http://www.gg2.net Sports | Tennis | GG2.Net 2013-05-19 http://www.gg2.net en http://www.gg2.net/images/logo.png http://www.gg2.net
UNSEEDED Sania Mirza and Bethanie Mattek-Sands defeated second seeded Nadia Petrova and Katarina Srebotnik in the $2m (£1.32m) title clash of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships in Dubai on Saturday (February 23).   The Indo-American duo prevailed over the Russian-Slovenia stars 6-4, 2-6, 10-7 in a tightly-contested final of the hard court event.   The match lasted for one hour and 32 minutes.   Sania and Bethanie were down 3-6 in the super ti]]>
TOP Indian players formed an association on Monday (February 11) to protect their professional interests days after signing a temporary truce with the All India Tennis Association (AITA).   The Indian Tennis Players Association (ITPA) said in a statement that it would function around the ATP model and act as a platform to represent the concerns of its members.   “We believe that the ITPA will provide the players a voice that will stand united in our concerns an]]>
THE All India Tennis Association (AITA) on Thursday (February 7) outrightly rejected the rebel players’ fresh demands, saying their inclusion in the executive or selection committees is not possible unless they enter the national federation through elections.   The association also categorically said the three-member committee it has formed to resolve the ongoing crisis would go ahead with its work and if players make themselves available, they will be considered for select]]>
INDIAN veteran Leander Paes will lead a rag-tag side into Friday (February 1)’s Davis Cup tie against South Korea after a dispute with the national federation deprived the team of its best players.   Eleven of India’s first-choice players, barring Paes, refused to play in the Asia-Oceania group one tie after the All-India Tennis Association (AITA) did not accept all the demands put forward by them.   Paes, 39, who has been a Davis Cup regular since 1990, ]]>
    IT WAS all over for India at the Australian Open after Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi crashed out of the mixed doubles after losing their respective quarterfinal matches in contrasting fashion on Thursday (January 24). Third seeds Sania and her American partner Bob Bryan were stunned 5-7 4-6 by the unseeded Czech duo of Lucie Hradecka and Frantisek Cermak. Fifth seeds Bhupathi and his Russian partner Nadia Petrova lost 3-5 6-3 11-13 to the Australian combine of ]]>
SOMDEV Devvarman gave a mighty scare to world number 26 Jerzy Janowicz before fizzling out  while Sania Mirza and her American player Bethanie Mattek-Sands suffered a shock first round exit at the Australian Open on Wednesday (January 16).     Somdev was well on course to record his best performance at the Grand Slams, but frittered away a two-set lead to go down 7-6(10) 6-3 1-6 0-6 5-7 against 24th seed Polish rival in the men’s singles second round. ]]>
LEANDER Paes will spearhead a second-string Indian team in the home Davis Cup tie against South Korea next month following a revolt by the country’s frontline players.   Eight top players, excluding 13-times grand slam doubles champion Paes, had submitted a list of demands to the All India Tennis Association (AITA) with a threat to snub the regional first round tie in New Delhi from February  1-3.   The AITA agreed to most of the demands but it was not eno]]>
THE Indian sports ministry backtracked on plans to ditch the questionable passport rule that has blocked Prakash Amritraj’s return to Davis Cup action, the player’s father and former tour player Vijay Amritraj told reporters.   America-born Prakash played 10 ties for India in the Davis Cup before he was barred in 2008 after the sports ministry introduced a rule saying that only Indian passport holders could represent the country at sports. India does not permit dual c]]>
  THE INDIAN tennis association is refusing to be held to ransom by regular Davis Cup players, who have hinted at a possible boycott if their demands for a greater involvement in the running of the team are not met. Eight top players, excluding Leander Paes, have submitted a list of requirements to the All India Tennis Association (AITA) with a veiled threat to snub the regional first round home tie against South Korea early next month if no action was taken. The governing bo]]>
  GO SOEDA of Japan breezed through the first round of the $430,000 ATP Chennai Open with an easy win over Evgeny Donskoy of Russia on Monday (December 31). Soeda, the eighth seed and Japan's number two player after Kei Nishikori, brushed aside the 21-year-old Russian 6-1, 6-2 in an hour on the centre court of the Nungambakkam Tennis Centre. "This is a lucky tournament for me," said the world number 60, who reached the semi-finals in Chennai last January after e]]>
 FORMER world number one Kim Clijsters celebrated the end of her sparkling tennis career with a victory in an exhibition match against American rival Venus Williams on Wednesday (December 12) . The Belgian, who won 41 career singles titles, played her last official match at the US Open in August, but was keen to play for one last time in front of her home support. With a crowd of 13,000 looking on, the 29-year-old beat Williams 6-3, 6-3.   “I had no regrets]]>
MAHESH Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna revealed they will play with different partners in 2013 after the Indian doubles team suffered a frustrating 7-5, 3-6, 10-3 defeat in the final of the ATP Tour Finals on Monday (November 12).   Bhupathi and Bopanna were bidding to win the season-ending event for the first time, but they were beaten by Spanish sixth seeds Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez at London’s O2 Arena.   It was the fifth time 38-year-old Bhupathi had lost]]>
MAHESH Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna won their grudge match with India’s Leander Paes and his Czech partner Radek Stepanek as the Indian pair reached the final of the ATP Tour Finals with a 4-6, 6-1, 12/10 victory at London’s O2 Arena on Sunday (November 11)..   The semi-final showdown always promised to be a bitter battle after Bhupathi refused to be partnered with Paes at the London Olympics earlier this year, causing an ugly rift that caused several months of chaos in]]>
AUSTRALIAN Open champions Leander Paes of India and Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic on Sunday (October 14) came from behind to win the Shanghai Masters doubles title 6-7 (7/9), 6-3, 10/5.   The fourth seeds, who have already booked a place at next month’s elite eight-team ATP World Tour Finals in London, lost the first set against Indian pair Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna on a tie-break.   But the Indian-Czech duo, who were losing finalists at the US O]]>
TENNIS star Mahesh Bhupathi lashed out on Tuesday at India’s tennis association and said he was considering legal action after he was slapped with a two-year ban on playing for his country.   Doubles specialist Bhupathi, 38, accused the “dictatorial” All India Tennis Association of having a “vendetta” against him, after he and Rohan Bopanna were barred from representing India in the Davis Cup until mid-2014.   “At the twilight of m]]>
AMERICAN twin brothers Bob and Mike Bryan won the US Open men’s doubles title on Friday (September 7) to capture a record-setting 12th grand slam doubles championship.   The duo beat India’s Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic 6-3 6-4 to capture their fourth US Open title.   The second-seeded Bryans had entered the US Open tied with Australia’s Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde for 11 grand slam doubles titles.   &ldq]]>
INDIA’S Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza will not play mixed doubles at the US Open despite the pair having captured two Grand Slam titles together as the bitter fall-out from the Olympics continued.   Bhupathi will team up with Andrea Hlavackova of the Czech Republic in New York while Mirza will link with Britain’s Colin Fleming.   Mirza played mixed doubles at the Olympics with Leander Paes but only in controversial circumstances after Paes had demanded ]]>
ROGER Federer has backed Indian stars Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna to mount a strong challenge for his doubles gold medal at the London Olympics.   Federer and Swiss team-mate Stanislas Wawrinka took gold at the 2008 Games in Beijing and will be among the favourites for the top prize in this year’s event, which gets underway at Wimbledon on Saturday (July 28).   But world number one Federer, who clinched a record equalling seventh Wimbledon singles tit]]>
SECOND seeds Mike Bryan and Lisa Raymond beat Leander Paes and Elena Vesnina to win the Wimbledon mixed doubles title 6-3 5-7 6-4 on Sunday (July 8).   It was Raymond’s second mixed title at the All England Club after she won it in 1999, playing with Sunday’s opponent Paes.   The American duo recovered from being pegged back in the second set to close out the match under the bright Centre Court lights in two hours and four minutes.   It was P]]>
ROGER Federer won a record-equalling seventh Wimbledon title and 17th Grand Slam crown on Sunday (July 8), shattering tearful Andy Murray’s dream of ending Britain’s 76-year wait for an All England Club men’s champion.   Federer, playing in his eighth Wimbledon final and 24th Grand Slam championship match, won 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 to join Pete Sampras and William Renshaw as a seven-time champion.   The Swiss great, who has also regained the world numb]]>
SHE WAS born a fighter and on Saturday (July 7) Serena Williams proved she is the ultimate survivor as she completed her “unbelievable journey” from a pit of despair to win a fifth Wimbledon crown.   Seventeen months after a life-threatening blood clot in her lungs almost ended her glittering tennis career, Williams blotted out the mental and physical scars to climb back into the grand slam winner’s circle by snuffing out Agnieszka Radwanska 6-1 5-7 6-2. &nb]]>
BRITAIN’S newspapers breathed a sigh of relief on Saturday (July 7) and hailed Andy Murray becoming the first homegrown player to reach the Wimbledon men’s tennis final in 74 years.   Pictures of Murray celebrating his semi-final win over France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga adorned the front pages of all Britain’s major national newspapers - including the Financial Times.   “And finally”, said the front page of The Times, which called the ]]>
SIX-TIME champion Roger Federer reached a record eighth Wimbledon final on Friday (July 6) when he defeated world number one and defending champion Novak Djokovic 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.   In the pair’s 27th meeting but first on grass, Federer booked his place in his 24th Grand Slam final where he will face either Andy Murray or Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.   Victory on Sunday (July 8) will take the 30-year-old level with Pete Sampras’s record of seven Wimbledon wins,]]>
INDIA cricket superstar Sachin Tendulkar and Australian pop star Kylie Minogue were in the Wimbledon Royal Box on Friday (July 6) to watch the potentially epic semi-final between Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer.   Tendulkar, who this week opted to sit out India’s one-day series in Sri Lanka, was with wife Anjali.   Minogue was accompanied by Spanish model boyfriend Andres Velencoso.   Also in the Royal Box were former Wimbledon champions Rod Laver]]>
HER EYES locked on the target, Serena Williams tossed the ball into the air and in a blur of explosive motion launched a 24th ace to end the brave resistance of Victoria Azarenka and reach her seventh Wimbledon singles final on Thursday (July 5).   In doing so the 30-year-old became the oldest woman to reach the final in Wimbledon since Steffi Graf in 1999 and now only Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska, who beat Germany’s Angelique Kerber 6-3 6-4, stands between her and a ]]>
AGNIESZKA Radwanska of Poland overpowered German Angelique Kerber 6-3 6-4 on Thursday (July 5) to reach her first Wimbledon final.   The third seed proved too consistent for the eighth-seeded Kerber, who led the first set 3-1 following an early break.   But Radwanska broke back to level at 3-3 and did so again to lead 5-3 before serving out for the set.   Radwanska broke again early in the second set and she never allowed Kerber back into the match, seal]]>
INDIA’S plans for Olympic tennis glory suffered a blow on Tuesday (July 3) as key doubles partnership Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna were knocked out of Wimbledon, along with top doubles player Leander Paes.   Bhupathi and Bopanna, the seventh seeds, were beaten 7-5, 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 in the second round by Russia’s Mikhail Elgin and Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan.   Meanwhile Paes and his Czech partner Radek Stepanek, the fourth seeds, were defeated 4-6, 6-]]>
ANDY Murray reached a fifth successive Wimbledon quarter-final on Tuesday (July 3), beating Croatian 16th seed Marin Cilic 7-5, 6-2, 6-3 as organisers scrambled to make up for lost time caused by heavy rain.   British fourth seed Murray will now attempt to go on to a fourth All England Club semi-final on the trot, but will first have to get past either Spain’s David Ferrer or former US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro.   Murray had led Queen’s Club win]]>
FOUR-TIME champion Serena Williams clinched a marathon triumph over China’s Zheng Jie to reach the Wimbledon last 16 on Saturday (June 30) as Lukas Rosol, the conqueror of Rafael Nadal, returned to anonymity.   Sixth-seed Williams, playing in her 13th Wimbledon, saw off 25th-seed Zheng, 6-7 (5/7), 6-2, 9-7 and will tackle Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan for a place in the quarter-finals.   “It was good to win. I needed a tough match and she’s alway]]>
FORMER world number one Kim Clijsters warned Wimbledon giant-killer Lukas Rosol to keep his feet on the ground after claiming the Czech was “a little bit arrogant” during his shock win over Rafael Nadal.   Like the rest of the tennis world, Clijsters was stunned to see world number 100 Rosol beat two-time Wimbledon champion Nadal in five sets on Thursday (June 28).   But the Belgian felt Rosol had showed signs of arrogance during the epic Centre Court tus]]>
SIX-TIME winner Roger Federer and defending champion Novak Djokovic reached the Wimbledon third round on Wednesday (June 27) as the women’s draw was blown wide open with the shock exits of three top seeds.   Federer enjoyed a trouble-free 6-1, 6-3, 6-2 win over Italy’s Fabio Fognini in a regal performance witnessed by Britain’s Prince Charles, who was making his first visit to the All England Club in more than 40 years.   The third-seeded Swiss took]]>
  BEING neither "arrogant" nor "crazy", Rafa Nadal is refusing to think about a third Wimbledon title ahead of his first-round match against Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci on Tuesday (June 26).   Having won a record seventh French Open title at the start of the month by beating his great rival Novak Djokovic in the final, the Spaniard could be forgiven for allowing his thoughts to wander to the possibility of another title in southwest London.   ]]>
HAVING picked himself up after the disappointment of failing to complete his grand slam collection in Paris, Novak Djokovic begins his Wimbledon defence looking for a repeat of last year's "perfect tournament". Djokovic begins his Wimbledon campaign against Spain's Juan Carlos Ferrero, while six-times champion Roger Federer and women's world number one Maria Sharapova are also in action on the tournament's opening on Monday (June 25). Djokovic will be playing]]>
  MAHESH Bhupathi and regular partner Rohan Bopanna will play together at the London Olympics after India's tennis association backtracked on a controversial decision to split up the pair.   India would field two men's doubles teams in London, the All India Tennis Association (AITA) said on Thursday (June 21) after a player revolt over the original decision to name Bhupathi and former partner Leander Paes, who no longer speak to each other, as the only pair. ]]>
  A ROW HAS erupted within Indian tennis after doubles duo Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna were prevented from competing as a team at the London Olympics.   The All Indian Tennis Association (AITA) has ignored the pair's pleas not to be separated and chosen instead to partner Bhupathi with Leander Paes, a partnership that delivered three grand slam titles before an acrimonious split.   Bhupathi and Bopanna, who are currently playing doubles at Queen]]>
TAKING the biggest steps yet in their quest to inspire peace between their homelands, India’s Rohan Bopanna and Pakistan’s Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi reached the US Open men’s doubles final on Wednesday (September 8). With United Nations ambassadors from their countries sitting side-by-side to cheer them on, Qureshi and Bopanna beat Argentina’s Eduardo Schwank and Horacio Zaballos 7-6 (7/5), 6-4. ‘I always believed we would have to do well in the Grand Slams to get the ]]>
BROTHERS Mike and Bob Bryan derailed the duo dubbed the “Indo-Pak Express” to win the US Open men’s doubles title on Friday (September 10). The American twins clinched their ninth grand slam title with a 7-6 7-6 victory over Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi, leaving them just two shy of the record of Australians Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge. It was a captivating match at Flushing Meadows without a break of serve. There was little to suggest that the Bryans were t]]>
INDIA are banking on home advantage, heat and Rohan Bopanna’s rising confidence to defeat higher-ranked Brazil this week for a place in next year’s Davis Cup World Group. India were forced into the play-off tie, starting at the Nungambakkam Tennis Stadium in Chennai on Friday (September 10), after losing to Russia in the first round of World Group in Moscow in March. Brazil, who have lost four consecutive play-off ties since 2006, hope to turn the tide and return to the elite 16-na]]>
WORLD number one Caroline Wozniacki moved to within one win of the year-end top spot when she continued her 12-week hot streak at the WTA Championships in Doha yesterday. The 20-year-old Dane outplayed Elena Dementieva, the former Olympic champion from Russia, 6-1, 6-1, bringing her 31st win in 33 matches since the start of August, during which she has won five of her seven tournaments. Once again Wozniacki’s rhythm, timing, and superb movement were again conspicuous as she overwhelmed t]]>
THE INDIA-PAKISTAN tennis duo of Rohan Bopanna and Aisam Ul-Haq Qureshi were honoured yesterday for their partnership with a Peace and Sport award. The two players featured on the ATP Tour this year wearing warm-up gear with the slogan “Stop War, Start Tennis” to publicize their belief that friendship between India and Pakistan is possible. When he presented the award, Joel Bouzou, founder of Peace and Sport, appealed to the governments of India and Pakistan to support the players&]]>
ANDY Murray admitted to a slight case of first-match nerves as the Scottish fourth seed earned a 7-6 (7-5), 6-2, 6-3 win on Wednesday (August 31) over Indian Somdev Devvarman in the opening round of the US Open. Murray, who lost the 2008 final at Flushing Meadows to Roger Federer, was only half joking when he said: “Try being a British player going into a Grand Slam, it’s not easy. “There’s obviously pressure playing in these events to start with. It’s a match you&r]]>
NEW INDIAN doubles pair Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna said bid for Olympic glory was taking shape after they won through to the second round at the Australian Open yesterday. Bopanna split from doubles partner Aisam-ul Haq Qureshi of Pakistan so he could pursue his Olympic dream, and said he was happy with how the new pairing was working out after a win over Australia’s Matthew Ebden and Chris Guccione. “We had a good start for the season in Chennai, reaching the semi-finals. Tha]]>
LONDON’S Olympics offer the seemingly ageless Leander Paes the chance to outdo his father in the medals stakes and to crown his doubles tennis career. Paes’s eyes still light up at the mention of the singles bronze he won at the Atlanta Games in 1996, ending India’s 44-year wait for an individual Olympic medal. The success put him on a par with his father, Vece Paes, who was part of India’s bronze medal-winning 1972 Olympic hockey team. “Oh yes, it’s a 1-1 dra]]>