The former World No.1 junior, Australian Open junior
champion and Youth Olympics runner-up, Yuki Bhambri had a fabulous run, as he
made the final of the $50,000 Challenger in Traralgon, Australia.
The 21-year-old Yuki’s good work compensated to some extent for
the quarterfinal losses of Somdev Devvarman and Saketh Myneni in the $75,000 Challenger
in Charlottesville, US. Of course, Saketh had done very well to beat the top
seed in the first round, but a lot more was expected as usual from the
second-seeded Somdev.
Yuki, coached for many years by Aditya Sachdeva in New Delhi,
has been travelling with a trainer these days, charting his own path as a lone
Indian warrior. He had made another final as a qualifier in the $125,000
Challenger in Kaohsiung in September, and will be keen to add a second
Challenger title to the one he had won in Fergana, Uzbekistan, last year, to
his account, though he will once again be up against the top seed, Bradley
Klahn of the US.
Meanwhile, the fifth-ranked Rohan Bopanna’s good work this
season came to an end as he lost the quarterfinals of the Paris Masters in
partnership with Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France. The race to the
season-ending championship in London was lost, as Bopanna needed the big points
to make the cut, after having given himself the hopes with the title in Tokyo.
Even as the week grinds to a triumphant halt, with Indian
tennis community focused on Yuki’s final down under, a lot more is left in the
season, what with Leander Paes looking for the elusive doubles title in the
World Championship.
Rohan Bopanna loses
quarterfinals in Paris Masters
The aspirations of Rohan Bopanna, ranked fifth in the world,
to qualify for the World Championship in London, took a strong beating, as he
in partnership with Edourad Roger-Vasselin of France, was beaten 7-6(5), 3-6,
10-4 by the fourth-seeded Ivan Dodig of Croatia and Marcelo Melo of Brazil in
the quarterfinals of the 3,204,745 Euros BNP Paribas Masters ATP-1000 tennis
tournament in Paris.
It was tough for the 33-year-old Bopanna as he had started partnering
the Frenchman only from Wimbledon, and had played only eight tournaments in the
season. Bopanna who shared $19,580 from Paris, wound up the season with a 31-23
win-loss record. He had won two titles from three finals, including the one in
Tokyo with Vasselin.
Bopanna’s other title in the season had come with Colin
Fleming in Marseille. It was the only tournament together for the Indo-Scotch
duo.
Bopanna had started with Rajeev Ram and competed in six
tournaments with him. He later joined hands with Mahesh Bhupathi for five
tournaments and made the final of Rome. His other partners were Andre Begemann (2)
of Germany, Marcelo Melo of Brazil, Purav Raja and Andy Ram of Israel.
The strong lad from Coorg who had scared the wits of the
Bryan twins, Bob and Mike, in the semifinals of Wimbledon in a five-setter, in
partnership with Edourad Roger-Vasselin, had lost a thriller of a final in the
season-ending World Championship in London last year with Mahesh.
Saketh Myneni, Somdev
Devvarman lose quarterfinals in the $75K Charlottesville Challenger
Saketh Myneni’s fine run in the $75,000 Challenger
tournament in Charlottesville, US, was stopped in the quarterfinals by Jesse
Levine of Canada, who recorded a 6-4, 6-0 victory.
The 313th ranked Saketh, who had beaten the
top-seeded Tim Smyczek of the US in the first round, had earlier beaten Chase
Buchanan of the US 6-4, 6-4 in the pre-quarterfinals.
The second-seeded Somdev Devvarman was beaten 7-6(4), 6-4 by
the seventh-seeded Rhyne Williams of the US in the quarterfinals. He had
earlier outplayed Dennis Molchoanov of Ukraine 6-2, 6-3 in the second round.
The quarterfinals appearance fetched $2190 and 17 ATP points
for the two leading Indian players.
Meanwhile, the Asian Games doubles champions, Somdev and
Sanam Singh were beaten in the quarterfinals 6-4, 6-2 by the second-seeded
Austin Krajicek and Tennys Sandgren of the US. The Indian pair collected $960
and 17 ATP points.
Yuki Bhambri makes
final in the $50K Challenger in Australia
The eighth-seeded Yuki Bhambri continued his fine run and
set up a title clash with the top-seeded Bradley Klahn of the US in the $50,000
Challenger tennis tournament in Traralgon, Australia, on Saturday.
The 21-year-old Yuki defeated the second-seeded James
Duckworth of Australia 6-2, 6-4 in the semifinals. He had beaten the
fourth-seeded Tatsuma Ito of Japan 6-4, 1-6, 7-5 in the quarterfinals.
The former World No.1 junior and Youth Olympics finalist,
the 277th ranked Yuki will be looking for 80 ATP points in the title
match. It will be his second Challenger final, following the one in Kaohsiung
in Chinese Taipei in September when he made the final of the $125,000 event as
a qualifier before being beaten by the top-seeded Yen Hsun Lu of Chinese
Taipei.
The 23-year-old Bradley Klahn is ranked a career-best 123
this week, and had won two titles this season including the Aptos Challenger.
Shweta Rana loses
singles second round, makes doubles final in Egypt
The National women’s runner-up Shweta Rana was beaten 6-4,
6-4 by qualifier Lena Lutzeier of Germany in the pre-quarterfinals of the
$10,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.
The other Indian girl in the second round, Arantxa Andrady
was beaten 6-3, 6-4 by the seventh-seeded Janina Toljan of Austria.
The 20-year-old Shweta overcame the singles disappointment
by making the doubles final in partnership with Giulia Bruzzone of Italy. The
second-seeded Indo-Italian combination beat CarolineDaxhelet of Belgium and
Lena Lutzeier of Germany 6-1, 4-6, 10-5 in the semifinals.
Earlier, Shweta and partner had beaten Janneke Wikkerink of
the Netherlands and Vishesh Vishnu 6-4, 6-7(2), 10-5 in the quarterfinals after
having enjoyed a bye in the first round.
The second seeds were scheduled to play the third-seeded
Paulina Payet of France and Valeria Prosperi of Italy, who had beaten the
top-seeded Arabela Fernandez Rabener of Spain and Khristina Kazimova of Ukraine
7-5, 4-6, 10-7 in the other semifinal.
Sowjanya Bavisetti loses
doubles final in Spain
The second-seeded Sowjanya Bavisetti and Ai Wen Zhu of China
were beaten 6-3, 6-0 by the top-seeded Tatiana Bua of Argentina and Lucia
Cervera-Fazquez of Spain in the doubles final of the $10,000 ITF women’s tennis
tournament in Benicarlo, Spain.
The Indo-Chinese pair had earlier beaen Alexandra Nancarrow
of Australia and Charlotte Roemer of Ecuador 6-3, 6-1 in the semifinals.
Pranjala Yadlapalli
loses second round in ITF grade-2 tournament in Korea
The eighth-seeded Pranjala Yadlapalli was beaten 6-3, 6-2 by
wild card Yu Jin Ahn of Korea in the second round of the ITF grade-2 junior
tennis tournament in Chuncheon City, Korea.
Kushaan Nath loses
doubles semifinals in Kuwait
The fourth-seeded Kushaan Nath and Moham Hamed of Egypt were
outplayed 6-0, 6-1 by the top-seeded Shamel Chaudhry of Britain and Cagatay
Sami Soke of Turkey in the boys doubles semifinals of the ITF grade-4 junior
tennis tournament in Kuwait.
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