Leander Paes off to a good start in World Tour Finals, but finds a speed breaker . . .

Yes, it was a good start for Leander Paes, but he in partnership with Radek Stepanek hit a speed-breaker, as the Indo-Czech duo was beaten 6-4, 7-6(5) by the big serving David Marrero and Fernando Verdasco of Spain in the second league match in group ‘B’ in the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.

The fifth-seeded Spaniards served solid, and won 34 of their 41 first serve points, thus making it a straight forward affair despite being broken once in the second set. The quick finish in 89 minutes, their second win in the group, after they had beaten the defending champs Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez of Spain, ensured the first semifinal berth.

Paes and Stepanek need a victory against Granollers and Lopez, who are out of the race after their second successive defeat, to keep their semifinal hopes alive.

Earlier, it was a nice start for Paes and Stepanek, as the duo beat the second-seeded Alexander Peya of Austria and Bruno Soares of Brazil 6-3, 5-7, 10-8  at the O2 arena in London.

It was a repeat of the US Open final for the Indo-Czech combination, but a lot more tricky. Paes and partner led 9-5 in the super tie-break before Paes clinched it with a backhand volley on the fourth matchpoint.

The 40-year-old Paes who has qualified for the 14^th time for the season-ending championship, had made the finals four times, thrice with Bhupathi (1997, 1999 and 2000) and once with Nenad Zimonjic (2005) of Serbia.

Having lost the semifinals after having a matchpoint last year against Rohan Bopanna and Bhupathi, the Indo-Czech combination has expressed its determination repeatedly to pin one of the big titles that has been eluding Paes for long.

After a tame loss in the US Open final when they managed to win a mere four games, it was relatively better for Peya and Soares who have won five titles from 10 finals this season, and have already been assured of ending the season as No.2.

Sanam Singh in pre-quarterfinals in Knoxville Challenger in the US

Sanam Singh was in impressive form as he cruised through qualifying rounds dropping a mere eight games in all, and beat the 6’ 4’’ tall Nils Langer of Germany 6-1, 6-4 in the first round of the $50,000 Challenger tournament in Knoxville, US.

He will face the fifth-seeded Donald Young of the US who beat Saketh Myneni 6-4, 6-2.

In doubles, Saketh and Sanam had joined hands to qualify for the main draw and were scheduled to play the top-seeded Samuel Groth and John-Patrick Smith of Australia in the first round.

The results:

Qualifying event (third and final round): Sanam Singh bt Fares Ghasya (US) 6-2, 6-1; Second round: Sanam Singh bt Jordan Tucker Dangle (US) 6-2, 6-1; First round: Sanam Singh bt George Cupland (GBR) 6-1, 6-1; Mitchell Frank (US) bt Prajnesh Gunneswaran 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.

Doubles (qualifying event, second and final round): Saketh Myneni and Sanam Singh bt Edward Corrie and Daniel Smethurst (GBR) 6-2, 7-6(1); First round: Saketh and Sanam bt Jacob Meyer and Murphey Parker (US) 6-1, 6-2.

Divij Sharan and Purav Raja in semifinals in Italy

The top-seeded Divij Sharan and Purav Raja made the doubles semifinals of the 64,500 Euros Challenger tournament in Ortisei, Italy, with a 7-6(6), 6-2 victory over Martin Fischer of Austria and peter Gojowiczyk of Germany.

In the first round, the Indian pair had beaten wild cards David Kostner and Patric Prinoth of Italy 6-1 6-3.

Both Divij and Purav had done very well in the singles qualifying event as well, as they won two rounds each before bowing out in the final round.

The results:

Singles: Qualifying event (third and final round): Nikola Mektic (Cro) bt Purav Raja 6-3, 7-6(5); Alexander Ritschard (sui) bt Divij Sharan 3-6, 7-5, 6-4;  Second round: Purav bt Neil Pauffley (GBR) 6-4, 6-3; Divij bt Joy Vigani (Ita) 6-2, 6-2; First round: Purav bt Francesco Ferrari (Ita) 6-2, 6-4; Divij bt David thurner (Ger) 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(5).

Yuki Bhambri wins second Challenger singles title in Australia

Yuki Bhambri asserted his class as he beat the top-seeded Bradley Klahn of the US 6-7(13), 6-3, 6-4 in the final of the $50,000 Challenger tennis tournament in Traralgon, Australia, on Monday.

Resuming at 2-4 in the third set, the eighth-seeded Yuki raced through, after the final had been disrupted by eight rain interruptions on Sunday.

It was the second Challenger title for the 21-year-old former World No.1 junior, and Yuki was understandably elated and rated the title a lot better than the Fergana Challenger that he had won in Uzbekistan last year.

‘’It feels fantastic because, I beat guys ranked much higher than me like Tatsuma Ito, James Duckworth and Klahn, to whom I had lost earlier. I was pleased with the way I hung in patiently after missing four setpoints in the marathon tie-break in the first set’’, Yuki told The Hindu, after his triumph over the 123^rd ranked Klahn, that helped him jump 73 places to reach 204 in the latest ATP rankings issued on Monday.

The title was worth 80 ATP points and $7200, while the runner-up collected 48 ATP points $4240.

‘’To stay calm and composed through all those rain delays and play better in the next two sets, and not be satisfied with just being in the finals was incredible’’, said Yuki.

It has been an impressive season for Yuki who has worked his way through the Futures events, after injuries had seen a big dip in his rankings. He had dramatically jumped 190 places by reaching the final of the $125,000 Challenger in Kaohsiung, Chinese Taipei. Travelling with trainer Nasir Ahmad since August has paid rich dividends as Yuki has been able to overcome the fitness issues.

‘’The trainer definitely deserves a lot of credit’’, said Yuki, the Youth Olympics silver medallist who had given a hint of his prowess by winning the Australian Open junior title.

Though he has entered the ITF Futures tournament scheduled to be held back home in Delhi from November 11, Yuki said that his main focus was to do well in the Australian Open Asia Pacific wild card play-off event scheduled to be held in China from November 18.

Apart from his two Challenger singles titles, Yuki has also won eight Futures singles titles.

Vinod Gowda loses second qualifying round in the US

Vindo Gowda was beaten 6-3, 6-4 in the second-qualifying round, in a draw of 128, in the $10,000 ITF men’s Futures tennis tournament in Niceville,Florida, US.

He had earlier beaten Jack Oswald of Britain 6-2, 6-3.

Arjun Manjunatha loses second qualifying round in Egypt

Arjun Manjunatha was beaten 6-0, 6-1 by Pavel Lipka of Poland in the second and penultimate qualifying round of the $10,000 ITF men’s Futures tennis tournament in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, after he had enjoyed a bye in the first round.

Another Indian in the fray, Sachin Sathnur Mahesh was beaten 6-3, 6-3 by Mateusz Izycki of Poland in the first qualifying round.

Utsarg Grover loses first qualifying round in Turkey

Utsarg Grover was beaten 6-1, 6-0 by Filipp Kekercheni of Ukraine in the first qualifying round of the $10,000 ITF men’s Futures tennis tournament in Antalya, Turkey.

Ankita Raina unlucky in doubles in Chinese Taipei

Ankita Raina had to digest a tough decision as her doubles partner Alla Tomljanovic of Croatia pulled out of the $125,000 WTA Challenger in Chinese Taipei, owing to back ache. The duo was scheduled to meet the second-seeded Hao-Ching Chan and Yung-Jan Chan of Chinese Taipei in the first round.

Ankita had lost the first qualifying round earlier to the fifth Paula Kania of Poland when she managed to win four games.

The 20-year-old Ankita who trains with coach Hemant Bendre in Pune will focus on the Australian Open wild card event scheduled to be staged in China.

Sharmada Balu loses first round after qualification

Sharmada Balu was beaten 7-5, 6-2 by Ji-Hee Choi of Korea in the first round of the $15,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament in Phuket, Thailand.

However, she lost the doubles quarterfinals in partnership with Tanaporn Thongsing of Thailand, as the duo was beaten 6-4, 6-3 by the second-seeded Jia Xiang Lu and Jia-Jing Lu of China, after it had recorded a 7-5, 7-6(0) victory over Xi-Wei Cai of China and Polina Golubovskaya of Russia in the first round.

Sharmada had qualified for the singles main draw with a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Thanyarat Karnjanapong of Thailand after a bye in the first round.

Sowjanya Bavisetti in second round in Vinaroz, Spain

Sowjanya Bavisetti defeated the fifth-seeded Tatiana Bua of Argentina 6-3, 6-3 in the first round of the $10,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament in Vinaroz, Spain.

It was a lot easier in the doubles, as the second-seeded Sowjanya and Ai Wen Zhu of China made the semifinals, as their opponents Carmen Lopez-Rueda of Spain and Alice Savoretti of Italy retired. The Indo -Chinese pair that led 2-0 at that stage, had earlier enjoyed a bye in the first round.

Vishesh Vishnu makes doubles quarterfinals in Egypt

Vishesh Vishnu in partnership with Nina Stadler of Switzerland made the doubles quarterfinals with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Linda Dubska of the Czech Republic and Jessica Simpson of Britain in the $10,000 ITF women’s  tournament in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.

However, it was a tough outing for the Indian girls as four of them lost first round.

The results:

Singles (first round): Natela Dzalamidze (Rus) bt Manya Nagpal 6-1, 6-0; Giulia Bruzzone (Ita) bt Arantxa Andrady 6-3, 6-1; Nina Stadler (Sui) bt Vishesh Vishnu 6-2, 6-2; Caroline Daxhelet (Bel) bt Tanisha Rohira 6-1, 6-0.

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Nina Stadler (Sui) and Vishesh Vishnu bt Linda Dubska (Cze) and Jessica Simpson (GBR) 6-3, 6-2; Samantha Koelliker (Sui) and Anastasia Trunina (Rus) bt Giorgia Pinto (Ita) and Tanisha Rohira 6-3, 6-4.

Victoria Chehal fails to win a game in Turkey

The 16-year-old Victoria Chehal had a tough outing in Antalya, Turkey, as she was blanked 6-0, 6-0 in the first round of the $10,000 ITF women’s tournament by Lina Gjorcheska of Macedonia.

After having won a round in the qualifying event of $50,000 tournament in Australia, it must have been a chastening experience for Victoria, who has been doing well in the international circuit, but it would make her tough.

Simran Kaur Sethi, Pranjala Yadlapalli make third round in Asia-Oceania junior event in Korea

Simran Kaur Sethi and Pranjala Yadlapalli made the singles pre-quarterfinals of the ITF grade ‘B1’ Asia-Oceania junior tennis tournament in Seogwipo, Korea.

The results:

Girls (second round): Ying Zhang (Chn) bt Dhruthi Venugopal 6-4, 6-0; Simran Kaur Sethi bt Thanthita Suetrong (Tha) 6-0, 6-3; Pranjala Yadlapalli bt Claire oonkee Choi Spackman (Hkg) 3-6, 6-1, 6-3; First round: Dhruthi bt Ock Do Un (Kor) 6-2, 6-0; Simran Kaur Sethi bt Pei-Wen kao (Tpe) 6-2, 6-3; Tamachan Momkoonthod (Tha) bt Vasanti Shinde 6-2, 6-3.

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals); Chaoyi Chen and Ying Zhang (Chn) bt Dhruthi Venugopal and Pranjala Yadlapalli 2-6, 7-6(4), 10-4; First round: Natsuho Arakawa and Yukina Saigo (Jpn) bt Simran Kaur Sethi and Vasanti Shinde 6-1, 6-4.

Good exposure in Bahrain for Indian juniors

Kushaan Nath in the boys section and Sanjana Sudhir in the girls event made the doubles semifinals of the ITF grade-5 junior tennis tournament in Bahrain.

It was a very fruitful outing for the Indian players, as they went through the qualifying grind.

The results:

Boys (pre-quarterfinals): Samuele Ramazzotti (Ita) bt Taha Kapadia 6-1, 6-4; Mohab Hamed (Egy) bt Manav Pondkule 3-6, 6-4, 7-5; First round: Taha kapadia bt Dimar Makhlouf (Egy) 6-2, 6-1; Manav Pondkule bt Pietro Miki (Gre) 6-2, 3-6, 6-1; Sherif Makhlouf (Egy) bt Kushaan Nath 2-6, 6-2, 7-6(4); Dawood Sayed Hashim (Kuw) bt Dhir Gala 6-4, 6-2.

Qualifying event (third and final round): Kushaan Nath bt Abdulhameed Alshatti (Kuw) 6-4, 6-4; Manav Pondkule bt Nour Nehme (Lib) 7-6(5), 6-3; Taha Kapadia bt Philip Bachmaier (Aut) 6-3, 4-6, 6-4; Second round: Kushaan Nath bt Omar Ebada (Egy) 6-1, 6-2; Manav Pondkule bt Muhammad Talha Surmawala (Pak) 6-4, 6-2; Taha Kapadia bt Faisal Bouqrais (Kuw) 6-1, 7-5; First round: Kushaan Nath bt Mohammed Alsoughayer (Ksa) 6-2, 6-1; Manav Pondkule bt Musaeed Alazzam (Kssa) 6-3, 6-2; Taha Kapadia bt Maksim Zubkou (Blr) 6-1, 6-1.

Doubles (quarterfinals): Kushaan Nath and Samuele Ramazzotti (Ita) bt Abdulhameed Alshatti and Dawood Sayed Hashim (Kuw) 6-1, 6-2; Ghassan Alansi (Yem) and Kareem Allaf (Syr) bt Taha Kapadia and Manav Pondkule 7-6(4), 6-3; Pre-quarterfinals: Kushaan Nath and Samuele Ramazzotti  bt Mohab Hamed and Youssef Hossam (Egy) 6-4, 3-6, 10-8; Ahmed Alaa and Nabil Fouad (Egy) bt Nour Nehme (Lib) and Dhir Gala 6-3, 6-2; Taha Kapadia and Manav Pondkule bt John Paul Avila (Mex) and Nikita Potapov (Rus) 3-6, 6-2, 10-7.

Girls (first round): Maria Stylianou (Cyp) bt Sanjana Sudhir 6-4, 7-6(5); Nariman Abo Bakr (Egy) bt Kalpaka Pradip 6-0, 6-1; Habiba Khaled Aly (Egy) bt Simran Kaur 6-4, 6-2.

Doubles (quarterfinals): Maria Stylianou (Cyp) and Sanjana Sudhir w.o. Kristina Delyan (Rus) and Eliza Omirou (Cyp); Pre-quarterfinals: Maria Stylianou and Sanjana bt Nariman Abo Bakr (Egy) and Anna Kraus (Aut) 6-3, 6-1; Meredith G. Jones (Phi) and Abigail Kent (US) bt Lara Schmid (Ger) and Simran Kaur 6-1, 6-1.

Arjun Ramakrishnan loses quarterfinals to top seed in Singapore

Arjun Ramakrishnan was beaten 6-2, 6-1 by the top-seeded Aleksandr Ernepesov of Turkmenistan in the quarterfinals of the ITF grade-5 junior tennis tournament in Singapore.

The results:

Boys (quarterfinals): Aleksandr Ernepesov (Tkm) bt Arjun Ramakrishnan 6-2, 6-1; Pre-quarterfinals: Arjun Ramakrishnan bt Anthony Susanto Ina) 6-3, 6-3; Takuya Kuriyama (Jpn) bt Sahil Gaware 6-0, 6-1; First round: Arjun Ramakrishnan bt Philip Westwood (Tha) 6-2, 6-4; Sahil Gaware bt Gurbanberdi Gurbanberdiyev (Tkm) 6-4, 6-4; Igor Barzasekov (Tkm) bt Jatinder Singh 6-4, 6-4.

Qualifying event (second and final round): Bryan Husin (Ina) bt Gautam Narayan 6-0, 6-1; First round: Gautam Narayan bt Hui Han Dillon Lim (Sin) 4-6, 6-0, 6-1; Kazuki Nakamura (Sin) bt Sasha Kingsley 6-2, 6-2.

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Sahil Gaware and Arjun Ramakrishnan bt Stefan Vujic (Aus) and Jatinder Singh 6-2, 3-6, 13-11.

Girls (first round): Yualin Chen (Tpe) bt Nidhi Surapaneni 7-5, 6-1; Alicia Smith (Aus) bt Nikita Anand 6-3, 6-0.

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Chun Fang Chang and Han-Chi Chen (Tpe) w.o. Rehmat Johal (Sin) and Nikita Anand; I-Hsuan Cho and Ya Yun Pai (Tpe) bt Khee Yen Wee (Sin) and Nidhi Surapaneni 6-0, 6-0.