India's Leander Paes on Monday described his 12th Grand Slam title triumph at the Wimbledon mixed doubles as a "wonderful" feeling, which holds a "special" place in his heart.
On a largely disappointing day for Indian tennis players, Leander Paes, Rohan Bopanna and Sania Mirza lost their respective doubles matches in the second round of the Australian Open, leaving the country's challenge restricted to the mixed doubles competition.
The Indo-Zimbabwe pair, who were runners-up in the tournament last year and have the 2008 US Open and the 2010 Australian Open crowns to their name, will take on 11th seeds Wesley Moodie/Lisa Raymond (South Africa/United States) in the final.
India's Leander Paes and his mixed doubles partner Zimbabwean Cara Black advanced to the Wimbledon's semi-finals on Thursday.
Sania Mirza was the only Indian left competing in the Western and Southern Open by reaching the semi-finals as Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna were ousted from the men's doubles with their respective partners in Cincinnati.
India's Rohan Bopanna and his Pakistani partner Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi stormed into the quarter-finals of the doubles competition of the Wimbledon with an impressive straight set victory over Lukas Lacko of Slovakia and Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine in London on Monday.
Paes-Shamsasdin also in last four
Leander Paes is hoping that there will be not be repeat of a selection fiasco ahead of the Rio Olympics and feels he deserves to be paired with Rohan Bopanna and Sania Mirza for the men's and mixed doubles events.
The third seeded Indo-Czech pair lost in the second round to the unseeded Slovak-Ukrainian duo of Lukas Lacko and Sergiy Stakhovsky 3-6, 3-6, 7-5, 6-4, 5-7.
Third seeds Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi earned a shot at their third title of the season as they set up the summit-clash of the ATP Aegon Championships against Mike and Bob Bryan in London.
Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi took contrasting routes to the doubles quarter-finals in the Internazionali BNL D'Italia tennis tournament in Rome on Thursday. Third seeds Paes and his Czech partner Lukas Dlouhy swamped Ivo Karlovic and Dusan Vemic 6-1, 6-1, while fourth seeded Bhupathi and his Bahamian teammate Mark Knowles survived some torrid moments before beating unheralded Simon Bolelli and Andreas Seppi 7-6(5), 2-6, 10-3.
Top seeds Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy earned a shot at their second title of the season after reaching the summit clash of the UNICEF Open with a win over Benjamin Becker and Scott Lipsky.
The fifth seeded mixed doubles pair of Leander Paes of India and Cara Black of Zimbabwe entered the final of the US Open with a straight-set victory on Wednesday.
Top seeds Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy progressed to the semi-finals of the UNICEF Open, defeating Thiemo de Bakker and Robin Haase in straight sets in s-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands. The Indo-Czech pair beat the Dutch wild card entrants 7-5, 6-3 in the quarter-finals of the ATP 250 event.
Rohan Bopanna joined senior pro and compatriot Leander Paes in the doubles quarterfinals of the UNICEF Open after clearing the first round along with Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi in 's-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands.
Top seeds Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy laboured to the doubles quarter-finals in the UNICEF Open with a hard-earned win over Florent Serra and Kristof V Liegen in s'Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands. The Indo-Czech pair quelled a late challenge from the French-Belgian pair, winning 6-1, 6-7(5), 10-6, in the opening round of the euro 450,000 grass court event.
Somdev Devvarman, who became the first Indian to qualify for the French Open main draw in 13 years, rose to a career-best 104th in the ATP rankings issued on Monday.
Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi compete in the second round of the men's doubles.
Defending champions Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy remained on course for a second successive French Open title by advancing to the semi-finals of the men's doubles with a straight-set win in Paris on Tuesday.
The Indian challenge in the ATP Paris Masters tennis tournament ended after Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes, along with their respective partners, crashed out of the doubles event following unexpected second-round defeats.
Back after a wrist injury lay-off 24-year-old Prakash Amritraj is slowly, but surely, climbing the ATP ranks.
Tennis duo Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi will have added responsibility to return with an Olympic medal from Beijing, especially after the Indian Olympic Association accommodated extra support staff for them, a favour that eluded boxer Akhil Kumar.
Somdev Devvarman remained static on 109 but Yuki Bhambri jumped 21 places to 404 in the latest ATP singles ranking list issued on Monday.
Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy crashed out of the ATP Rome Masters after being handed a straight-set defeat by the seventh seeded Polish-Austrian pair of Lukasz Kubot and Oliver Marach in the quarter-finals in Rome.
Third seeds Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy moved to the quarter-finals of the ATP Rome Masters after getting a walk-over from Croat Ivan Ljubicic and Michael Llodra of France in the second round.
Rohan Bopanna and Leander Paes crossed the first-round hurdle in the men's doubles with their respective partners while Sania Mirza crashed out of the women's doubles after a first-round loss at the French Open.
The Indo-Czech pair scored a convincing 6-1, 6-4 win over Agustin Calleri of Argentina and Spain's Tommy Robredo.
Leander Paes has pulled out of the crucial Davis Cup World Group play-off tie against South Africa due to shoulder and elbow injuries.
Out of action owing to a wrist injury, tennis ace Sania Mirza has risen a couple of rungs to 90th in the latest WTA singles rankings issued on Monday.
American wildcards of Carly Gullickson and Travis Parrott stunned defending champions Cara Black and Leander Paes 6-2, 6-4 to win the US Open's mixed doubles championship on Thursday. Yuki Bhambri though stormed into the boys' singles quarter-finals, beating local lad Jack Sock 6-4, 6-3 in the third round.
The selection committee has picked World No. 246 Prajnesh as Yuki's replacement as he is the next best singles ranked player.
Leander Paes and his partner Lukas Dlouhy breezed past Spaniards Nicolas Almagro and Tommy Robredo to storm into the Sony Ericsson Open doubles final in Miami.
Leander Paes and his Czech partner Lukas Dloughy moved into the semi-final of the men's doubles and were joined by Mahesh Bhupathi and his partner Mark Knowles of Bahamas.
A spate of recent successes on the ITF circuit has fetched Delhi lad Yuki Bhambri a place in the Indian Davis Cup squad for the crucial World Group play-off tie against South Africa scheduled on September 18 to 20.
Third seeds Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi saved a match point en route to a hard-fought three-set win over Oliver Marach and Janko Tipsarevic to book a berth in the final of the Sony Ericsson Open tennis tournament in Miami.
Indian aces Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes breezed into the quarter-finals of the mixed doubles event with their respective partners following straight set wins over their opponents at the US Open in New York, on Saturday. Top seeds Bhupathi and his American partner Liezel Huber eased past Jill Craybas and Eric Butorac of the US 6-3, 6-3 in a 54-minute second round match.
Drawn against each other in the opening round of the clay-court championships, Paes will team up with Russia's Nadia Petrova, while Bhupathi will partner China's Jie Zhang.
India had a fruitful day at the Australian Open as Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi stormed into the quarterfinals while top seeds Leander Paes and Zimbabwean Cara Black advanced to the second round of the mixed doubles in Melbourne on Sunday.
Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi had to strain their sinews before the Indian duo, along with their respective partners, cleared the opening round hurdle in the men's doubles event of the Miami Masters.