of Italy in the semifinals of the $10,000 ITF men’s Futures tennis tournament in Leimen, Germany.

After beating the top-seeded Adrian Sikora of Slovakia in the third set tie-break earlier, it was a tame loss for the 23-year-old Balaji who had reached a career-best rank of 313 earlier this year, but he should be happy with the good run.

Balaji has the big game as he showed in beating Prajnesh Gunneswaran and his doubles partner Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan early this season in Chennai on way to the ITF men’s title.

Natasha Palha loses doubles final in Egypt

Natasha Palha inpartnership with Karina Venditti of Brazil was beaten by the top-seeded Anna Morgina and Yana Sizikova of Russia 6-3, 6-2 in the doubles final of the $10,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.

The 19-year-old Natasha has won two doubles titles this season with Prarthana Thombare in Chennai and Hyderabad.

Roma Chandigarh loses doubles semifinals in ITF juniors event in Colombo

Roma Chandiran in partnership with Watsachol Sawasdee of Thailand lost 4-6, 3-6 to the top-seeded Holly Hutchinson of Britain and Ria Vaidya of Singapore in the girls doubles semifinals of the ITF grade-5 junior tennis tournament in Colombo.

A number of Indian juniors will continue to compete in another tournament in Colombo this week.