Sports World - Tantalising Opinions

A brilliant run in the $50,000 ITF San Francisco Tennis Classic ended with defeat in the final for India’s Sunitha Rao. The eighth seed couldn’t keep the magic going against top seeded American Ashley Harkleroad and went down tamely 6-1, 6-2.

The loss was a disappointing one for Rao but it was still her best result for 2007 - gaining her $3,990 in prizemoney and 25 valuable WTA points. Her latest ranking shot ten places up to 175 and Rao is now within striking distance of her career-best ranking of 152 (achieved in July 2003).

The Florida-based player had started the year ranked 232 and had dipped as low as 278 in June before jumping 100 places in just four months. Rao had also been the losing finalist in a $25,000 ITF event at Tampa in July.

The San Francisco result had not been an unexpected one. Harkleroad, although now ranked just 92, is a former Top 40 player and not one to be taken lightly. Interestingly, Rao had won their previous encounter in the 2003 Australian Open qualifiers, albeit in three sets.

Rao, who will celebrate her 22nd birthday on October 27, also had luck on her side - she didn’t face anybody ranked higher than her in the four matches till the final.

In the latest WTA rankings (October 15), Rao led an army of Indian women moving up the list. Tara Iyer moved one place up to 358, Rushmi Chakravarthi gained two places to be ranked 368 and Isha Lakhani moved up three spots to 432.

But Indian number one Sania Mirza dropped one spot to 30, thanks to a first round exit at the Kremlin Cup in Moscow.

In the doubles, Mirza moved up one spot to 19, while Rao lost three places to be placed 141. The biggest loser of the week was Shikha Uberoi - who slid 43 places to 209.

Rohan Bopanna, the best Indian player in the men’s singles, was down nine places (260) while Prakash Amritraj slid two spots (270). The big gainer - no. 343 Karan Rastogi who moved up four places.

In the doubles rankings, Bopanna’s semifinal run at ATP Stockholm saw him jump seven places to 79 while Leander Paes(17) and Mahesh Bhupathi(21) retained their spots on the list.

Middle-level Indian players have a chance to earn valuable points at the men’s $15,000 India F9 Futures event at Bellary, Karnataka which kicked off on Monday.

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Doubles specialist Leander Paes teamed up with regular partner Martin Damm of the Czech Republic to beat Agustin Calleri of Argentina and Andreas Seppi of Italy in the first round of the BA-CA Tennis Trophy in Vienna.

Playing their first match since the defending champions were ousted in their US Open opener in August, second seeds Paes and Damm took nearly an hour-and-a-half to subdue their opponents 4-6, 6-2, 10-7.

Awaiting them in the quarterfinals is the American duo of Mardy Fish and Robby Ginepri.

Paes has been absent from the tennis scene for more than a month. He skipped the Kingfisher Airlines Open in Mumbai, ostensibly to play in Bangkok with Jamie Murray but the duo never showed up in Thailand. The two were also to play doubles as a pair in Tokyo last week but that didn’t happen either.

Arguably the best Indian doubles player ever, Paes has been at loggerheads with former partner Mahesh Bhupathi (probably the real reason for bypassing ATP Mumbai - a tournament promoted by Bhupathi’s company).

Paes, 34 will quit playing with Damm at the end of this season and is slated to team up with Australian Paul Hanley in 2008.

A good performance at Vienna should help Paes and Damm garner enough points to qualify for the season-ending Masters Cup in Shanghai. The duo are currently in fourth place in the ATP Doubles Race.

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Spain’s Albert Montanes put paid to the hopes of India’s Rohan Bopanna with a 7-6(5), 6-1 win in the first round of the ATP Stockholm Open.

Bopanna, who had entered the main draw as a lucky loser, squandered an impressive 4-1 lead in the first set to lose to the Spaniard in little more than an hour.

Montanes, a claycourter ranked 48th in the world, was expected to be a tough opponent so it was a surprise when the 252-ranked Bopanna broke him in the second game and the scoreboard soon read 4-1 in his favour.

But the Indian’s lead in the first set was wiped out when Montanes held serve twice and broke back in the seventh game.

At four games apiece, Bopanna served an ace - his first of the match. Both players then held their serves to take the set into the tiebreak.

Bopanna took the first point there but soon fell behind 4-6. He managed to save one setpoint but lost the next. Interestingly, Bopanna had won more points (39) compared to Montanes (37).

When the set slipped from his grasp, Bopanna’s confidence deflated, just as it had deserted him in his match against Peter Wessels in the qualifiers of the indoor tournament.

Montanes raced away to a 3-0 lead, breaking Bopanna’s serve in a game which went to deuce. Two games later, the Indian number one was down 0-40 on his own serve and Montanes broke him again lead 5-1. The Spaniard served for the match in the following game and won on the first of two matchpoints.

In the doubles event, Bopanna survives in partnership with Belgium’s Olivier Rochus. The duo had beaten Thomas Johansson of Sweden and Todd Perry of Australia 6-2,6-7(4),10-8 in a thrilling first round encounter on Sunday that lasted for an hour and 22 minutes.

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Thanks to last minute withdrawals, India’s Rohan Bopanna has managed to get a main draw spot at the ATP Stockholm Open despite losing in the qualifying rounds.

Bopanna and Max Mirnyi of Belarus have entered the singles draw as Lucky Losers after Tommy Robredo and Tomas Berdych pulled out of the indoor hardcourt tournament.

India’s number one singles player, currently ranked 252 on the ATP list, is slated to play Spain’s Albert Montanes in the first round on Monday. Bopanna would be playing the 48-ranked Montanes for the very first time on the ATP Tour.

The winner of that match will play either fourth seed Tommy Haas of Germany or Olivier Rochus of Belgium in the second round.

Earlier on Sunday, Peter Wessels of the Netherlands had beaten Bopanna 7-5, 6-2 in the second round of qualifying.

In the doubles event, Bopanna paired up with Rochus to beat Thomas Johansson of Sweden and Todd Perry of Australia 6-2,6-7(4),10-8 in a thrilling first round encounter that lasted for an hour and 22 minutes.

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The dream run of doubles specialist Mustafa Ghouse at the Ethias Trophy Challenger in Mons, Belgium ended with a semifinal defeat to an unheralded European duo.

Ghouse and his Australian partner Alun Jones went down fighting 6-7(7),6-2,10-6 to Poland’s Tomasz Bednarek and Slovakia’s Filip Polasek at the indoor event.

Ghouse, currently ranked 218 in the ATP doubles rankings and fourth in India, had achieved his highest career ranking of 131 in August this year and his performance at the Mons tournament is likely to see him back in the top 200.

Ghouse and Jones had beaten top seeds Yves Allegro of Switzerland and Kristof Vliegen of Belgium in the quarterfinals - by an impressive 6-3, 6-3 scoreline.

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