In upcoming tennis tournament Hopman cup in a group four teams are placed. All four teams in each group will play in round-robin format and the winners will advance to the final.
he Indian team of Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna has been placed in the tough Group B alongside United States and hosts Australia for the Hopman Cup to be held from December 29 to January 4.
Sania and Bopanna, who have been given a direct entry for their good show in the previous edition of the mixed team event, are seeded seventh in the eight-team tournament.
They had upset Croatia and the Czech Republic to reach the semi-finals, where they lost to Spain last year.
The Group B will also have Czech Republic as the fourth team.
The Indians will face the challenge from the likes of Serena Williams, who has been paired with Mardy Fish, for the 20th edition of the tournament.
Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka beat David Nalbandian by 7-6,6-2, now nalbandian is out of Masters Cup Race. Nalbandian pulled off a shock victory over Roger Federer in Sunday's Madrid Masters final.
"It was a win for Roger and for me," Wawrinka told reporters. "I spoke to Roger after the Basel draw was made and he told me to win this one."
The opening set was close with both players saving one break point to line up a tiebreak won 7-5 by Wawrinka.
The world number 35 then broke serve twice in the second set to earn a meeting with Czech fifth seed Tomas Berdych, who put out Spain's Feliciano Lopez 7-6 3-6 6-3.
"It was a great match for me and I was very happy with how I served. I'm sure Roger will be just as happy with the way I played as with the result itself." American fourth seed James Blake stayed on course for a place at the season-ending Masters Cup in Shanghai with a 6-3 6-4 win over Spain's Oscar Hernandez.
The Hopman Cup is an international team event. It is held annually in Perth, Western Australia. Unlike the Davis Cup and the Federation Cup, it is a mixed tournament in which a combined team of men and women players takes part.
The name 'Hopman Cup' is given in the memory of Harry Hopman. He was a great Australian player as well as a coach. The tournament was named as 'the Hopman Cup' in 1989...read more
The word "Tennis" has originated from the French term “tenez," which means "hold”. At the outset, the kings and nobles played this tennis sport . The authentic tennis sport . originated in the 12th century in France, popularly known as jeu de paume. The players used their hands to hit the ball and this game was commonly played outdoors, in enclosed spaces and also in courtyards......read more
Sania Mirza Indian Tennis star out of the Kremlin Cup after first round defeat with 6-3 6-4 to Argentine Gisela Dulko in Moscow on Tuesday.
Sania was coming off a quarter-final appearance at the Japan Open Tennis but could not continue her good form in the Russian capital. Service was again the bugbear for the Hyderabad girl as she sent down as many as nine double faults.
She won only 48 per cent of points on her first serve and 26 per cent on her second while committing 40 unforced errors in comparison to her opponent's 31. Her return game was good as she broke the 41-ranked Dulko five times but returned the favour on seven occasions.
The Argentine made a hat-trick of wins over the Indian star after getting the better of her at the 2005 French Open and the Tier III event at Pattaya City in Thailand in February this year.
Source: HindustanTimes
Wimbledon champion Venus Williams is in the Japan open Tennis final after beating Caroline Wozniacki. It was like a final said by Venus after a 6-3, 7-5 victory. It was really a tough game and she played really well.
"It feels good. It's great to be in the finals," Williams said. After losing the first four games in a row and eventually the first set, Wozniacki went ahead 2-0 in the second set and then 4-2, taking advantage of Williams's two double faults in the sixth game.
"Four-two is definitely not the set, it's just one break, so winning one game is always pretty much even," said Williams.
"I was trying to win one game at one time. I was very confident. I was trying to focus on making less errors," she said. The 17-year-old Wozniacki said she could not cope with Williams once she returned to form in the second set.
"Venus played really well, she just smashed winners in the corners, so I couldn't do anything," she said.
"I was trying to keep my tactics, just tried to make her run, but at 4-2 she really raised her game until four-all and she just did a lot of winners, so I couldn't really do anything.
"It's tough to break her serve even though I broke her serve three times in the match," said
Now Venus Williams will meet to Razzano tomorrow.
Good Luck for both!!!!
U.S Davis cup team may get dirty in 2008. Roddick and his U.S. Davis Cup cohorts will probably face another battle on dirt in Europe after the team was drawn to face Austria on the road in the first round of next year's world group competition.
That means Roddick, James Blake and the Bryan twins, who were fabulous in this year's semifinal against Sweden, will in all likelihood meet the unpredictable Jurgen Melzer and veteran Stefan Koubek -- two lefties -- in singles, with Julian Knowle playing a part in the doubles.
The U.S. has beaten Austria both times the countries have met, including 3-2 in Vienna 17 years ago when Michael Chang rallied from two sets down to defeat Horst Skoff in the decisive fifth rubber, and should get through, surface notwithstanding, perhaps by the same score.
France probably awaits in the quarterfinals, and though a step up in class with the likes of Richard Gasquet and Paul-Henri Mathieu, the U.S. would host that series and thus prosper.
Then things could get really interesting -- possibly Spain on the road in the semifinals, which would mean more clay and much stiffer opposition, even if Rafael Nadal doesn't play. Spain has a potentially tricky matchup at Germany in the quarters.
It could be Argentina's year. David Nalbandian can't play as poorly as he's done so far in 2007, and the 2006 finalists will probably have home ties right through until the final.
Oh, and if the U.S. does spring a surprise and gets to next year's final? If not Argentina, then a rematch may loom against Russia. Both would be on the road, and no prizes for guessing the surface.
Source: seattlepi.nwsource.com
