TENNIS INDIA - tennisindia.org - TENNIS INDIA

.. Leander Paes Page .. Mahesh Bhupathi Page .. Sania Mirza Page ..
.. Indian Calendar/Results/Rankings .. Indian-Tennis Chat .. Fan Club ..

Indian-Tennis: Daily News for the weeks ending on Aug 6, 2007
(Previous weeks' notes) (Daily Notes Index 1997 thru 2007)

.. Add your thoughts/messages in the Forum page ..

Aug 2 Note-1

What a fantastic win for Sania Mirza in the PQF at the #1.34K Acura Classic WTA in San Diego! .. 6-1 6-2 blitzkireg over the 6th seed Dinara Safina (RUS,14) who had a pile-driver pummell her into the subsoil and bedrock (OK, I have to use a civil engineering analogy sometime out here) .. Please see the match reports and details posted by the TennisIndia onsite correspondents, Varma and myself (scroll down a little at that page).  Today, Sania plays the top seed Maria Sharapova (RUS,2) .. The only time these two faced each other was in the final-16 at the US Open in 2005, when Sharapova seemed to get dominated and unable to handle many of Sania's winners, but still managed to win by a 62 61 score, thanks to her never-say-die attitude in running shots down and forcing Sania to make mistakes.   Sania is clearly playing much less error-prone and much more accurate a game these days.  An upset is certainly not out of the questions today .. We will be there to cover it today ..  The match is at about 12 noon at San Diego (8 pm FRI London, 3.30 am SAT in India) .. I believe it will be on ZeeTV in India, probably live, and will be telecast tape-delayed in the US an hour or so later on ESPN and TennisChannel.

Meanwhile, The India #2 Sunitha Rao (IND,243) added to the gazillionth upsets pulled by Indians (Rohan, Prakash, Somdev, Sania, Sunitha etc) in the last 4-5 weeks ... Atthe $50K Vancouver challenger in Canada, Sunitha upset third seed Abigail Spears (USA,164), by a 62 62 score yesterday .. She had beaten a qualifier, Augustina Lepore (ARG,513), by the same score in the R1 earlier .. Sunitha Rao, still only 21 years old, has been playing at a higher level for the last few weeks too ..

A third upset artist this week, though at a lower level event, has been Ashutosh Singh (IND,737), unseeded but on a great run at the $10K+H ITF futures in Delhi .. Among only two Indians to even reach the QF there, he  has now come to the final, with a 64 64 upset of the seocnd seed, Yu Wang J. (CHN,632) today .. In the QF yesterday, Ashutosh beat Tsu Yang Lin of Taiwan, 62 62 .. See the tournament discussion thread we have for the three-futures sequence ongoing in India ..

At the big $125K+H Segovia challenger, Rohan Bopanna and Aisam Qureshi (PAK) have reached the doubles semifinal .. Rohan, ranked #101 this week will crack the top-100 next week, and become the first Indian in over 10 years to do that .. The last one was a guy called Ma-something Bhu-something ....

By the way, I hardly mentioned the fabulous run by Somdev DevVarman in the qualifying rounds of the $600K Washingdon DC ATP last weekend .. Can you believe that the dude murdered the qualies second seed #41 Andre Sa by a 62 61 score, afterupsetting the 5th seed Kamil Kapcoviv, 62 62 ? .. Read all about his incredible exploits in the WashingtonDC ATP thread .. After something like 30 matches dating back to January in college, and some top-100 upsets etc, Somdev finally had a poor serving day in the first round after he qualified in, falling to Paul Goldstein (USA,51) ..

Aug 1 Notes

Our Southern California correspondent Varma Alluri and I will be at the Acura Classic WTA in San Diego from today, covering Sania Mirza who will be playing Dinara Safina in the PQF .. Look for our match reports soon!

July 29 Notes

Sania Mirza is in her first Tier-II final at the $600K Bank of West Classic WTA at Stanford, against the top seed Anna Chakvetadze .. Sania has upset two top-20 seeds on the way to the final.

Please come to the chatroom for running commentary of the match, starting at 12 noon at Palo Alto (3 pm New York, 12.30 am Monday, India)

All the rest of the updates, like Rohan winning another doubles title, etc, coming later.

July 20 Notes

All kinds of great results AGAIN this week ... Sania Mirza is in the semis at the $175K Cincinnati WTA, Prakash Amritraj has upset the 6th seed and reached the SF at the $75K Aptos Challenger in California, and Rohan Bopanna is in the doubles final and singles QF at the Manchester challenger, etc etc.   These guys show no sign of losing steam .. And I have been goofing off, lazy to update here because of too many good results..  Will round up all the scores soon ..

By the way, out of the blue, Prakash who is in the best form and run of his career, has now picked up enough points in two months flat to make it into the qualies of the US Open (and Rohan is already assured of that) .. How about that?

July 16 Notes

Third seed, 38th ranked Sania Mirza won the first round today at the $175K Tier-III WTA in Cincinnati with a 64 63 win over Abigail Spears (USA,140) .. Bad start, dropping serve twice to fall 0-3 in the first set, but thereafter Sania went on a tear to take the set .. Ater being up 2-0 in the second set, she again dropped serve twice to fall behind by a break .. But again she won 4 games in a row to take care of business .. Patchy play today, but a win is a win! .. In doubles, Sania is playing with Bethanie Mattek (USA) and they face Catalina Castano (COL) and  Meng Yuan (CHN) in the first round.

Rohan and Cuevas fell in the final of the $100K+H Sheveningen challenger in Netherlands, 67 57 .. He picked up some good points and moves back up to #108 in doubles rankings now.  Timely for him to pick up 56 points, because he has 60 points falling off next week for his Aptos challenger title last year.

Prakash Amritraj has a WC to the Aptos challenger this week.  Rohan is at the Manchester challenger this week.  Karan goes to the US but was unable to play any qualies this week due to his title at Morocco .. By the way, here is a nice article in the Indian Express by Shailendra Awasthy - Karan's Feat on Clay - they talked to Ramesh Krishnan about his Stuttgart tile in 1982, and got his comments on Karan winning the first pro title on clay abroad in 25 years, though it is at an entirely lower level tournament.

More neews on where all the Indians are playing this week, later ..

July 15 Notes

Two superb 3-set matches last night against top-70 foes, though losses, by Indians at the $250K+ kennedy Funding Invitational clay tourney at the Dellwood Country Club in New City, New York ..  Somdev Dev Varman's great giant-killing spree (and an incredible 19-match win streak dating back to early April in college) ended in a 57 64 36 final against ATP #69 Michael Russell, perhaps the best American claycourt player.   Sunitha Rao (IND,264) went down after a massive fight, after saving match pts in 4 different games, against the top seed Laura Granville (USA,54), 26 76(4) 46 .. Congratulations go to both Somdev and Sunitha.

The Journal News says in their Sunday article - "Sunitha Rao, India's second-highest-ranked women's player, saved match points in four different games in the second set before finally succumbing 6-2, 6-7 (6), 6-4 to Granville, a Chicago native... "I was really frustrated at the end of the second. I was like, 'Not again,' " Granville said. "I definitely got a little lucky to win today. Most of the second and third set, I really felt like she was dictating the play and hitting most of the winners. I was a little more steady at the end, maybe." .. Good job, Sunitha.  I think she has been playing better tennis ever since she changed allegience to her ancestral country and started donning Indian colors officially.

And we are still not done with the week.  Yet another claycourt final is today -- away in Scheveningen, Netherlands, where Rohan Bopanna and new partner Pablo Cuevas beat Thiemo DeBakker and Jesse Huta Galung of NED, 67(4) 64 (10-1) yesterday to reach the doubles final of the $100K challenger .. They play the experienced Dutch pair, Rameon Sluiter and Peter Wessels today ..

Indian men in clay finals in three continents abroad -- Somdev in N.America, Karan in Africa and Bops in Europe .. That is stuff nobody expects.

July 14 Note-2

So much of positive stuff in Indian tennis the last few days, that I am having trouble highlighting everything properly .. First, Rohan does his career first challenger, only the second by anybody but LP in 13 years .. Sunitha reaches her first challenger final in a long time last week .. Then Prakash upstages Rohan this week with the Newport ATP heroics (first ATP QF in 8 years by an Indian) .. Then both Rohan and Prakash got upstaged by Somdev at the Kennedy invitational late this week, with Sunitha doing her part too ..  And it does not end even there .. Karan Rastogi just became the first Indian male to win a pro clay title abroad in twenty five years !! .. To the best of  my knowledge, the last clay professional title abroad was by Ramesh Krishnan at the Stuttgart Outdoors on July 18, 1982 .. Prahlad Srinath came close with a runner-up finish in an Indonesian clay satellite leg on clay in 97, but nothing much else on clay abroad for such a long time .. Though at the lowest level of pro tennis, Karan has prevented the 25th anniversary of our clay futility with a comeback from the brink of defeat, 06 76(5) 64 win over the third seeded Spaniard, Ceasr Ferrer-Victoria (#608) .. What are the odds that we have both Somdev and Karan doing notable deeds on clay in the same week, suddenly?

Isha Lakhani could not win the final at the $10K ITF in Khonkan, Thailand.  The 530th ranked fifth seed went down after a good start, 62 26 36 against the 7th seed Vlada Ekshibarova (UZB,550) .. Good run anyway, by Isha this week.

July 14 Note-1

Good news keeps on coming for Indian tennis .. Prakash played a very good match but could not get over the hump against the 5th seed Mahut at Newport yesterday, but Somdev Dev Varman continued to upstage everybody, as he literally blew away Gimselstob, 62 63 at the Kennedy Funding Invitational (non-ATP) event in New York.  Gimelstob was ranked #85 just five months back, and was ranked as high as #63 once - to shellack him on clay like this, shows the level of tennis "Buji" has been playing.  So, the guy who nobody expected to reach the final of one of the most prestigious invitational events out there, has shocked everyone by upsetting three top-200 guys who were all been top-75 in ATP not too long back.   They have pictures of all the guys in the draw there, except for Somdev who they thought might be a one-and-out fellow .. They will look back in a couple of years in amusement at their folly in underestimating a true *real thing* in pro tennis.  Somdev could have made $20K for this, but his prize money goes to charity because of amateur status restrictions on college players.  Somdev has a very tough final to play - against Michael Russell (USA,69), one of the best American clay court players - he even had match points in the French Open PQF against eventual winner Kuerten once.  Go Somdev.

Also pulling off an excellent upset at the Kennedy Invitational was the India #2, Sunitha Rao .. 264th ranked Sunitha beat Alina Jidkova (RUS,159) by an impressive 64 61 score.  She too runs into a top player today - top seed Laura Granville (USA,54) ..  Go Sunitha.

Prakash Amritraj played an excellent match against a real grasscourt expert, Nicolas Mahut (FRA,83) but lost 46 67(4) .. In the first set, Kash was broken once after saving a couple of break points ..  In the second, Prakash was up a break at 2-0, but Mahut broke him back immediately in the 4th game .. Basically a few points here and there made the difference.  Kash won 66 points to 74 by the French man.   From the stats it looks as though about 5 extra points P$ lost on his second serve was what caused the real difference, as both players slammed down 8 aces each.   Despite the loss, Prakash has had a terrific week, becoming the first Indian to reach an ATP event QF in 8 years.   He picked up 45 points too, which will take his point total to 106 and his ranking from #467 to about #335 .. It is truly remarkable that Kash has come back up to challenger entry levels within a mere two months period.  Go Prakash.

Karan Rastogi had another gritty win, 76(2) 46 75 over Frederic Jeanclaude (FRA,896) at the Morocco F5 $10K futures semifinal today .. Top seeded Karan plays the third seed Cesar Ferrer-Victoria (ESP,604) in the final tomorrow.

July 13 Notes

Prakash plays the Newport ATP quarterfinal at around 1 pm today, after the first QF between Aisam Qureshi and Dick Norman that starts at 11 am.

If you thought only Prakash and Rohan are doing well, think again, though! ..   Somdev Dev Varman is kicking some serious butt this week too.  The NCAA tennis champion in USA returned late last week after a well-deserved few weeks off in India.  Any rust from the break is not showing because he has got on court this week at a prestigious invitational tournament, the Kennedy Funding Invitational in New York, with a few top-100 players such as Goldstein, Delic, Kendrick, Gimelstob etc.  Somdev has now beaten a top-150 and top-100 players in succession there.  He beat Ricardo Mello (BRA,154), 76(5) 64 .. Yesterday he reached the semifinal by upsetting Robert Kendrick (USA,99), 63 46 76(3) .. He plays Justin Gimelstob (USA,178) in the semifinal today.  You can find a newspaper article with Somdev's comments here (thanks, Sameer, for the link!) .. Somdev would have made $10,000 for the wins at the big prize money event, but has to donate it to charity due to amateur status requirement placed on US college players.

This event is on clay, too (the greay Har-Tru clay they use in the US) ...  Who said Indians cannot pay on clay? .. It is even more impressive that he did that after not having played clay for a very long time. To beat a Brazilian on clay (Mello was ranked ATP #50 two years back!) is simply mindblowing.  It seems Buji was down 0-4 in the third set against Kendrick yesterday but took him to the woodshed afterwards.   Now you know why we keep saying in the forum that Buji has that "IT" which points to a seriously bright future.  Just mark my word and watch what he does when he hits the pros next July after finishing his degree!

If anybody thinks Indian men's tennis is done, dead --- hey, you are in for a shock.   Bops, Kash and Buji are all in top-150 form right now.

The Indian #2 Sunitha Rao who had a very good run last week to the Dallas challenger final, is also at the Kennedy invitational, playing the women's draw.  The women only play a doubles draw there.  Sunitha is playing with Alina Jidkova (RUS) and they face Laura Granville and Noelle Hickey of USA in the R1 of the four-team knockout draw (Edit: correction -- I read the draw wrongly.  It is a singles draw, and SR plays Jidkova in the first round, which is the QF).

Good news from Indonesia too.  Isha Lakhani has reached the final of the $10K in Khonkan, Thailand.  She beat the talented Jesse Rompeirs (INA,825) by a 64 67(1) 63 score yesterday in the QF and then won easily today, 61 61 over Vivien Silfani-Tony (INA,802) .. Third seed #530 Sanaa Bhambri lost yesterday to 7th seed #550 Vlada Ekshibarova (UZB) 26 36 .. In tomorrow's final, 5th seeded Isha will face the 7th seed Vlada.

July 12 Notes

How about our man Prakash Amritraj?? ..  He becomes the first Indian to reach an ATP quarterfinal since 1999 when LP reached his last ATP tour quarterfinal at (where else?)  Newport! ..  First Indian in eight years to do the job, and he does that on the hallowed grass courts of Newport which was his dad's favorite surface (where Vijay had his final title if I remember correctly, in 1984 or so).  I am loving this - one week Rohan pulls off big upsets for a challenger title, and the next week we have Kash doing this.   I am ecstatic, actually.

[R2] Prakash Amritraj (IND,418) d. Scoville Jenkins (USA,367) 63 63 !! .. Walk in the park.

Prakash now faces 5th seed Nicolas Mahut (FRA,83) .. Prakash had actually beaten him once, when NM was ranked #158, at the US Open qualifying rounds in 2005 August.

In other news,  Rohan and Cueas have reached the SF at the $100K Scheveningen challenger, with a smashing 60 61 win over Joseph Sirianni (AUS) and Jasper Smit (NED).  They get the talented pair of Dutch youngsters, Jesse Huta-Galung and Thiemo De Bakker, next.

At the $10K Morocco F5 futures in Khemmisett on clay, the top seed Karan Rastogi (IND,357) had a gritty win over the 5th seed Sherif Sabry (EGY,571) 36 61 63 .. It is his first foreign semifinal in a very long time .. Good to see him staying tough .. He now plays Frederic Jeanclaude (FRA,923) .. Let us hope for a "Vann Damm" thulping of Jeanclaude next :)

In the second round at the $10K in Khonkan, Thailand, 5th seed Isha Lakhani beat Parija Maloo 61 75 to reach the QF and third seed Sanaa Bhambri beat unranked qualifier Uthumporn Pudtra (THA) 61 61, but 4th seed Ankita Bhambri (#529) was upset by Etsuko Litazaki (JPN,830) 61 63 .. Isha faces young qualifier Jessy Rompies (INA,825) and Sanaa faces 7th seed Vlada Ekshibarova (UZB,550)

July 11 Notes

Ataboy, Kaaaaaaassssshhhh!!!! ... Prakash reached the second round of the Newport Hall of Fame ATP yesterday, with a big comeback upset of Ilia Bozoljac (SRB,142), 36 63 63 !!! .. He now gets a bit of a break, ranking-wise, in the next round .. He will be playing Scoville Jenkins (USA,367) who upset #139 Bracciali in the first round.  Go P$$ ...  P$ and Aisam Qureshi (who has had the huge upset of the top seed Mardi Fish), did not have as good a time in doubles, as they went down 06 46 to the top seeds Wesley Moodie (RSA) and Fabrice Santoro (FRA) today.

At the Morocco $10K on clay, top seed Karan Rastogi (IND,357) reached the QF beating unranked Italian qualifier Valerio Carrese, 26 64 61 .. He runs into the 5th seed Sherif Sabry (EGY,571) next.

There is bad news too .. At the $50K Boston challenger, seventh seed Neha Uberoi (USA,248) fell to Sandy Gumulya (INA,288) by a close 57 46 score in the first round.  Add one more of our players to the sizable list of seeds upset this week in the first round...

July 10 Notes

Here are the scores of the beautiful work by Prakash Amritraj at the Newport ATP over the weekend.

[Q1] Prakash Amritraj (IND,418) d. Rodrigo Grilli (BRA,734), 76(5) 61
[Q2] Prakash Amritraj (IND,418) d. (2) Robert Smeets (AUS,219), 76(5) 75
[Q3] Prakash Amritraj (IND,418) d. Scott Lipsky (USA,558) 64 63

The impressive win was against Smeets in the second round.   Smeets is somebody who knows grasscourt tennis, and it shows how good Prakash is, on grass courts.  It is also quite surprising how quickly Kash has come back to full form since the return from injury just two months back.  He now gets a reasonably OK first round match against #142 Ilia Bozoljac (SRB), which is about as good as it could in the main draw of a tour event.

Meanwhile, Rohan Bopanna did not have a great outing at the $100K Scheveningen challenger, but that was expected because red clay is never really his surface and he went to play there only because he got a special exempt entry and also because the challenger does give pretty decent prize money.    He went down 26 46 to Christophe Rochus (BEL,182).  Bops has moved up to #234 this week with all the points from his challenger title in Ireland last week.  Near his career-high of 230 which he reached last February.  He is now pretty much assured of an entry to the US Open qualies, though he has a few points falling off soon.  In doubles,  Bopanna and Pablo Cuevas (URU) reached the QF with an easy 63 63 win over the wildcard pair of Frank Clausing and Boy Wijnmalen from Netherlands.

Quite a lot of Indians are in action this week .. Karan Rastogi reached the second round of the $10K futures in Morocco.  I think he must have selected the event mostly to get more clay experience, as the points are rather minimal.  He advanced as his opponent, qualifier Philippe De Bonneville (FRA,1127) retired with KR leading 76(2) 40 ..

A bunch of our ladies are at the $10K ITF tournament in Khonkan in Thailand.  Parija Maloo (#826) beat qualifier Nan Dong (CHN,891) 46 61 62, fifth seed Isha Lakhani (#530) took care of unranked Thai wildcard Nutwadee Suthiprabha by a 60 62 score, fourth seed Ankita Bhambri (#529) got past qualifier Joohyoung Kim (KOR,914) after some trouble, 62 46 61 and third seed Sanaa Bhambri (#508) defeated Si-Si Qiu (CHN,748) 60 61

Quite a string of poor early exits to report for some our men this week .. Sunil Kumar Sipaeya had a poor outing, though he was the 5th seed at the $10K USA F17 futures in Peoria, Illinois - he went down 46 26 to unranked qualifier Ytai Abougzir (USA).  Ytai is a fomer world junior #2 but has not done well after that, probably due to his being a shorter guy, etc.  He is still a top-40 caliber college player at the Florida State University.  Looks like SKS ran into a talented player on a bad day.  Sunil didn't fare better in doubles, as he and his aprtner Porus Jetli went down 16 16 to Stephen Ward and Ryan Recht of USA.  Similar fate as Sunil's for the current India #4 Divij Sharan (IND,457) in the UK circuit.  He was seeded 6th at the Felixstowe grasscourt futures and went down 36 67(4) to qualifier Daniel Evans (GBR,1505).  Also going out early was youngster Vivek Shokeen (IND,726) who fell by a bit of an embarrassing score of 06 16 to Pere Riba-Madrid (ESP,537) at the $15K Spanish F16 in Elche, on clay.  I believe Vivek was on a short training program at a Spanish academy.   He should ask for his money back from the academy .. Just kidding.  Hope he gets going next week. Former US college player Rohan Gajjar (IND,1505) lost 36 26 to 4th seed Syrym Abdukhalikov (KAZ,623) at a $15K futures on clay in Teheran, Iran.

July 9 Notes

Prakash Amritraj just qualified into the $400K Newport ATP in the US, with a big upset along the way .. Go Kash!!! .. He also got a favorable draw in the first round .. At the big $100K clay challenger in Scheveningen in Netherlands, Rohan Bopanna got a special exempt entry based on his show at Dublin last week!  .. Neha Ubeori (USA) is at the $50K Boston challenger .. Also in action this week are Karan Rastogi at a $10K in Morocco, and Sunil Sipaeya in the US ..Tara Iyer, whohas not had an upset in a while, got upset this week in the qualies of a $25K in Japan .. More details later .. Gotta run!

July 8 Note-2

The week, which started so so with not too much of great results, ended as one of the best for us, with our men's #1 player, Rohan Bopanna winning his first challenger title, at Dublin, Ireland and our #2 player behind Sania, Sunitha Rao reaching a challenger final for the first time in a long time - both of them had big upsets of seeded players as well.  Rohan was one of the last entries in the draw but that did not stop him from taking the title, which is only the second challenger title in about 13 years by anybody other than Leander Paes.  Harsh Manakd had won the Manchester grasscourt title last July, before which one has to go back to 1994 when Mahesh Bhupathi won the Jakarta challenger.  Rohan, 27 year old, who must be considered one of the big upcoming doubles players on the tour as well, based on the top-100 players who make him a partner, won the doubles title as well, to make it a grand double in the best week of his career.  Congartulations, Bofors Bopanna!! .. This was the second final of his career, his previous coming at Bukhara, Uzbekistan last August.  Sunitha Rao reached the 4th challenger final of her career, but is still lookng for her first title.

Here are the score of the matches for Rohan and Sunitha:

Rohan Bopanna's singles and doubles scores at the $50K Shelbourne Irish Open ATP Challenger at Fitzwilliam, Dublin

[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND,289) d. (5) Simon Stadler (GER,205) 76(2) 61
[R2] Rohan Bopanna (IND,289) d. Ti Chen (TPE,267) 76(10) 61
[QF] Rohan Bopanna (IND,289) d. (2) Mischa Zverev (GER,134) 67(3) 64 63
[SF] Rohan Bopanna (IND,289) d. Conor Niland (IRL,385) 64 64
[F] Rohan Bopanna (IND,289) d. (Q) Martin Pedersen (DEN,679) 64 63

[R1] (2) R.Bopanna/ A.Feeney d. Jamie Baker (GBR)/ Brendan Evans (USA) 75 64
[QF] (2) R.Bopanna/ A.Feeney d. Frederik Nielsen (DEN)/ Martin Pedersen (DEN) 36 76(5) (17-15)
[SF] (2) R.Bopanna/ A.Feeney d. Andis Juska (LAT)/ Deniss Pavlovs (LAT) 62 64
[F] (2) R.Bopanna/ A.Feeney d. (1) Lars Burgsmuller (GER)/ Mischa Zverev (GER) 62 62

Sunitha Rao's scores from the $25,000 ITF challenger in Southlake, Dallas;

[R1] (7) Sunitha Rao (IND,265) d. (WC) Jill Saunders (USA,UNR) 62 62
[R2] (7) Sunitha Rao (IND,265) d. (Q) Heidi El Tabakh (CAN,557) 46 75 64
[QF] (7) Sunitha Rao (IND,265) d. (2) Natalie Grandin (RSA,222) 64 61
[SF] (7) Sunitha Rao (IND,265) d. (5) Ryoko Fuda (JPN,247), walkover
[F] (7) Sunitha Rao (IND,265) vs Alexa Glatch (USA,421), 26 57

In other news this week, Tara Iyer qualified into a $25K in Japan but could not pull an upset in the first round .. Karan Rastogi was the top seed at a $10K clay event in Morocco, but was upset in the first round .. Hope they do better next week in Japan and Morocco.

under-16 news: Sweta Solanki, in the ITF team for the European u16 clay circuit, reached yet another final with her Indoensian partner, Beatrice Gumulya .. After one poor week (starting June 18th) at La Baule, France, where they got knocked out in the QF,  Sweta Kumari Solanki (IND) and Beatrice Gumulya (INA) again has reached two mor doubles finals in a row - though they fell both times ... At the ETA category-1 Le Pontet u16 in the June 25th week,  5th seeded Sweta and Beatrice reached the final upsetting the 4th and 2nd seeds, and fell in the final, 57 64 (6-10) to the 3rd seeded Chinese pair, Xi Bai and Xin Wen ... This week at the ETA category-1 Paris Cadets,  Sweta and Beatrice were seeded 3rd and beat the 6th and 2nd seeds before losing the final 67(4) 67(5) to the 4th seeds Ema Burgic (BIH) and Alexandra Josifoska (MKD), who had upset the top seeds Bai/Wen in the semi ... Unfortunately, the same old story in singles for ETA#109 Sweta, as she went down cheaply in the second round to a #53 player after beating a #141 player this week at the Paris cadets.  She was seeded 12th and was upset in the first round last week at Le Pontet, France ... Actually, with the 65 points for her runner-up finish in singles (also 20 for doubles title) at the Foggia category-2 last week, Ashvarya Shrivastava has gone ahead of Sweta whose points have mostly come in small bits from doubles titles.  Ashvarya is ranked #95 this week in ETA while Sweta is #111.  Kyra Shroff is #211.  They were both not in the ITF team and only played 3 Italian events unlike Sweta who played 6 events ... With the title in just ONE event he played (Foggia clay) last week, Sudanwa Sitaram came up to #171 in the ETA ranks, which is impressive!

July 6 Note

Some big news to report on Rohan Bopanna (also Sunitha Rao) - in the next notes .. I was traveling for the whole week, first at a large malayali convention in New York, and then to a wedding.  Did not manage to find time to do updates at all ..

The Wimbledon ended for us without a whole heck of a lot to cheer about.  Here are the scores for Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi, Sania Mirza and Rupesh Roy:

Doubles:

[R1] (5) Martin Damm (CZE)/ L.Paes d. Chris Haggard (RSA)/ Marcin Matkowski (POL)     76(4) 63 75
[R2] (5) Martin Damm (CZE)/ L.Paes d. James Auckland (GBR)/ Stephen Huss (AUS)        76(4) 76(4) 36 76(3)
[R3] (5) Martin Damm (CZE)/ L.Paes d. (Q) Scott Lipsky (USA)/ David Martin (USA)      62 64 62
[QF] (5) Martin Damm (CZE)/ L.Paes l. (4) Fabrice Santoro (FRA)/ Nenad Zimonjic (SRB) 67(6) 76(5) 46 36

[R1] (16) S.Mirza/ Shahar Peer (ISR) d. Sofia Arvidsson (SWE)/ Lilia Osterloh (USA)   75 63
[R2] (16) S.Mirza/ Shahar Peer (ISR) d. Agnes Szavay (HUN)/ Vladimira Uhlirova (CZE)  64 63
[R3] (16) S.Mirza/ Shahar Peer (ISR) l. (1) Lisa Raymond (USA)/ Samantha Stosur (AUS) 06 76(4) 16

Mixed Doubles:

[R1] (8) L.Paes / Meghan Shaughnessy (USA) BYE
[R2] (8) L.Paes / Meghan Shaughnessy (USA) d. Jaroslav Levinsky (CZE)/ Renata Voracova (CZE) 60 60 
[R3] (8) L.Paes / Meghan Shaughnessy (USA) d. (12) Todd Perry (AUS)/ Chia-Jung Chuang (TPE)  75 75
[QF] (8) L.Paes / Meghan Shaughnessy (USA) l. Fabrice Santoro (FRA)/ Severine Bremond (FRA)  62 36 46

[R1] M.BHupathi/ S.Mirza d. David Skoch (CZE)/ Janette Husarova (SVK) 63 64
[R2] M.BHupathi/ S.Mirza l. (9) Marcin Matkowski (POL)/ Cara Black (ZIM) 46 46

Boys Singles/ Doubles:

[R1] Rupesh Roy (IND) d. Sean Thornley (GBR)     57 76(4) (10-7)
[R2] Rupesh Roy (IND) l. (8) Kellen Damico (USA) 36 63 (6-10)
[R1] R.Roy/ Damien Hume (USA) l. Devin Britton (USA)/ Austin Krajicek (USA)/  16 63 (5-10)

Hope we do better at US Open, the remaining grand slam of the year.

.. Previous news are at  Notes for the weeks ending on July 9, 2007 ..

.. Please email questions/comments/criticism to me email me - R.Jayakrishnan