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.