Yuki Bhambri planning to play U.S. Open juniors

For all those who thought tennis prodigy Yuki Bhambri has turned his back on the junior circuit, go eat dirt.

Bhambri told The Indian Tennis Blog he's planning to play the US Open in September.

The Australian Open boys champion and reigning world number one surprised fans by skipping Roland Garros and Wimbledon this year.

An ankle injury did trouble Bhambri just before the French Open, but three days short of his 17th birthday, India's next big tennis hope is hitting balls at a Futures event in sweltering New Delhi instead of cheering compatriots Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza at the All England Club.

There's a method to this madness. Bhambri won back-to-back Futures events in April, helping him reach a career-best men's singles ranking of 650 in June. A win at the F5 event this week would help him zoom up the senior rankings even quicker.

After all, he's hoping to break into the Top-500 by the end of the year.

But what of his ankle injury?

"I think I have fully recovered because the ankle is not bothering me at all," Bhambri told us.

After back-to-back hardcourt Futures in India, the young tennis sensation said he might be headed to Syria to play in a Futures event there.

Hardcourt season beckons for Somdev Devvarman

It's been a quick exit from Wimbledon 2009 for top Indian player Somdev Devvarman -- he lost in the singles qualifiers -- but on the plus side, he did get to play his debut Grand Slam match on the hallowed grounds of the All England Club.

The 24-year-old teamed up with Kevin Anderson to stretch fourth seeds Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles before losing in four sets in Round 1 of the men's doubles.

Though his recent form has been disappointing, especially in the light of his giant-killing run to the Chennai Open final in January, Devvarman is now ranked a career-best 129 in singles.

But his ranking could drop with Devvarman having plenty of points to defend in the coming months, thanks to some good results on the tour last year.

The Indian tennis sensation spoke to The Indian Tennis Blog about his immediate plans.

You reached your highest singles ranking of 129 this month. Any ranking goals for the year?
I have never set any goals for myself as far as rankings go. I just want to keep improving my tennis, the rankings will take care of themselves.

Also, you have a lot of points to defend in the coming months. Any strategy for doing do?
Just go out and win matches.

How was the experience of playing at Wimbledon?
It was great playing at Wimbledon. Would like to be in the singles main draw also next year.

Which tournaments will you be playing in the coming months?
I will be playing in the US hard court tournaments as the tour moves there now.

Prajnesh Gunneswaran sets sights on ATP Top 100

And this Chennai lad may soon get there, given how much Prajnesh Gunneswaran has gained from stints at the Spain Tennis Academy in Barcelona under the tutelage of Jonathan Stubbs.

The 18-year-old made tennis fans happy by making it to the semifinals of the $15,000 Futures event in New Delhi last week, the only Indian to do so.

Bigger names like Sunil Kumar Sipaeya had fallen by the wayside. And Gunneswaran himself accounted for Ashutosh Singh in the opening round.

It was sweet revenge -- Singh had prevailed in the final of the DSCL National Tennis Championship last year. Giant-killing Gunneswaran had been the surprise finalist then but consoled himself with a title in the Under-18 event.

This time around, Gunneswaran overpowered Singh in three tight sets and went on to beat second seed Yuichi Sugita of Japan in the quarterfinal. He did come unstuck against Pakistan's Aqeel Khan in the semis but by then his performance had brought him in the limelight.

"The mental aspect is very important for me as I have enough standard to play at a much higher standard than my ranking suggests," Gunneswaran told the Indian Tennis Blog before flying back to Spain.

"But some things let me down like my tactical indiscipline and impatience."

They are flaws Gunneswaran is working on in his quest to crack the ATP Top 100, a goal he thinks he can achieve "within the next couple of years".

The 18-year-old is currently ranked 1303 on the ATP list but will move closer to the Top 1000 when the rankings are updated on Monday.

Gunneswaran has had an amazing run over the past two months - a Futures quarterfinal in Spain (after three qualifying round wins), a win at the Catalan Federation Men's Open (see pic and video) and the Futures semis in New Delhi.

Dreams of a hometown win at the Chennai Futures in early September were shattered with a straight-set opening round loss to second seed Alexey Kedryuk of Kazakhstan, but Gunneswaran was happy he gave it his best shot.

"It was only one break each set and I had chances to break too. Kedryuk is much more experienced than me and he showed that by winning the big points," he said.

"I was happy to bounce back from that and do well in Delhi."

Up next for Gunneswaran are three Spain Futures events in successive weeks, starting with the one in Barcelona on October 6.

VIDEO: Watch Gunneswaran in action

$15,000 INDIA F7 FUTURES, New Delhi
(September 8 - 14, 2008)
HARD COURT
Men's Singles Semifinal
Prajnesh Gunneswaran lost to (7)Aqeel Khan(PAK) 3-6,2-6
Quarterfinal
beat (2)Yuichi Sugita(JPN) 7-6(4),6-4
Round 2
beat (WC)Ronak Manuja 6-4,6-2
Round 1
beat (5)Ashutosh Singh 7-6(5),4-6,7-6(7)

Mahesh Bhupathi knocked out of Rome Masters

Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles were sent packing by unseeded Spanish duo Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco in a second round doubles match at the Rome Masters on Wednesday night.

The fourth seeds lost 7-6(4), 4-6, 7-10 in an hour and 35 minutes, after clawing back from 4-7 down in the final match tiebreak.

Lopez and Verdasco won a point less than their opponents but were able to convert one of two break point opportunities. Bhupathi and Knowles had ten but couldn't capitalise on any.

There had been apprehensions that Bhupathi had not fully recovered from a groin strain he picked up during the Monte Carlo Masters final last month.

The injury also forced Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna to retire from their opening round encounter at last week's BMW Open in Munich, despite leading 6-2, 0-1.

But Bhupathi, who won the Rome Masters with Leander Paes in 1998 and with Max Mirnyi in 2004, didn't blame the injury for the defeat last night.

"I was feeling pretty good," the 33-year-old told the Indian Tennis Blog after the match.

Bhupathi and Knowles, who claimed back-to-back titles at Memphis and Dubai and were losing finalists at Miami and Monte Carlo this season, are currently placed second in the ATP Doubles Race.

Bhupathi returns to action at the Hamburg Masters next week.

Update: Leander Paes and Australia's Paul Hanley, who suffered a string of inexplicable first round losses this season, were beaten in their opening encounter at the Rome Masters on Thursday.

The eighth seeds lost to the Polish pair of Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski 6-4,3-6,6-10 in an hour and 18 minutes.

Mahesh Bhupathi gears up for French Open

A straight-set loss to the Bryan siblings must rankle - especially when it comes in the final of a Masters tournament. But Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles need not despair. There are plenty of opportunities ahead as the ATP Tour moves inexorably towards the second Grand Slam of the Year.

The Indian doubles specialist has a lot going for him. This is Bhupathi's best season-opening performance since 2004 when he and Fabrice Santoro of France annexed titles at Auckland and Dubai in the run-up to the French Open.

This time around, Bhupathi and Knowles laid claim to back-to-back titles at Memphis and Dubai without dropping a set, racing to number two in the ATP Doubles Race.

They won 14 of their last 15 matches - until they ran into the Bryan brothers. And it took just 53 minutes for the Americans to carve out an emphatic 6-2, 6-2 victory in the final of the Sony Ericsson Open.

So is winning the doubles crown at Roland Garros still on his wishlist for 2008?
"Of course it is," the 33-year-old Bhupathi told the Indian Tennis Blog.

It's not an impossible task. Bhupathi won on Parisian clay in 1999 and 2001 (both times with Leander Paes). And he may win again. It's just a question of peaking at the right time.

Rohan Bopanna learns the ABC of ATP

Well, it's back to school for Rohan Bopanna. He joined 20 other tennis players including American John Isner and Thailand's Ratiwatana siblings for a 3-day ATP workshop (March 19-21) in Orlando.

The workshop covered topics including the history of the ATP, how to control personal finances, and the importance of media and promoting the sport.

ATP University has now celebrated its 700th graduate since the program began in 1990. In fact, all Division 1 ATP player members are expected to pass through the University.

But the 28-year-old Indian now has to do more on the tennis court to salvage his singles career - he's currently ranked only 328 and lost his status as India's best male player to Prakash Amritraj.

That's more than a 100 positions below a career-high of 213 achieved in July last year.

His doubles record is sparkling though and he's back at a career-high 54 on the ATP list, thanks to a quarterfinal spot at the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships earlier this month partnering Pakistan's Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi.

Second straight title for Mahesh Bhupathi

Winning four matches in straight sets to win his second tournament on the trot, doubles specialist Mahesh Bhupathi showed he's still a force to contend with on the tennis court.

Bhupathi partnered Mark Knowles of the Bahamas to beat third-seeded Czechs Martin Damm and Pavel Vizner 7-5, 7-6(7) in the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships final on Saturday.

The victory got Bhupathi his 43rd career doubles crown and a share in the $89,500 prize money for the winning pair, who had also triumphed in Memphis last week.

Bhupathi is ranked 18 on the weekly ATP ranking list and is expected to move up when the new rankings are released on Monday. As a pair, Bhupathi and Knowles are currently placed second in the ATP Doubles Race.

"It's no secret. Obviously our games compliment each other. I enjoy playing on the advantage court. Both of us are pretty hungry to win. Me personally, I haven't had a full-time partner for about two years now so the opportunity to play with someone as good as Mark is exciting for me and I have been working pretty hard," Bhupathi said after the final.

"We've been friends for 15 years even though we haven't played together, everything matches and we're looking forward to carrying on the form," he said.

Bhupathi has won the Dubai title twice before - with Leander Paes (1998) and Fabrice Santoro (2004).

After an ominous 2008 debut in Sydney, where they bowed out in their opening match, Bhupathi and Knowles had reached the semifinals of the Australian Open in January and the quarterfinals at San Jose last month. They are now 13-3 for the year, having won their last eight matches in straight sets.

Mahesh Bhupathi triumphs in Memphis

Sydney was a nightmare, Melbourne was good, San Jose was okay but it was Memphis which proved lucky for Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles. The top seeds prevailed in the doubles event at the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships in the US city, grabbing their first title as a pair - that too without losing a set in four matches.

In the final, Bhupathi and Knowles proved too good for Thai twins Sanchai and Sonchat Ratiwatana, triumphing 7-6(5), 6-2 in one hour and 16 minutes.

After an ominous 2008 debut in Sydney, where they bowed out in their opening match, Bhupathi and Knowles had reached the semifinals of the Australian Open in January and the quarterfinals at San Jose last month.

Sunday's victory added $23,500 to Bhupathi's wallet and saw him move one rung up to 18 on the weekly ATP ranking list. As a pair, Bhupathi and Knowles are now placed second in the ATP Doubles Race.

"We have started real well and (are) looking to continue with our form," the 33-year-old Indian told the Indian Tennis Blog.

Memphis was doubles title no. 42 in Bhupathi's career and the strapping south Indian now heads for the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships to compete with Knowles in a doubles draw that includes fellow Indians Leander Paes (with Paul Hanley) and Rohan Bopanna (with Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi).
(Pic: ATP site)

Somdev Dev Varman to miss Chennai Open

Rafael Nadal leads a phalanx of tennis stars at India's premier tennis event, the 2008 Chennai Open, but several Indian players will be giving the ATP Tour season opener the cold shoulder. Unfortunately, upcoming player Somdev Dev Varman is now on that list.

Dev Varman admits that the lack of a wildcard was one of the reasons that will keep him away from Nungambakkam Stadium next week.

"Yeah, that and some other things that I had to do also," the reigning NCAA champion told the Indian Tennis Blog. "I am training right now and plan on playing a Futures in Florida and then start the tennis season in school."

The wildcards for the main draw of the 2008 Chennai Open, to be held from December 31 to January 6, have gone the way of India's no. 2 player Prakash Amritraj and Grasscourt National Champion Vishnu Vardhan.

The third, which could have gone to another Indian player like Dev Varman, has been granted to Spaniard Bartolome Salva-Vidal.

The decision puts yet another dampener on a tournament already missing the best known names in Indian tennis.

While doubles specialist Leander Paes starts off his 2008 season on the Australian circuit with new partner Paul Hanley, singles no. 1 Rohan Bopanna will be busy partnering Sania Mirza at the Hopman Cup. And Mahesh Bhupathi will be making his comeback from injury the week after the Chennai event.

Dev Varman is currently ranked a measly 1034 on the ATP Tour, thanks to his decision not to turn professional till mid-2008, when he finishes his stint at the University of Virginia.

But the 22-year-old won the NCAA championship in May 2007 - the first Indian to triumph at the premier American collegiate event and emulate the likes of John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors and Arthur Ashe.

INTERVIEW (Oct 2007)

Bhupathi not sure about playing Chennai Open

Doubles specialist Mahesh Bhupathi may not be playing at India's premier tennis event, the ATP Chennai Open, which kicks off on December 31.

Bhupathi, still recovering from back surgery, said he is determined to make it to the Australian Open in January with new partner Mark Knowles of the Bahamas. But the decision to play in Chennai would be taken at the last minute.

"I have been hitting with Rohan (Bopanna) and others... and will be pushing myself over the next few days," the 33-year-old told The Telegraph from Bangalore on Monday.

Bhupathi, currently ranked 21st in the world, has won the Chennai Open four times - all with estranged partner Leander Paes.

The US $436,000 hardcourt tournament in Chennai has been an annual feature since 1997 and only the four doubles titles in 1997, 98, 99 and 2002 have been won by Indians.

A wrist injury had kept Bhupathi from playing the 2007 edition of the tournament while Paes skipped the event to play in Doha.

In case both Paes and Bhupathi opt out in 2008, India's title hopes at Chennai would have rested in the hands of Rohan Bopanna -- currently ranked a career-best 66 in doubles. But the 27-year-old has already committed to partnerng Sania Mirza for the Hopman Cup team event - which clashes with the Chennai Open. Bopanna and Prakash Amritraj were the losing finalists at Chennai in 2006.

Harsh Mankad returns, Ashutosh Singh proves his mettle

Pakistan may be in the headlines for the wrong reasons but India's National Champion Ashutosh Singh made sure it wasn't all bad news by reaching the final of the ITF Pakistan F3 Futures in Lahore.

Singh lost a tight match 3-6,6-3,7-6(6) to top-seeded Czech Adam Vejmelka in the final but the 25-year-old Indian shouldn't be too disappointed by his performance against a player ranked 240 places above him on the ATP list.

Partnering Vivek Shokeen, Singh had earlier grabbed the doubles title beating Vejmelka and his Romanian partner Bogdan-Victor Leonte 6-1,6-4.

The 575-ranked Singh also leads the Indian contingent for a bilateral tennis series against Pakistan starting in Lahore on Tuesday.

Doubles was the key for India in women's tennis this week with both Sunitha Rao and Prerana Appineni reaching the doubles semifinals at separate ITF events. Second seeds Rao and American Jill Craybas bowed out to an American pair at ITF Pittsburgh while Appineni and American Beatrice Capra lost a thrilling super-tiebreaker in the ITF Lima (Peru) semifinals.

But the big news for India is the return of Harsh Mankad after a year-long break from the tennis court thanks to knee injuries. Currently ranked 1456, Mankad is playing the qualifiers at the ATP Challenger in Champaign, USA.

Mankad turned 28 on Saturday and the Mumbai resident knows only too well how hard it will be for him to crack the ATP Top 200. His career best singles ranking of 222 was a milestone achieved two years ago.

Also playing next week is Indian number one Rohan Bopanna. The 261-ranked Bopanna has the unenviable challenge of playing 75-ranked German Benjamin Becker in the first round of the ATP Challenger in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine.

At least doubles specialist Leander Paes has better odds despite a spate of opening round defeats recently. Fourth seeds Paes and Czech partner Martin Damm will fancy their chances at the Shanghai Masters Cup when they take on defending champions Jonas Bjorkman and Max Mirnyi on Sunday.

In women's tennis, India's number two Sunitha Rao will try her luck at the ITF $50,000 La Quinta, US tournament while Tara Iyer will lead a phalanx of fellow Indians at the $25,000 ITF Pune tournament. Both events kick off on Monday.

Can Paes and Damm win the Tennis Masters Cup?
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	Depends on luck
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Shanghai beckons but no luck for Paes at Paris

I had been away for two days and got to know the news late - Leander Paes and Martin Damm have secured berths in next month's Tennis Masters Cup.

But the duo, currently at number five in the ATP Doubles Race, will not be fancying their chances at Shanghai, bogged down as they are by a string of opening round defeats in recent matches.

The newly qualified Masters Cup pair bowed out of the BNP Paribas Masters in the first round on Monday.

Their conquerors Jeff Coetzee of South Africa and Dutchman Rogier Wassen prevailed 11-9 in the super-tiebreaker after the teams split the first two sets 6-3 and 6-7(3).

Paes, who won the Paris Masters in 1998 with Mahesh Bhupathi, and Damm frittered away matchpoints in the second set as well as in the super-tiebreaker.

Karan Rastogi back in action at Delhi Challenger

Karan Rastogi, India's number three tennis player, is all set to make a comeback at an ATP Challenger tournament in New Delhi next month.

Rastogi, sidelined with a back injury during the ATP Mumbai Open in September, told the Indian Tennis blog that his back was better and he planned to play both the hardcourt challenger events in the Indian capital at the end of 2007.

The 21-year-old Mumbai resident, currently ranked 344 in the world, had won the Morocco F5 claycourt Futures in July this year.

News of Rastogi's comeback should please fans of Indian tennis, which has seen many of its stars fall prey to injury this year.

Sania Mirza finished her season early while Prakash Amritraj, Harsh Mankad and Mahesh Bhupathi are also recovering from injuries. With Sunitha Rao withdrawing from two consecutive Challenger tournaments in the US this month, speculation about another injury scare were rife.

Rohan Bopanna and Leander Paes have also not played since the Stockholm Open and the Madrid Masters earlier this month.

With the country's top players taking a break from tennis courts, the India F10 Futures in Gulbarga got more than its share of attention.

But India's second-string players, with the exception of world number 605 Sunil Kumar Sipaeya, failed to make it beyond the second round in the singles. Eighth seed Sipaeya lost to eventual champion Ivan Cerovic of Croatia in the quarter-finals.

There was better luck for India in the doubles with the second-seeded pair of Vijay Kannan and Kazakhstan's Alexey Kedryuk beating Tushar Liberhan and Rupesh Roy 6-4,3-6,10-3 in the final of the $15,000+ hardcourt tournament.

Across the border, sixth seed Ashwin Vijayragavan justified his seeding by making it to the singles quarterfinals of the Islamabad Futures. Pairing up with Korean Jeong-Han, Vijayragavan lost to home crowd favourites Aqeel Khan and Asim Shafik in a closely fought doubles semifinal 6-2,4-6,9-11.

Other Indians had little success abroad. Mustafa Ghouse lost in the singles qualifiers of the ATP Seoul Challenger before he and Israel's Dudi Sela bowed out in the opening round of the doubles event.

World number 728 Prerana Appineni also lost her opening singles and doubles encounters at the ITF tournament in Valencia, Venezuela. Down under in Traralgon (Australia), world number 359 Tara Iyer lost her singles opener and then forfeited her doubles quarterfinal match.

The action now shifts to the Pakistan F2 Futures grasscourt tournament in Lahore starting on Monday where a host of Indian players, led by Sipaeya, are in the fray.

Stephen Amritraj, Ashutosh Singh shine this week

The big names of Indian tennis couldn't weave much magic in tournaments this week, leaving little known players Stephen Amritraj and Ashutosh Singh to impress with breakthrough performances.

Amritraj, who grew up in the Californian city of Calabasas, partnered American Adam Davidson to reach the doubles semifinal at the ATP Calabasas Challenger.

The duo, who gained entry as lucky losers because of an injury default to Jan-Michael Gambill, stunned top seeds Bobby Reynolds and Rajeev Ram 6-3,6-4 in the opening round.

Amritraj, 23, and Davidson eventually lost 5-7,2-6 to fourth seeds Robert Kendrick(US) and Cecil Mamiit(PHI) in the semifinal.

Stephen, son of former tennis player Anand Amritraj, had partnered cousin Prakash to reach the semifinals of the Fergana Challenger earlier this year.

Back home in India, newly crowned National hard court champion Ashutosh Singh spearheaded the country's challenge at the India F9 Futures in Bellary, Karnataka.

Singh's splendid run in the singles event, which began with ousting top seed Pavol Cervenak of Slovakia 6-3,6-4 in the opening round, came to an end in the semifinals.

Singh, ranked 659 on the ATP list, lost to third seeded Austrian Rainer Eitzinger 4-6,3-6.

But he gained revenge by partnering Vivek Shokeen (in pic) to beat Eitzinger and Philipp Oswald 7-6(4),3-6,10-5 in the doubles final.

Wildcard Rupesh Roy, who lost in the quarterfinals to Singh, also impressed with a second round win over Romania's Adrian Gavrila.

Elsewhere in Europe, Sania Mirza lost in her Zurich Open opener before retiring for the season while Leander Paes and Martin Damm lost in the second round of the Madrid Masters doubles.

Sunitha Rao, who reached the finals at the ITF San Francisco Tennis Classic last week, withdrew from the ITF Lawrenceville Challenger at the last minute.

Down under in Gympie(Australia), Tara Iyer couldn't do much against fourth seeded home favourite Monique Adamczak and lost 1-6,6-7(5) in the first round.

Partnering Nungnudda Wannasuk of Thailand, Iyer also lost to Adamczak and Briton Jade Curtis 7-6(2),6-7(3),5-10 in the doubles quarterfinal.

Paes, Bopanna and Sunitha Rao impress this week

It's been a reasonably good week for Indian tennis but not for Sania Mirza. India's number one singles player floundered in the opening round of the Kremlin Cup - falling to nemesis Gisela Dulko in her third straight carrer defeat to the Argentine.

Her luck in the doubles was only marginally better. Partnering Switzerland's Patty Schnyder, Mirza was ousted by the world's best doubles pair - Cara Black and Liezel Huber - in the quarterfinals.

Be that as it may, ATP Tour veteran Justin Gimelstob had this to say about the 20-year-old in his SI.com column this week.

"Mirza has ignited a continent with her success. She is a cult figure in her native India, and can't walk down the street without a full security detail. She possesses one of the biggest forehands in the game, and is attractive and charming. She's also integral to growing the game in the Far East."

As such the flag for Indian tennis was held high by Leander Paes. Just weeks before he ends his partnership with Martin Damm, the dynamic duo reached the semifinals of the BA-CA Tennis Trophy tournament in Vienna.

Paes and Damm even had two matchpoints before the fourth seeded Polish pair of Marciusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski advanced to the final with a 2-6, 7-5, 12-10 win.

Paes would be partnering Paul Hanley of Australia in 2008 and his reasons for splitting with Damm are purely professional.

"We have different goals next year...Martin wants to cut down on his tennis, while I want to play a full year, so we decided to get new partners," Paes told The Telegraph from Vienna.

Also impressive this week was Rohan Bopanna whose semifinal appearance with Belgium's Olivier Rochus at the ATP Stockholm Open is further proof he's going to make it big in doubles. His stint as lucky loser in the singles draw had ended after he squandered a 4-1 lead to lose in straight sets to Spain's Albert Montanes in the first round. But Bopanna made good in the doubles with a win over South Africa's Jeff Coetzee and Dutchman Rogier Wassen.

It was only in the semis that second seeds Jonas Bjorkman and Max Mirnyi got the better of the Indo-Belgian pair in straight sets - 6-3, 7-5.

On the ITF circuit, Sunitha Rao has made the quarterfinals of the $50,000 San Francisco event. Her match against Indonesia's Romana Tedjakusuma wasn't over when this report was filed but there's a good chance the eighth seed will get through easily to the semis. Rao had routed Tedjakusuma in straight sets at a $25,000 tournament in Tampa, USA earlier this year.

Top seeds Rao and American Julie Ditty stumbled in their doubles opener - falling to an unseeded pair from South Africa.

Down Under in Rockhamption, eighth seed Tara Iyer made it to the second round before qualifier Robin Stephenson proved too strong for the Indian on the Australian hardcourts.

In domestic action, Bellary in Karnataka will play host to the $15,000 India F9 Futures event next week with most of India's top singles players in attendance.