Bopanna-Qureshi in second round of ATP Challenger

November 6th, 2009 CHARLOTTESVILLE - India's No.1 Somdev Devvarman and Sanam Singh moved into the quarterfinals of the $50,000 Virginia National Bank ATP Challenger. Third-seed Somdev defeated South African Davis Cupper Izak Van Der Merwe 6-2, 1-6, 6-2 in the second round here Thursday and will take on Dutchman Matwe Middelkoop, who won 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 against American Ryan Harrison.

November 6th, 2009 CHUNCHEON - Indian challenge in the $100,000 Flea Market Cup ATP Challenger came to an end here Friday with both Prakash Amritraj and Purav Raja bowing out of the singles and the doubles event. Prakash fought hard but went down 6-7 (5), 4-6 against Dutch Igoi Sijsling in the quarterfinal.

November 4th, 2009 ECKENTAL - India's Rohan Bopanna and Australia's Rameez Junaid bowed out of the doubles first round of 30,000 euros Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) challenger. The third-seeded Bopanna-Junaid lost 7-5, 3-6, 13-11 to Austrian pair Martin Fischer and Philipp Oswald here Tuesday.

October 15th, 2009 TASHKENT - The Indian challenge at the $125,000 Tashkent ATP Challenger series ended Thursday with second seeds Rohan Bopanna and Hsun Yen Lu going down to the local pair of Denis Istomin and Murad Inoyatov in the men's doubles semifinals. The Uzbek pair of Istomin and Inoyatov toppled the Indo-Taipei combination 3-6, 6-1, 10-5 in a well contested semi-final.

October 9th, 2009 CHENNAI - Joshna Chinnappa, Indias top woman squash player, sailed into the final of the WISPA Challenger-4 tournament with an efficiently crafted 11-8, 11-7, 11-8 win against compatriot Dipika Pallikal, here Friday. In Saturdays final, second-seeded Joshna, the 23-year-old from Chennai and ranked No.33 in the World, will take on Oria Noom of the the Netherlands who upset top seed Sharan Wee of Malaysia, 11-6, 11-9, 11-7 in just 28 minutes.

October 7th, 2009 CHENNAI - Indias Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu, a wild card entry, along with qualifiers Gaurav Nandrajog and Naresh Kumar, bowed out of the PSA Challenger No.4 squash tournament, here Wednesday. Third-seeded Mathieu Castagnet of France overcame a 0-2 deficit to beat Sandhu 7-11, 8-11, 11-7, 11-7,12-10 in the first round of the main draw while Nandrajog lost to seventh seeded Mazen Gamal of Egypt and Naresh Kumar went down to eighth seeded Shamsul Islam Khan of Pakistan.

September 20th, 2009 JOHANNESBURG - India's Somdev Devvarman defeated Rik De Voest 4-6, 6-7 (3), 7-6 (5), 6-2, 6-4 in a near five-hour slugfest in the first reverse singles Sunday to seal India's place in the elite Davis Cup World Group for the first time since 1998. India have taken an unassailable 3-1 lead in the tie.

September 19th, 2009 JOHANNESBURG - As India were looking to seal the Davis Cup World Group play-off, a groin injury to Mahesh Bhupathi forced him and Rohan Bopanna to concede the doubles tie and that kept South Africa alive here at the Ellis Park Indoor Arena Saturday. Bhupathi and Bopanna were down 3-6, 6-3, 0-4 against South African pair Jeff Coetzee and Wesley Moodie when the Indians decided to pull out.

September 19th, 2009 JOHANNESBURG - South Africa pulled one back in the Davis Cup World Group play-off after India conceded the doubles tie when Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna were a set-all and down 0-4 in the third against Jeff Coetzee and Wesley Moodie here Saturday. Bhupathi was injured and could not continue with India trailing 3-6, 6-3, 0-4.

September 19th, 2009 JOHANNESBURG - India's No.1 Somdev Devvarman Saturday said psychologically the pressure will be on South Africa in Sunday's two reverse singles in the Davis Cup World Group play-off tie as they still trail 1-2 here at the Ellis Park Indoor Arena. South Africa got a lifeline when Mahesh Bhupathi playing with Rohan Bopanna in the doubles, pulled his groin in the third set after splitting the first two.

September 18th, 2009 JOHANNESBURG - Rohan Bopanna and Somdev Devvarman put in sight of the Davis Cup World Group Finals winning the two opening singles in the play-off tie against South Africa at the Ellis Park Indoor Arena here Friday. Bopanna, who had failed to win even a single match during India's 3-2 win against Chinese Taipei in the second round in February, pulled off a sensational win against South Africa No.1 Rik de Voest 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 in little more than two hours to follow-up India's No.1 Somdev Devvarmam's clinical 7-6 (5), 6-3, 6-4 win over Izak Van der Merwe.

September 11th, 2009 CHENNAI - Indians swept the board in the Women's International Squash Players Association (WISPA) and Professional Squash Association (PSA) Challenger tournaments and will contest both the finals here Saturday. Fourth-seeded Siddharth Suchde faces unseeded Harinder Pal Singh in the PSA Indian Challenger-3 mens final while Surbhi Misra takes on Anaka Alankamony in the final of the WISPA Indian Challenger-1 event.

June 28th, 2009 LONDON - India's Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi will be on the opposite sides of the net in the Wimbledon mixed doubles third round Monday. The 1999 Wimbledon men's doubles champions have run into each other after clearing their second round matches Saturday.

June 17th, 2009 LONDON - India's Prakash Amritraj moved into the final round of Wimbledon qualifiers with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Britain's Daniel Cox. He also cleared the doubles qualifier first round with his Pakistani partner Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi.

May 27th, 2009 PARIS - India's Sania Mirza and Chia-Jung Chuang of Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) sailed into the doubles second round of French Open with a 7-5, 6-1 victory over Ipek Senoglu of Turkey and Yanina Wickmayer of Belarus at Roland Garros here Wednesday. India's Rohan Bopanna and Jonathan Elrich of Israel, however, lost a tough first-round encounter to Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain and Sergio Roitman of Argentina 4-6, 6-7 (10).