[Tennis] Misc. Results for Indians abroad...

[jayakris]

Rajeev is the real thing. No idea why he went to college, anyway. He is ready to hit top-150 in no time and is really one of the most talented US players (no India plans, from all I hear - and that'f fine). I am still not convinced that his one-handed backhand is strong enough for the top-100 or top-50 though. May be it is, and he really is the next Sampras like a lot of people seem to think!

Jay

[nkoth]

Heh, I know you didn't mean it this way... but let me say it anyway: there's nothing ever wrong with going to college.

In any event, I'm sure he's getting some good coaching at U of Illinois -- they are the top-ranked team in the country after all, and if it helps raise his profile with the USTA, that's not a bad thing either.

-neil

[jayakris]

Well, I have seen people say just the reverse. That Illinois simply taskes great talent and makes them good players and nothing else ... That they usually have trouble once they get out from the indoors and have to play grinding tennis, etc. But I don't know and I may be wrong.

Yeah, there is nothing wrong with going to college, but it is really distraction for somebody like Rajeev. But then I don't know if he was getting the kind of sponsorship help to hit the tour full-time, like any "normal" American kid of his record would have got...

Jay

[BSharma]

Rajeev Ram lost today.

(5)Jean-Rene Lisnard (FRA) d. (WC)Rajeev Ram (USA) 6-4 6-2

[Dhruv]

Finally R1 results from Cairo and no good news

Q MINELLA, Mandy (LUX) def. VAKHARIA, Megha (IND) 6-3 6-2

Well she is going to a US college later this year (the same one Manisha is going to if I remember correctly) and hopefully we will see her develop there.

[jayakris]

Actually I thought Megha was coming to the Univ of Mississippi, the place that Mahesh went to? Manisha was at Univ of Tennessee, not too far from there, and in the same conference.

Jay

[jayakris]

Here are the results from the Doha (Qatar) $15K. Extremely weak field there, except among the seeds - Mlynarik, Qureshi, Sherwood, etc are all there. The cut was very low for a $15K though.

Qualifying

[Q1] (1) PUNNA Vishal IND - BYE
[Q1] (2) MATHEW Jaco IND - BYE
[Q1] BEHL Rishi IND d. ABDUL MOUMEN Abdul Rehman ALG 60 61
[Q2] BEHL Rishi IND d. (1) PUNNA Vishal 75 61
[Q2] (2) MATHEW Jaco IND d. KARMOUSSI Hicham MAR 16 76(0) 61

Main draw:

(6) GHOUSE Mustafa IND vs (Q) AL JAZZAF Musaad KUW
(LL) PUNNA Vishal IND vs (Q) BEHL Rishi IND
(Q) MATHEW Jaco IND vs (Q) SI Yew Ming MAS

Pretty damn good draws for Indians, at least in the first round. I am a bit surprised at Rishi Behl's win over Vishal ..

Jay

[jayakris]

Punna got past Rishi Behl this time though. Rishi's rain-postponed match
from Monday got done today.

[R1] (LL) PUNNA Vishal IND d. (Q) BEHL Rishi IND 75 60
[R1] (6) GHOUSE Mustafa IND d. (Q) AL JAZZAF Musaad KUW 63 46 64
[R1] (Q) MATHEW Jaco IND d. (Q) SI Yew Ming MAS 64 76(5)

One R2 matchups -

[R2] (LL) PUNNA Vishal IND vs 1 WASSEN Rogier (NED,279)
[R2] (Q) MATHEW Jaco IND vs (WC) BAHROUZYAN Omar UAE

Bahrouzyan got an easy win in the R1, as the 5th seed withdrew. He is a
young kid, coached by Zeeshan Ali, if I am not mistaken.

Jay

(edited/updated on Tuesday)

[PKBasu]

Rishi Behl was unranked before the Qatar F1 so I hope he gets at least a point for qualifying in. Quite enterprising of him to go to Doha. Vishal Punna's luck seems to have run out, now that he faces the top seed. A win there would be fantastic.
Could you remind us how Futures points work, Jay/Dhruv?

[Dhruv]

Code: Select all

Mens
                W     F    SF  QF   R16  R32 QLFR R2  R1
15,000+H        24   16    8    4    1    0   0
15,000or $10+H  18   12    6    3    1    0   0
10,000          12    8    4    2    1    0   0

Womens 

$25,000         25   17  11.5   7   3.5   1  1.5 0.5 0.25
$10,000          6    4    2   1.5   1    0  .75

Oops forgot the quality points. Simple explanation for the mens . They don't exist . For the women :

Code: Select all

Rank   Pts GS Pts
1      100  200
2       75  150
3       66  132
4       55  110
5       50  100
6-10    43   86
11-16   35   70
17-25   23   46
26-35   15   30
36-50   10   20
51-75    8   16
76-120   4    8
121-250  2    4
251-500  1    2
501- >   0    0

[jayakris]

Nope, no points for qualifying in. You need to win a round to get ATP points (very unfair, and I would prefer little 0.5 points kind of thing that WTA does). So, Rishi Behl has nothing to show for beating Punna earlier.

Here are the Tuesday doubles results:

Michael Berrer (GER)/ Adam Chadaj (POL)
d. Philipp Marx (GER)/ Vishal Punna (IND), 63 63

Jaco Mathew (IND)/ Yew-Ming Si (MAS)
d. (4) Mustafa Ghouse (IND)/ Hiroki Kondo (JPN), 64 76(5)

(2) Jonathan Marray (GBR)/ David Sherwood (GBR)
d. (WC) Rishi Behl (IND)/ Abdullah Magdas (KUW), walkover

Jaco is in the second round of singles too (updated above). Not sure what caused the walkover for Rishi/ Abdullah

Jay

[jayakris]

Oh well, all three went down in the R2 at Doha on wednesday.

Toshihide Matsui (JPN,693) d. #6 Mustafa Ghouse (IND,550), 63 62
(WC) Omar Bahrouzyan (UAE,1003) d. (Q) Jaco Mathew (IND,958), 63 64
#1 Rogier Wassen (NED, 279) d. (LL) Vishal Punna (IND,925), 61 62

I sort of expected the losses, but I am disappointed in the scorelines. I guess Bahrouzyan has been making some progress.. I didn't think too highly of him in the juniors.

The one doubles team remaining also lost -
[QF] Mathew/ Si l. M.Al Ghareeb/ B.Dupuy, 64 75.

So the Indians are all done there..

Jay

[PKBasu]

Very disappointing stuff from Mustafa and Jacco, especially losing to lower-ranked opponents. There is simply no alternative to match-practice overseas, and our guys don't get enough of it. Making the transition from the junior to the pro ranks has been the great hurdle of Indian tennis over the past decade. Let's hope Somdev and Karan do better with that transition.

[jayakris]

Just got a correction from the tournament desk in Doha. Jaco won the doubles QF ..

[QF] Mathew/ Si d. M.Al Ghareeb/ B.Dupuy, 64 75

Jay

[nkoth]

Don't have the score, but Jaco went down in the semi's...

(2)Jonathan Marray/David Sherwood (GBR) d. Jaco Mathew/Yew-Ming Si (IND/MAS)

-neil