Tennis: Somdev, Prakash handed Chennai Open wildcards

Somdev and Prakash Amritraj were handed down wild cards into the main draw of the Chennai Open to be held in January 2009. Somdev is ranked 200 and Prakash is ranked at 2004. Another entry will be Lukas Dlouhy who will be making his maiden appearance at the Chennai Open. If you havnt forgotten, Dlouhy is the doubles partner for Leander Paes.

Tennis: Paes and Dlouhy bow out of the Masters Cup

Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy lost their second successive match at the Masters Cup in Shanghai on Wednesday.

Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski, who gained a late entry to their second Tennis Masters Cup following the withdrawal of Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram in the Gold Group — defeated the sixth-seeded pair 7-6(2), 6-3.

The Polish duo won 32 of 38 points on first serve and 74 per cent of service points overall. They saved five of the six break-points against them in the 84-minute victory.

The sixth seeded Indo-Czech pair had gone down 3-6, 5-7 to Jonas Bjorkman and Kevin Ullyet in their opening encounter.

Tennis: Bryan Brothers to play in Chennai

The World No 1 Doubles team, the Bryan Brothers, Mike and Bob will be playing in the 14th ATP Chennai Open. They will play in a rather tough draw as Paes, Dlouhy and Bhupathi, Knowles will also be participating in the tournament.

Bryan Brothers are one of the most attacking doubles team ever. Their record is enviable. In 2005 they entered into the finals of all the Grand Slams. Even better between 2005-2006 they reached 7 consecutive grandslam finals , though they won only 3.

Till date the brothers have won 49 titles and have won all the Opens, though in different years. They have won the Masters Title twice and were the Bronze medalists at the Beijing Olympics

Tennis – Paes and Dlouhy lose in Japan Open final

Paes and Dlouhy ran out of steam in the final of the Japan Open. They lost to the German pair of Youzhny and Mischa Zverev in straight sets 6-3, 6-4. As if by co-incidence this is the second time that the German pair has defeated Paes and Dlouhy a title. If Paes and Dlouhy had won, it would have been his 41st ATP title.

Paes and Dlouhy in Japan Open quarters

According to PTI, Top seed Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy began their campaign for back-to-back titles with a straight-set win against Spanish pair of Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and Ivan Navarro in the first round of the USD 869,000 Japan Open, today.
The Indo-Czech pair, who won the Thailand Open last week, beat the unseeded Spanish duo 6-4 7-5 in one hour and 13 minutes to advance to the quarterfinals of the hard court event.

However, it was curtains for Rohan Bopanna and his American partner Eric Butorac, who put up a valiant fight against the second seeded pair of Simon Aspelin and Julian Knowle but eventually lost 7-6 (4) 6-7 (4) 4-10 to bow out of the event.

While this might sound good for Paes, it certainly is no good news for Rohan Bopanna. He needs to up the ante, to notch his rankings a bit higher.

Paes and Dlouhy win the Bangkok throne

Paes has won his 40th ATP title in doubles by winning the doubles crown in the Thailand Open being held at Bangkok. Paes combined with Dlouhy and defeated his opponents in 6-4 7-6(4) over Americans Scott Lipsky and David Martin.

This title was Dlouhy’s 5th title overall. Here is what Leander Paes had to tell about his victory at Bangkok.

“It is special and I think that one of the things I like to do is see my partner win a lot more. This is the challenge for me because I know if he’s winning I’m winning too. I’m trying to step up Lukas, this is the fifth one that he’s won, so now I’m trying to step up his wins because then mine will go up automatically.”

“It’s always special stepping on the court with Lukas because not only does he complement my style of playing but he’s also teaching me things,” commented Paes. “It’s interesting that, after playing for so many years, to have a partner who’s also teaching me a few things is really beautiful.”

Way to go mate. Despite our criticism of you, you are the old war horse which has produced some worthwhile results.