The big guns fail to boom . . .

As the week-end arrived, the big guns did not wait. Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna made early exit with their respective partners from the $6,211, 445 Shanghai Masters in China.

After the high of the earlier couple of weeks, when Indian doubles success was echoing around the world, it was a bit of a disappointment. Yet, it had to be conceded that professional tennis is a tough grind, and you cannot expect to be rewarded every week.

Leander Paes had nothing much to gain except a few dollars, while Rohan Bopanna, though ensconced in the top-5 in the world in individual doubles, has not ensured a berth for the Barclays World Championship in London.

The third-seeded Leander and Daniel Nestor of Canada went down 5-7, 6-3, 11-13 to Robert Lindstedt of Sweden and Vasek Pospisil of Canada in the pre-quarterfinals after a bye in the first round.

Rohan Bopanna and Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France, who had won the title last week in Tokyo, also went down fighting 6-7(4), 7-5, 6-10 to Treat Huey of Philippines and Dominic Inglot of Britain in the pre-quarterfinals.

Both the losing teams collected 90 ATP points and $14,720. The winning teams did not reach far, and lost their next round.

There are still a few more tournaments before the Paris Masters, and thus it will be interesting to see where the Indian stars pop up next.

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

After winning one match as a pair in six tournaments, it was a huge relief for Divij Sharan and Purav Raja to make the final of the $125,000 Tashkent Challenger in Uzbekistan.

Divij and Purav prevailed 5-7, 6-3, 13-11 against Dudi Sela and Amir Weintraub of Israel in the semifinals to set up a title clash against unseeded Mikhail Elgin and Teymuraz Gabashvili of Russia.

The second-seeded Indian pair had beaten Farrukh Dustov of Uzbekistan and Malek Jaziri of Tunisia 7-5, 6-4 in the quarterfinals.

The good run showed the importance for the two Indian players to stick it out in the tough world of professional tennis. After winning the maiden Tour title in Bogota, Colombia, in July, it was a rather disillusioning experience for the duo to win one match in Vancouver, Canada, and lose first round in the two Challengers in Lexington and Aptos in the US, apart from first rounds in Luxembourg, Russia and Thailand.

There may not be much money at stake, the winning team will get $7,750 and 125 ATP points, but Divij and Purav will attempt to bolster their confidence a lot better, for the tougher challenges ahead. Divij did make the third round of the US Open with Yen Hsun Lu of Chinese Taipei, but the real challenge for the two emerging Indian doubles stars would be to improve their combination as it would help them avoid a lot of uncertainties on the Tour.

Sanam Singh in quarterfinals in Huston Futures

The second-seeded sanam Singh beat wild card Stefan Kozlov of the US 6-4, 6-3 in the pre-quarterfinals of the $15,000 ITF men’s Futures tennis tournament in Houston, Texas.

The Davis Cupper, who had beaten qualifier Max Wennakoski of Finland 6-3, 6-3 in the first round, was scheduled to meet the eighth-seeded Tyler Hochwalt of the US in the quarterfinals.

In doubles, Sanam and Vijayant Malik made the final with a 5-7, 6-3, 10-3 victory over the top-seeded Sekou Bangoura and Kevin King of the US. The Indian pair had beaten Tyler Hochwalt of the US and Dimitar Kutrovsky of Bulgaria 6-2, 6-3 in the quarterfinals.

In the final, the Indian pair was scheduled to face the fourth-seeded Evan King of the US and Costin Paval of Romania.

While Vijayant Malik had lost in the first round of singles, qualifier Srikar Alla managed to put up a good fight against the top-seeded Edward Corrie of Britain before going down 4-6, 4-6 in the first round.

Sriram Balaji beats top seed in Germany

The fifth-seeded Sriram Balaji did his confidence a world of good by beating the top-seeded Adrian Sikora of Slovakia 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(5) in the quarterfinals of the $10,000 ITF men’s Futures tennis tournament in Leimen, Germany.

Balaji had outplayed Bastian Wagner of Germany 6-2, 6-0 in the pre-quarterfinals. He had an easy outing in the first round, as his opponent Oscar Otte of Germany retired when Balaji led 3-0 in the first set.

The Chennai lad with a big game was set to play the sixth-seeded Erik Crepaldi of Italy in the semifinals.

Balaji and Torsten Wietoska of Germany gave a walkover to maxximilian Marterer and Daniel Masur of Germany in the quarterfinals after a bye in the first round.

Vijay Sundar Prashanth loses to top seed in quarterfinals

The eighth-seeded Vijay Sundar Prashanth could not do a Balaji, and lost 4-6, 2-6 to the top-seeded Ashley Hewitt of Britain in the quarterfinals of the $10,000 ITF men’s Futures tennis tournament in Sunderland, Britain.

In the pre-quarterfinals, Prashanth had beaen qualifier Chris Anguelov of Bulgaria.

Prashanth had better success in doubles though he lost in the final in partnership with David Pel of the Netherlands, 3-6, 6-4, 8-10 to Josh Goodall and Harry Meehan of Britain.

In the semifinals, Pel and Prashanth had won 6-2, 1-6, 10-6 against the fourth-seeded Stefan Sterland-Markovic and Darren Walsh of Britain. The Indo-Dutch combination had ousted the top-seeded George Coupland of Britain and Marcus Daniell of Nw Zealand 7-5, 7-6(6) in the quarterfinals.

Prajnesh Gunneswaran loses quarterfinals in Athens

The eighth-seeded Prajnesh Gunneswaran lost 4-6, 6-7(5) to the third-seeded Claudio Grassi of Italy in the quarterfinals of the $10,000 ITF men’s Futures tennis tournament in Marathon, Athens.

Prajnesh had earlier recorded a fighting 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 victory over Konstantinos Mikos of Greece.

Karunuday Singh loses quarterfinals in Kazakhstan

The top-seeded Karunuday Singh lost 3-6, 5-7 to the eighth-seeded Andrei Vasilevski of Belarus in the quarterfinals of the $10,000 ITF men’s Futures tennis tournament in Shymkent, Kazakhstan.

Karunuday had earlier beaten Anton Galkin of Russia 6-4, 6-2 in the second round.

Natasha Palha loses quarterfinals in Egypt

There is a tournament every week in Egypt, and you can expect an Indian player to be there, quite at home. The third-seeded Natasha Palha made the quarterfinals but lost 0-6, 4-6 to Helen Ploskina of Ukraine. She had beaten compatriot Sneha padamata 6-1, 6-1 in the pre-quarterfinals after a bye in the first.

Natasha in partnership with Karina Venditti of Brazil made the doubles final with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over the third-seeded Samira Giger of Switzerland and Valeria Prosperi of Italy.

The second-seeded Indo-Brazilian combination had earlier beaten Ksenia Dmitrieva of Russia and Ella Leivo of Finland 6-4, 6-2 in the quarterfinals after a bye in the first round.

In the final, Natasha and Karina were scheduled to face the top-seeded Anna Morgina and Yana Sizikova of Russia who had dropped two games in all in two rounds.

Sneha Padamata had beaten local qualifier Reem Fayed 6-2, 6-1 in the first round, while Shivani Manchanda had lost 1-6, 0-6 to qualifier Aleksandra Treskunova of Russia.

Anjana Kompally was another Indian to lose first round, as she bowed out 1-6, 1-6 to the eighth-seeded Karina Venditti of Brazil.

Arjun Ramakrishnan loses semifinals, as Indian juniors camp in Colombo

He defeated the top-seeded Ho Jun Lee of Chinese Taipei for the loss of three games, but Arjun Ramakrishnan found his match in the semifinals as he lost 2-6, 7-5, 5-7 to Hong Kit Jack Wong of Hong Kong in the ITF grade-5 junior tennis tournament in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Coached by M. Balu, Arjun enjoyed the best success among two dozen Indian boys and girls that included B. R. Nikshep and Vishu Prasad.

The results:

Boys (semifinals): Hong Kit Jack Wong (Hkg) bt Arjun Ramakrishnan 6-2, 5-7, 7-5; Quarterfinals: Arjun Ramakrishnan bt Phillip Johan De Bruyn (RSA) 6-4, 6-3; Pre-quarterfinals: Arjun Ramakrishnan bt Karim Han Bilgin (Tur) 6-2, 2-6, 6-3; Phillip Johan De Bruyn bt Vishu Prasad 6-2, 6-1; Hong Kit Jack Wong bt B. R. Nikshep 6-4, 6-2; Cing-Yang Meng (Tpe) bt Mohit Jain -2, 6-0; Chak Yin Chan (Hkg) bt Anurag Nenwani 6-2, 7-6(4).

First round: Arjun Ramakrishnan bt Ho Jun Lee (Tpe) 6-1, 6-2; Vishu Prasad bt Itchya Meesommon (Tha) 6-2, 6-0; B. R. Nikshep bt Ching-Hao Miaou (Tpe) 6-1, 6-0; Mohit Jain bt Anish Wijesinghe (Sri) 6-1, 6-2; Anurag Nenwani bt Steen Harianto Poedji (Ina) 6-3, 6-1; Nishangan Nadaraja (Sri) bt Zu Zinyang Tan (Mas) 7-6(8), 6-1; Charlie Ridout (GBR) bt Indra Patwardhan 1-6, 6-0, 6-1.

Doubles (quarterfinals): Chak Yin Chan and Hong Kit Jack Wong (Hkg) w.o. Vishu Prasad and Arjun Ramakrishnan.

First round: Richie Agarwal and B. R. Nikshep bt Ho Jun Lee and Ching-Hao Miaou (Tpe) 4-6, 6-3, 10-3; Vishu Prasad and Arjun Ramakrishnan bt Itchya Meesommon and Thuwanon Pattananawapong (Tha) 2-6, 6-4, 10-8; Yasitha De Silva and Nishangan Nadaraja (Sri) bt Anuraj Nenwani and indra Patwardhan 7-6(5), 4-6, 11-9; Jeffrey Hsu and Bo Yui Huang (Tpe) and Christian Cummings and Mohit Jain 6-3, 7-6(0).

Girls (pre-quarterfinals): Pei Hsuan Chen (Tpe) bt Nidhi Surapaneni 6-1, 6-3.

First round: Ria Vaidya (Sin) bt Praneetha Sathishkumar 6-1, 6-4; Holly Horsfall (GBR) bt Sharlee Deshmukh 6-0, 6-2; Khim Iglupas (Phi) bt Snehal Mane 6-2, 4-6, 6-1; Nidhi Surapaneni bt Thisuri Molligoda (Sri) 4-0 (retired); Pei Hsuan Chen (Tpe) bt Shrishti Daas 6-0, 6-2; Nethmi Himashi Waduge (Sri) bt Isha Budwal 6-3, 2-6, 6-1; Khee Yen Wee (Sin) bt Nuur Umashankar 6-3, 6-4; Medhira Samarasinghe bt Simran Wadhwa 6-3, 6-3; Holly Hutchinson (GBR) bt Roma Chandiran 6-3, 6-4.

Doubles (quarterfinals): Holly Hutchinson (GBR) and Ria Vaidya (sin) bt Sharlee Deshmukh and Nupur Umashankar 6-1, 6-2;  Roma Chandiran and Watsachol Sawasdee bt Isha Budwal and Praneetha Sathishkumar 6-4, 7-5; Khim Iglupas and Roxanne May Resma (Phi) bt Nidhi Surapaneni and Khee Yen Wee (Sin) 6-3, 6-1.

First round: Sharlee Deshmukh andNupur Umashankar bt Anusha Dhar and Angella Raman 6-1, 6-1; Isha Budwal and Praneetha Sathishkumar bt Medhira Samarasinghe and Rukshika Wijesooriya (SSri) 7-5, 5-7, 10-8; Watsachol Sawasdee (Tha) and Roma Chandiran bt Pei Hsuan Chen (Tpe) and Holly Horsfall (GBR) 7-5, 4-6, 10-7; Khee Yen Wee (Sin) and Nidhi Surapaneni bt Madhumitha Meenakshi PV Rajan and Niditra Rajmohan 6-1, 6-3; Kavindya De Silva and Nethmi Himashi Waduge (Sri) bt Franziska-Maria Ahrend (Ger)and Simran Wadhwa 6-1, 6-2; Chi Chen and Fang-Hsien Wu (Tpe) bt Shrishti Daas and Snehal Mane 6-3, 6-2.