Yuki Bhambri makes up for everybody else

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 313^th 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 277^th 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.