Asian Hopman Cup

[Brinyi]

HYDERABAD, India (AP) - Top-seeded India and second-seeded Taiwan scored runaway wins Thursday on the first day of the inaugural Asian Hopman Cup team tennis tournament.

India defeated China 3-0 in Group A, while Taiwan blanked the Philippines 3-0 in a Group B preliminary round contest.

Two group winners from the round-robin competition will play in the final of the event, whose winner will advance to the International Tennis Federation's Hopman Cup mixed teams championship.

The Hopman Cup will be played in Perth, Australia starting Dec. 29.

Japan in Group A and Thailand in group B are the other countries competing in the Asian tournament.

India's challenge was led by Sania Mirza, playing in her hometown for the first time this year, and Rohan Bopanna who replaced indisposed Davis Cup star Leander Paes.

Mirza smashed out Zhang Shuai 6-2, 6-2 and Bopanna carved a 6-3, 6-2 win against teenager Gong Mao-Xin in the singles.

Mirza and Bopanna then wrapped up the doubles 6-2, 6-4 against Zhang and Gong.

Taiwan was given a flying start by Hwang I-Hsuan, who drubbed Filipino Czarina Mae Arevalo 6-0, 6-2 , but Chen Ti faced a tough contest from Patrick Tierro in men's singles.

Chen was stretched to three sets before he prevailed 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.

The doubles encounter also produced a keen contest, but Taiwan's pair of Hwang and Chen emerged 7-5, 6-4 winners against Arevalo and Tierro.

[Brinyi]

HYDERABAD, Nov 26: Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna powered electrifying wins to blank Chinese Taipei 3-0 and lift the inaugural Asian Hopman Cup.

The win also fetched India a berth in the main draw of the Hopman Cup to be held in Australia. Sani Mirza set the tone of the tie with a convincing 6-2, 6-4 win over Hsuan Hwang (316) before Bopanna relied on his power packed serves to hand over a 6-3, 6-4 drubbing of Ti Chen.

The duo then combined in the mixed doubles to beat Hwang and Chen 6-1 conceded

[freudo]

woohooo, sania and Bopanna...this doesn't really go here but don't know where...

Net bonus: Bhupathi will be hitting the gold trail in DohaIndian tennis fans are heaving a huge sigh of relief after Mahesh Bhupathi, one half of their legendary men’s doubles pairing, decided he would compete in the 15th Asian Games Doha 2006 after all.

The turnaround comes less than a month after Bhupathi stunned the Indian tennis world by stating he would no longer play for his country with immediate effect – meaning he and Leander Paes would not defend their Asian Games men’s doubles title.

Bhupathi gave a number of reasons for his decision, including his focus on winning the one Grand Slam title to elude him – the Australian Open.

He also cited Paes not being willing to play on the Association of Tennis Professionals tour together to boost their chances of Olympic gold in Beijing 2008.

Another stumbling block was Bhupathi reportedly being unhappy that he was not consulted before India’s Davis Cup captain Paes was paired with rising star Sania Mirza for the Games mixed doubles, and he with Indian No 2 Shikha Uberoi.

Paes, who won a bronze with then 15 year-old Mirza at the 14th Asian Games Busan 2002, said at the time he hoped to sit down and clear the air with his former doubles partner in a bid to get him to change his mind.

This, together with persuasion from leading Indian sports officials, appears to have been the catalyst for the change of heart and means Bhupathi and Paes will reform the partnership that yielded three Grand Slam titles before their split at the end of 1999.

“Yes, I have decided to play in the Asian Games,” Bhupathi, who together with Paes reached all four Grand Slam finals in 1999, winning two of them, told Reuters from his base in the southern Indian city of Bangalore on Friday 3 November.

The Games begin in the Qatari capital with the Opening Ceremony on 1 December.


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[Brinyi]

In "Challengers", for no good reason!