The Indian singles challenge in the ATP Challenger ended, with Harsh Mankad losing to Marco Baghdatis.
The Czech Republic's Frantisek Cermak and Slovakia's Michal Mertinak became the latest players to be banned and fined for betting on tennis matches, the ATP said on Monday. As the governing body of men's tennis continues to crack down on gambling in the sport, the two Eastern European doubles specialists became the first non-Italians to be sanctioned under the ATP's anti-corruption programme.
Fourth seeds Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy crashed out of the Miami Masters after a shocking straight sets defeat at the hands of the unseeded Czech-Slovak pair of Frantisek Cermak and Michal Mertinak in the men's doubles second round. The Indo-Czech combine went down 3-6, 3-6 in the just over an hour. In a match that was surprisingly lop-sided, the fourth seeds were left to rue missed opportunities, as they frittered away three break-points in the first set itself.
Rohan Bopanna and his Pakistani partner Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi warded off late resistance from the German-American pair of Philipp Kohlschreiber and Rajeev Ram to enter the pre-quarterfinals of the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami.
Mahesh Bhupathi and Max Mirnyi advanced to the semi-finals while Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-haq Qureshi sealed a quarter-final berth in the Valencia Open.
Third seeds Leander Paes and Jurgen Melzer of Austria battled their way into the semi-finals of the Shanghai Masters, beating Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-haq Qureshi on Friday. Paes-Melzer lost the first set, but fought back brilliantly against the younger Indo-Pak combination to win the quarter-final 6-7(6), 7-6(6), 10-4.
Champions Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic lost all hope of defending their ATP World Tour Finals doubles title on Tuesday when they suffered their second successive round-robin defeat at the O2 Arena.
Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles enhanced their semi-final chances at the ATP World Tour finals after edging past Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski in a tough group B encounter in London on Tuesday.
Third seeds Mahesh Bhupathi and his Bahamian partner Mark Knowles opened their campaign at the ATP World Tour Finals on a resounding note, notching up a straight-set win over debutants Frantisek Cermak and Michal Mertinak in their first group A doubles match in London.
Leander Paes and his Czech partner Lukas Dlouhy had little trouble in making the third round of the men's doubles at the Australian Open in Melbourne on Friday. The fourth seeds beat the unseeded Italian-Croat pairing of Fabio Fognini and Ivan Ljubcic 6-3, 6-4 in a second round match.
Mario Ancic beat Slovakia's Michal Mertinak to claim a 3-2 victory for Croatia in the Davis Cup final.
Ivan Ljubicic and Mario Ancic beat Slovakian duo Dominik Hrbaty and Michal Mertinak in the doubles to give Croatia a 2-1 lead in the Davis Cup final.
Both nations took 2-1 leads in their semi-finals with doubles victories.
The Russian beat Germany's Dieter Kindlmannin the final.\n\n