It is one thing to win a Grand Slam, quite different to try
and pin down the elusive World Tour Finals title, as Leander Paes learnt the
hard way at the O2 arena in London.
The US Open champions Paes and Radek Stepanek of the Czech
Republic suffered their second loss in group ‘B’ as they were beaten 4-6,
7-6(5), 10-8 by the defending champions Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez of
Spain.
Paes and Stepanek led 3-1 in the match tie-break, but their
opponents raced past them for an 8-4 lead, before converting their third
matchpoint.
Incidentally, the first win for the Spaniards in the group
did not help their cause either, as they also crashed out.
"It was a good finish to the
tournament," Granollers told the ATP. "We knew after losing the first
set we couldn't qualify, but we kept trying to win and we managed it."
The second-seeded Alexander Peya of Austria and Bruno Soares
of Brazil (photo), who had been beaten by Paes and Stepanek in the first match,
recorded their second victory, as they inflicted the only defeat on another
all-Spanish team of David Marrero and Fernando Verdasco of Spain 6-3, 7-5, as
both teams made the semifinals.
"We already knew after the first set that it was enough
to qualify for the semi-finals," Peya was quoted by the ATP.. "But
when you step on the court, you just want to win every match. We're very happy
with our performance and pleased to be through to the semis."
Yes, in case of a three way tie of teams having a 1-2 record,
it was enough for the second-seeded team of Peya and Soares to make the cut on
better sets average, after they had won a set against the Spaniards.
As the calculations worked, Paes and Stepanek had a chance to
qualify with a 1-2 record, had Marrero and Verdasco beaten Peya and Soares in
straight sets. It was not to be.
Paes and Stepanek finished the season with a 15-8 win-loss
record. It was the 14th appearance in the event for Paes who had
finished runner-up four times, and thrice with Mahesh Bhupathi.
Sanam Singh loses quarterfinals in Knoxville Challenger
Qualifier Sanam Singh was beaten 6-3, 6-3 by Peter Polansky
of Canada in the quarterfinals of the $50,000 Challenger tournament in
Knoxville, US.
Sanam had earlier outplayed the fifth-seeded Donald Young
6-0, 6-3 in the second round.
The effort was worth 15 ATP points and $1460.
In the doubles first round, Sanam and Saketh Myneni had been
beaten 6-3, 6-4 by the top-seeded Samuel Groth and John-Patrick Smith of
Australia.
Divij and Purav lose doubles
semifinals in the Sparkasse Challenger in Italy
The top-seeded Divij Sharan and Puav Raja were beaten
7-6(3), 6-2 by the fourth-seeded Germans, Christopher Kas and Tim Puetz, in the
doubles semifinals of the 64,500 Euros Challenger tournament in Ortisei, Italy.
The Indian pair collected 33 ATP points and 1380 Euros.
Sowjanya Bavisetti
loses doubles final in Spain
Sowjanya Bavisetti was beaten 6-1, 6-3 by Paula Badosa of
Spain in the pre-quarterfinals of the $10,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament in
Vinaroz, Spain.
However, the talented Andhra girl made it to the doubles final
with Ai Wen Zhu of China. The second-seeded Indo-Chinese pair was beaten 6-3,
6-2 by the top-seeded Tatiana Bua of Argentina and Lucia Cervera-Vazquez of
Spain. Incidentally, it was the second successive loss in the final for the
Indo-Chinese duo against the same opponents.
In the semifinals, Sowjanya and Zhu had beaten the
third-seeded Ana Belzunce-Crompin and Olga Parres Azcoitia of Spain 7-6(3),
6-4.
Vishesh Vishnu loses doubles
quarterfinals in Egypt
Vishesh Vishnu in partnership with Nina Stadler of
Switzerland lost the doubles quarterfinals 3-6, 5-7 to the top-seeded
Elena-Teodora Cadar of Romania and Arabela Fernandez Rabener of Spain in the $10,000
ITF women’s tournament in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.
Pranjala Yadlapalli
and Simran Kaur Sethi lose third round in Asia-Oceania juniors in Korea
Pranjala Yadlapalli went down fighting 7-5,2 -6, 4-6 to the
fifth-seeded Kim Dabin of Korea in the third round of the ITF grade ‘B1’
Asia-Oceania junior tennis tournament in Seogwipo, Korea.
Simran Kaur Sethi also lost her pre-quarterfinals 4-6,
6-7(4) to Maika Jae Tanpoco of Philippines.
Semifinal exit in
doubles for Kushaan Nath and Sanjana Sudhir in Bahrain
Kushaan Nath in partnership with Samuele Ramazzotti of Italy
was beaten 6-4, 6-2 by the eventual champions, the top-seeded shamael Chaudhry
of Britain and Constantinos Ioannides of Cyprus in the boys doubles semifinals
of the ITF grade-5 junior tennis tournament in Bahrain.
In the girls doubles semifinals, Sanjana Sudhir in
partnership with Maria Stylianou of Cyprus was beaten 7-5, 7-5 by the top-seeded
Laila Elnimir and Habiba Lasheen of Egypt.
Sahil Gaware and
Arjun Ramakrishnan lose doubles quarterfinals in Singapore
The fourth-seeded Sahil Gaware and Arjun Ramakrishnan were
beaen 6-3, 7-5 by Bryan Husin and Arief Rahman of Indonesia in the boys doubles
quarterfinals of the ITF grade-5 junior tennis tournament in Singapore.
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