Paes, Bhupathi, Bopanna enter finals of Queens and Halle

The Indian Express duo of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi put their disappointing clay court season behind them with an upset win over the French Open champion Daniel Nestor and Max Mirnyi at the ATP Aegon Classic in Queen's Club, London.

The Indian duo won 6-7 (7-9), 7-6 (10-8), 10-8 in a match lasting 1 hour 49 minutes. They have won 2 titles this year - in Chennai and Indian Wells and lost in the finals of the Australian Open to the top-ranked duo Mike and Bob Bryan. Paes and Bhupathi will have a chance to avenge that defeat on Sunday as the Bryans also advanced to the final with an easy 6-2, 6-1 win over Marach/ Matkowski.

At the other ATP stop in Halle this week, the Indo-Pak Express of Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-Ul-Huq Qureshi also needed to work hard to reach the finals. Bopanna/ Qureshi beat Cas/ Kohlschreiber 5-7, 6-3, 11-9. This is the first final in 2011 for Bopanna/ Qureshi and they will play the duo of Robina Hasse and Milos Raonic for the title on Sunday.

Meanwhile, India's top singles players Somdev Devvarman and Sania Mirza will be tune-up for Wimbledon by playing in the combined Aegon International in Eastbourne this week. Somdev has got a direct entry into the main draw for the men and he will play the 4th seed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, who he beat in Houston earlier this year, in the first round. Devvarman has lost his last six matches and will be looking for a morale-boosting win before heading to SW 19.

In the power-packed women's draw which includes the Williams sisters, Mirza will need to win 3 matches in the qualifying draw in order to make it into the main draw.

Finally, in New Delhi, Karunuday Singh clinched his maiden ITF singles title with a 6-4, 6-2 win over compatriot Vijayant Malik in the $10,000 ITF tournament. Malik was playing in his second ITF final this year.

Sania Mirza reaches quarter-finals of the Family Circle Cup

India's top ranked woman player Sania Mirza won her 5th match in Charleston to reach the quarter-finals of the Family Circle Cup clay court event.

Mirza, who came through the qualifying draw, beat Germany's Sabine Lisicki on Thursday 6-4, 6-4. In the quarter-finals she will play No.11 seed Peng Shuai, who missed out on four match points at 5-4 in the second set but rebounded in the third for a 63 57 62 win over No.7 seed Nadia Petrova.

Sania has struggled on clay in the previous years. She will receive 132 WTA ranking points for her efforts this week which will see her rise to around #72 in the rankings from he current rank of #90. Sania had begun the year at No. 160 in the WTA rankings and is not defending any points until the French Open since she was injured at this time last year.

Meanwhile at the US Clay Court Championships in Houston, India's Somdev Devvarman was beaten by Sapnish clay court specialist Guillermo Garcia Lopez, the #3 seed. Garcia-Lopez won 6-4, 6-1 in the second round encounter.

Somdev, Sania win in Miami

India's top ranked players Somdev Devvarman and Sania Mirza both won their first round matches on Wednesday at the prestigious Sony Ericsson Open in Miami - one of the biggest tennis events outside of the 4 Grand Slams.

Devvarman continued his run of good form with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Italy's Potito Starace, who is ranked no. 47 in the world. The win sets up an intriguing second round clash against Candaian youngster Milos Raonic, who has been the tour's breakout star this year.

Meanwhile, Sania defeated Spain's Arantxa Parra, ranked 62 in the world, 6-2, 6-4 to set up a second round clash against Russian Maria Kirilenko, the no. 24 seed. The result will earn Sania 80 WTA ranking points and will see her move into the upper 90's in the rankings from her current position of no. 99

Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna are beaten in Indian Wells

India's Sania Mirza was beaten in straight sets by 25th seed Domonika Cibulkova in 80 minutes in the second round of the prestigious BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Cibulkova, a former French Open semi-finalist, won 6-3, 6-3 to set up a third round clash against #3 seed Vera Zvonareva

Meanwhile, Rohan Bopanna went down fighting to Aussie wild card Bernard Tomic 7-6, 6-7, 4-6 in an hour and 48 minutes in first round action. Playing in his first Masters Series, Bopanna served 23 aces in the encounter and lost his serve only once in the third set, saving six other breakpoints while he missed converting the two break opportunities he had in the second set. Tomic is 18 years old and ranked #187 in the world and is among a handful of teenagers widely tipped to be stars in the years to come. Tomic now advances to a second round showdown with world no 18 Victor Troicki. Bopanna's efforts this week in singles will see his ranking move up more than 100 places from his current ranking of #629 but ,at 31, he is still likely to focus on doubles where he is ranked #13. India's top men's player Somdev Devvarman plays his second round match against 19th seed Marcos Bagdhatis on Saturday

Indians shine at Indian Wells

India's leading players scored a rare treble success on Wednesday at the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, California - one of tennis' most prestigious events outside of the Grand Slams.

India's top-ranked woman, Sania Mirza, was on court for only 14 minutes when her opponent, Italy's Romina Oprandi, ranked 83 on the WTA list, had to retire with an injury. Mirza will most likely return to the top 100 when the next rankings are released following her win and she will meet 25th seed Domnika Cibulkova in the second round on Friday.

India's top men's player, Somdev Devvarman, currently ranked #84, beat Australian Greg Jones 6-2, 6-4 to qualify for the main draw. Devvarman, who upset Janko Tipsarevic in the Davis Cup on Friday, now takes on 22 year old Frenchman Adrian Mannarino, ranked #59 on the ATP list on Thursday. The two have played once before in the qualifying draw at the French Open in 2010 with Devvarman winning that one 6-4, 6-1. The winner of that match will take on 19th seed Marco Baghdatis in the second round.

The biggest surprise for the Indians came when 31 year old Rohan Bopanna, a doubles specialist who rarely plays singles and is ranked 629 in singles, upset world no. 80 Daniel Brands 7-6, 7-6 to qualify for his first ever Masters series in singles. This is the first time ever that 2 Indians are competing in the main draw of an ATP Masters series event. Bopanna will fancy his chances in the first round as he takes on wild card Aussie tennager Bernard Tomic, especially if his serve is on song. A win there will se up a rematch of Friday's Davis Cup encounter against Victor Toicki, which Troicki won in 5 tough sets.

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Wild Cards announced for Indian Wells

India's Sania Mirza has received a wild card into the main draw for the upcoming BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, which hosts the combined ATP & WTA event next week. Mirza has moved from the 160's in January to no. 106 in the latest WTA rankings.

Also, former Wimbledon finalist Mark Phillippoussis has received a wild card into the qualifying tournament for the men's singles as he attempts another comeback from injuries.

Up-and-coming tennis players Milos Raonic, Kei Nishikori, Ryan Harrison, Bernard Tomic, Coco Vandeweghe and Christina McHale were also granted wildcards into the main draws for the BNP Paribas Open, which begins next week at Indian Wells.

Veterans James Blake, Vania King, and Jill Craybas were also given wildcards into the main draws.

Raonic, ranked No. 37 on the ATP World Tour after finishing 2010 at No. 156, advanced to the fourth round of the Australian Open this year. A few weeks ago, the 20-year-old Canadian captured his first ATP World Tour title in San Jose and reached the finals at Memphis in back-to-back weeks to become the highest-ranked Canadian singles player in the history of ATP rankings (since 1973).

Nishikori, of Japan, is No. 62 in the world while Harrison, 18, and originally from Louisiana, defeated Ivan Ljubicic in the first round at Indian Wells last year. Australia's Tomic reached the third round of the Australian Open this year before falling to World No. 1 Rafael Nadal.

On the women’s side, Vandeweghe, from San Diego, was part of the U.S. Fed Cup team that competed in the finals against Italy last November. McHale also helped the U.S. Fed Cup team to the finals last year by assisting in a win over France early in 2010.

Qualifying draw wildcards were given to four men’s players: 1999 BNP Paribas Open champion Mark Philippoussis, who is attempting a comeback; American Ryan Sweeting, who reached the third round of Wimbledon last year; Steve Johnson, who is the No. 1 singles and doubles player at USC; and Greg Ouellette, who is a former Southeastern Conference player of the year.

Former top 30 German star Sabine Lisicki and three young Americans -- Madison Keys, Madison Brengle and Maria Sanchez -- along with rising Puerto Rican junior Monica Puig were granted wildcards into the women’s qualifying draw.

Source: Los Angeles Times

Sania loses; Joachim Johansson returns

India's Sania Mirza has lost in the first round of the qualifying draw for the WTA event in Pattaya. Mirza was beaten by Galina Voskoboeva 6-4, 6-4 for the second time in three career meetings. The Russian ranked #560 in the world, did not play in 2010 after the French Open due to injury and is now trying to get back to her career best rank of #94.

In the ATP Challenger event in Italy, Sweden's Joachim Johansson has been granted a wild card. The former world #9 attempted a comeback from injury in 2009 but has played only one event in all of 2010 - Sweden's Davis Cup tie in March. Another wild card entrant in the same event is former world #12 Dominik Hrbaty. The 33 year old Slovak is now ranked #459 in the world.

In the latest ATP rankings, Somdev Devvarman moves to a new career high ranking of #80 after reaching the final of the SA Open in Johannesburg. Also, India's third ranked player Vishnu Vardhan moves up 36 positions to #354 after the points of reaching the finals of the ITF Cambodia F1 Futures were added to his tally.

Finally, a little known 16 year old Indian Ramkumar Ramanathan has won two matches and is now one win away from qualifying for the ITF Futures event in Spain beng played on clay.Ramanathan beat 16th seed Toby Martin of Great Britain 6-2, 6-4 in the first round and then beat Spaniard Carlos Tajes Alonso 6-0, 6-0 and now plays 8th seed Marco Bortolotti of Italy in the final round of qualifying.