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Tennis
Australian Open: Bhupathi-Sania bagged mixed doubles title
Feb 1st
Melbourne: On Sunday Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza bagged their first Grand Slam title together, beating Andy Ram and Natalie Dechy in straight sets in the mixed doubles final of the Australian Open.
The Indian wild card pair proved too good for the Israeli-French duo, defeating them 6-3, 6-1 in 55 minutes.
The win also gave Bhupathi his 11th Grand Slam title –seventh in mixed doubles. This was also Bhupathi’s 2nd mixed doubles title here, following his 2006 triumph with Martina Hingis.
For Sania, it was her maiden Grand Slam title.
They also got richer by 1,34,460 Australian dollars.
In the top clash, Bhupathi was hard with his service and displayed great hands at the net throughout the match. Sania complemented him with powerful forehands.
The Indians started the match on a positive note, flouting Ram in the opening game and then Bhupathi holding his serve to go 2-0 up.
They, on the other hand, could not hold on to their lead for long as Mirza lost her serve in the fourth game to hand Ram-Dechy duo the chance to level the scores at 2-2.
Bhupathi and Sania were soon in their rudiments, flouting Dechy and going 4-3 up.
Then, Sania held her serve and then rounded off the set with an spotless forehand volley on Ram’s serve.
In spite of the comforting lead, the Indians showed no mercy to Ram and Dechy in the second set and breezed their way to the title.
The only instant when they looked under some sort of stress was in the third game of the second set but Sania battered Ram’s full-blooded shots to held her serve.
The Indians broke their opponents two times in the second set — first Dechy in the fourth game and then Ram in the sixth game — to go up 5-1.
Sania then rounded off the encounter on her service game to bag the title.
Australian Open: Sania Mirza knocked out by Nadia Petrova
Jan 21st
Australian Open: Sania Mirza crashed out of the singles event of the Australian Open after suffering a 3-6, 2-6 beating at the hands of Russian 10th ranker Nadia Petrova in the second round here on Wednesday.
The Indian star, who is making a comeback to the spirited tennis after a lengthy injury lay-off, wasted break points in both the sets to see early curtains on her campaign.
With Sania’s defeat, Indian challenge ended in the singles action in the first Grand Slam of the year.
Cashing in on small mistakes of big players is very important to tame them but the Indian player missed on those chances in both the sets.
The unseeded Indian did show a few progress in her ground strokes as she hit some striking double-handed backhand winners but failed to keep the intensity.
Petrova, world number 11, on the other hand each time faltered, had a very tough game to bail out herself.
Sania had her first breakpoint — earned from a stunning service return winner — in the third game of the first set but Petrova served well to bank the game, which she finished by hitting an ace.
It was now turn of Sania to face a breakpoint, which she presented by hitting a forehand long, and the Russian happily accepted that to go up 3-1.
Petrova consolidated the lead to 4-1 by holding her serve in the next game and the set went on serve from there in favor of the Russian.
Sania engaged her challenger in long rallies, did show that she had a plan to set up points, but lacked in implementation.
Petrova was calm in the crunch circumstances and held her nerves to ward off the threat.
Again in the second set, it was Sania who had early chance to break Petrova when she had two breakpoints in the fourth game.
But the Russian raised her game by a few notches and served tremendously well to reject the Indian any possibility to make a comeback to the match.
Petrova then break Sania in the fifth and seventh games to create a 5-2 lead and served out the set and match with the help of a couple of aces.
Sania now will play in women’s doubles with American Vania King and in mixed doubles with compatriot Mahesh Bhupathi.
Oz: Somdev loses in qualifiers
Jan 16th
Australian Open: Somdev Devvarman lost the singles main draw in Australian Open after he lost his second round qualifying match to Lukasz Kubot of Poland on Friday.
Seeded 28th, Somdev began in the right earnest to go one up ahead of his opponent staged a sparkling reply to pip him 4-6,6-4,7-5 after three hours of lengthy fight.
New from his runners-up finish in the Chennai Open, world number 154 Somdev transformed both the break points and secured one as well to cover up the first set in 37 minutes.
The 207th ranked Kubot twisted the match in the second set, breaking Somdev once and holding his serve to draw parity.
In the marathon see-saw decider too, Kubot prevailed, converting three break points in opposition to Somdev’s two.
Chennai Open final: Somdev vs Cilic
Jan 11th
Somdev Devvarman will lock shoulders with Croatia’s third seed Marin Cilic in the top match of the Chennai Open as he reached his maiden ATP tour event final on Sunday after Germany’s fifth seed Rainer Schuettler pulled out from the semifinal because of wrist wound on Saturday.
Cilic entered into the final after defeating eighth seed Spaniard Marcel Granollers 6-4, 6-3 in his semifinal game of the $450,000 hard court tournament.
Somdev is first Indian participant to make to the final of the Chennai Open, currently into its 14th edition.
India’s doubles top Leander Paes had reached the semifinals of Chennai Open in 1998.
Somdev is also the single second Indian player in recent times to make the final of an ATP Tour event.
Prakash Amritraj had reached the final of Hall of Fame Tennis championship in Newport, United States, in July last year while he lost to Fabrice Santoro.
Somdev made complete use of his wild card, disappointing players like Croatia’s world number 25 Ivo Karlovic and ex- world number one Carlos Moya en route to the semifinal. The fresh Indian tennis sensation knows that it would be hard to take home the title.
“Tomorrow is going to be very tough. I have my work cut out. Cilic is really playing very good,” he said after receiving the walkover.
Somdev was pleased to make the final but was upset to miss the opportunity to play against Schuettler. “It is obviously disappointing. Specially for the crowd.
I knew it’s going to be hard (against Schuettler). He is a experienced pro. I had thought of playing an attacking game but I did not get the chance,” he said.
Schuettler was also upset on leaving the tournament mid-way.
“During yesterday’s doubles match I started feeling pain in my left wrist. As I warmed up for the semifinal I wasn’t able to hit a double handed backhanded, I felt a strongpain. “I would only be able to slice and I’m also afraid that the injury would get worse. I had the same a few years ago but it wasn’t as bad as now,” the German ace said.
“I feel sorry for the crowd and the tournament. It is a very disappointing moment for me.”
Schuetller was also concerned about his campaign in the Australian Open.
“I also have to pull out of Sydney. I will now fly to Melbourne and see if I can be ready in time for the Australian Open,” he said.
The German player became the second player to pull out from the event after Russian top seed Nikolay Davydenko, who had to leave the event due to a heel wound ahead of his second round match, earlier.
Karlovic ousts By Somdev, Enters into semis
Jan 10th
Enduring his enormous killing form, India’s Somdev Devvarman upped his match via numerous notches to thrash fourth seeded Ivo Karlovic of Croatia 7-6(4) 6-4 and storm into the semifinals of the Chennai Open ATP Tour tennis tournament here.
Playing before a crowded stadium and the home crowd rooting for him, Somdev, who on Thursday scalped former world no.1 and two-time champion here Carlos Moya, played his heart out to win the quarterfinal match in 86 minutes.
In the procedure, he became the single second Indian after Leander Paes to figure in the semifinals of the 14-year old important event.
In the semifinals, Devvarman will meet Germany’s fifth seeded Rainer Schuettler, who stayed on way with a 6-2 7-5 win in 98 minutes over his compatriot Bjorn Phau previous in the day.
In the other semifinal tomorrow, third seeded Marin Cilic of Croatia plays eighth seed Marcel Granollers of Spain.
