The plucky lass from Hyderabad figured in the WTA Top 10 Power list for the Acura Classic and we can be sure her fearsome forehand may pack some punch yet. Add to this her second career victory over Martina Hingis at the ongoing East West Bank Classic in Los Angeles and Mirza's surely gonna be the first Indian woman to be seeded at a Grand Slam. The US Open, which starts on August 27, is also the Grand Slam where Mirza achieved her best showing yet - a fourth round loss to Maria Sharapova in 2005. And who knows, if her form continues, a quarter-final berth at Flushing Meadows may just be within her reach.
In the men's singles, Prakash Amritraj is also inching towards his highest ranking yet - he was 220 in 2004 and is now at 268, after impressive runs at the ATP Hall of Fame Championships and the Comerica Challenger. He's vaulted up 200 positions in the rankings in just one month. Though it remains to be seen whether Prakash will ever match the achievements of his father Vijay, being India's numero uno is still very much within his grasp.
That position currently belongs to Rohan Bopanna. The 27-year-old reached his highest ever ranking of 213 this July after winning his maiden Challenger title at Dublin. But Bopanna is more in the limelight for his doubles victories in partnership with Pakistan's Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi. In one month, the duo notched up a hat-trick of doubles titles at Segovia, Manchester and Nottingham - making Bopanna the first Indian after Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi to break into the top 100 in the ATP doubles rankings.
After Bopanna and Amritraj, the next Indian in the ATP singles list is 340th-ranked Karan Rastogi. A victory at the ITF Futures tournament in Morocco is Rastogi's claim to fame. Keep him on your radar as this 20-something resident of Mumbai may have some more wins up his sleeve.There's more good news in store with 15-year-old Yuki Bhambri. This sibling of the Bhambri sisters won an ITF event in Cairo and is now headed for a stint at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy. Yuki has a shot at playing the U.S. Open Juniors and I feel we'll be hearing a lot about this talented youngster in the coming years.
In the women's singles, Shikha Uberoi is going through a slump. She's currently at 333 in the rankings, having reached a personal best of 122 two years ago. Apart from Mirza, the US-based Sunitha Rao is the only other Indian woman in the Top 300, coming in at 218.
(Current rankings based on August 6, 2007 ATP and WTA list)
Hi ToeKnee, good time to start a blog on Indian tennis. Things are really happening at the moment, right from the junior level. It would be nice if Leander or Mahesh could win the US Open. You could have also mentioned Somdev Dev Varman, who is playing college tennis in the US and is this year's singles champion. The focus would be on Sania, though. She is really knocking at the doors of Fame, but it is not going to be easy to barge in. You should start writing your comments rather than stating the facts. That's my job.
ReplyDeleteCheers.
Kumar.
Hi Toe Knee. Its good to see someone writing on something other than cricket. I just hope all the Indians in the US Open do well. Praying that Rohan Bopanna will get into the doubles main draw for the US Open as his current ranking is 89. All the best and do keep writing.
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