Mahesh Bupathi not a big fan of receptions; Mike Bryan doesn't need to pick up the bills

"Hopefully not too big. I'm not a big fan of receptions. I'd like to sneak out the back door at the airport tomorrow."
~ Mahesh Bhupathi on the reception he expects back in India after winning the country's first Grand Slam mixed doubles title with Sania Mirza.

Mirza and Bhupathi beat Nathalie Dechy of France and Andy Ram of Israel 6-3, 6-1 at Rod Laver Arena.

"All I know is Serena usually picks up the bill."
~ Mike Bryan makes plan for an all-American celebration in Melbourne.

American twins Bob and Mike Bryan won their seventh Grand Slam title with a 2-6, 7-5, 6-0 win over Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles in the Australian Open doubles final.

The brothers, who regained their No. 1 ranking by reaching the final, were the second set of American siblings to win Grand Slam titles after Venus and Serena Williams won the women's doubles.

(Images via Yahoo! Sports)

Kei Nishikori wins Mark Knowles Celebrity Invitational in Bahamas

Kei Nishikori is back from his knee injury with a win at the Mark Knowles Celebrity Invitational in Bahamas.

He participated along with other pros such as Mark Knowles (of course), Alex Kuznetsov, Xavier Malisse, Hugo Armando, Ryan Sweeting, Don Johnson, Sabine Lisicki, and Michaela Krajicek.

Kei won the Celebrity Pro-Am last weekend by playing against amateur and local Bahamian businessman Jeff Everett.

The event raised over $100,000 for three children’s charities.

Knowles who was born in Nassau launched the first Mark Knowles Celebrity Tennis Invitational in Paradise Island in order to support different Bahamian charities. Andre Agassi and James Blake are among the high profile tennis players who have hit the courts in the past.

(Images by Matt Dunn/Matt Dunn Photography via nicktennispicks.com, thebahamasweekly.com)

Winners during Diwali break

First of all, wishing all Indian friends Happy Diwali.

Kinda miss a lot after taking a few days break from the blogosphere. However I'm glad I did spend the weekend holiday with bro and sis and the new addition to our family, Pepper who is just 7-week old.


So here are the weekend winners in brief:

Roger Federer conquers Basel

Roger Federer won his hometown tournament for the third straight year on Sunday, beating second-seeded David Nalbandian of Argentina 6-3, 6-4 in the Swiss Indoors final.

“Things are back into a groove the way I like it. I’m happy with the way I’m playing,” Federer said.

“It feels great to win at home. Once you had it you want more of it and you want to do it over and over again.”

In the doubles title, Mark Knowles became the 21st player in ATP history (since 1973) to capture 50 career doubles titles after partnering Indian Mahesh Bhupathi to the Davidoff Swiss Indoors champion Sunday with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Germans Christopher Kas and Philipp Kohlschreiber.

The final lasted 61 minutes.

“I’m elated,” said Knowles.

“It’s a big number and I’d be a liar if I said I hadn’t been thinking about it, as I’ve lost in a couple of finals lately. I’m really happy to win my 50th title and get past the milestone."

Andy Murray retains St. Petersburg Open title

Top-seeded Andy Murray won the St. Petersburg Open for the second straight year by beating qualifier Andrey Golubev 6-1, 6-1.

“I played well today, I really enjoyed myself this week,” Murray said.

“At the start of both sets it was quite close, but once I got ahead I started to feel much more comfortable. In terms of the score it was easy, but it wasn’t the easiest match I’ve played on the tour.”

In the doubles title, American Travis Parrott and Filip Polasek of the Slovak Republic earned a hard-fought 3-6, 7-6(4) 10-8 win over first-time pairing Indian Rohan Bopanna and Max Mirnyi of Belarus at the St. Petersburg Open.

“We are really happy to have won our first ATP title as a team. We started playing together in February. It is fun to have worked our way up from the Challenger circuit and get the chance to win an ATP title," said Parrott.

Robin Soderling wins at Lyon

Seventh-seeded Robin Soderling of Sweden beat Julien Benneteau 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-1 to claim his third career title and first since 2005.

Soderling is set to break into the top 20 for the first time on Monday at either No. 18 or 19.

“As a player you always have the goal of reaching the top 100. Once you get there, you want to get to the top 50,” he said.

“Reaching the top 20 feels great. It has been my goal for two or three years.”

Second seeds Michael Llodra of France and Israeli Andy Ram, playing together for the first time this week, captured the Grand Prix de Tennis de Lyon title on Sunday after beating Australian Stephen Huss and Ross Hutchins of Great Britain 6-3, 5-7, 10-8 in 80 minutes.

“I'm very happy to win this title together with Andy,” said Llodra.

“Winning with him in Lyon makes it even more special since this place means a lot to me. I usually play with French partners, most of the time with Arnaud Clement and I'm happy that I won this title together with my friend Andy."

Elena Dementieva takes 3rd title of year in Luxembourg

Elena Dementieva won her third title of the year on Sunday, outlasting Caroline Wozniacki 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (4) in the Fortis Championships.

"I feel like I just won a Grand Slam," Dementieva said.

"I think it was the most difficult final I've ever played. Caroline was playing so well - she has such a good defensive game, but was also hitting really good drop shots and passing shots. I had to stay positive and aggressive and I'm so happy I was able to win today."

In the doubles titile, Sorana Cristea and Marina Erakovic took the title with defeat of no. 3 seeds Vera Dushevina and Mariya Koryttseva in a match tie-break 2-6, 6-3, 10-8.

"We clicked," said Erakovic after the 4th seeds' Tier III win.

"Sorana plays very well off the baseline, and has a great serve, and I can do a lot of things at the net. I think that combination helped us this week."

Ana Ivanovic ends title drought at Linz

Top-seeded Ana Ivanovic routed No. 2-seeded Vera Zvonareva 6-2, 6-1 in the final of the Generali Ladies to win her first title since the French Open.

"Every final is a new experience and winning a title is always special," Ivanovic said.

"Especially after coming back from an injury and putting in a lot of hard work, it's great to see the results. It's a very good feeling to win another title. I played better and better in every match and really enjoyed my week in Linz."

In the doubles final, second seeds Katarina Srebotnik and Ai Sugiyama upset top seeds Cara Black and Liezel Huber 6-4, 7-5, to capture the Tier II Generali Ladies Linz title.

(Via AP, ATP website, WTA website)

Andy Murray clinches Madrid Masters; Marcin Matkowski & Mariusz Fyrstenberg win dubs title

World no. 4 Andy Murray beat Gilles Simon of France 6-4, 7-6 (6) on Sunday to win the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Masters.

The U.S. Open finalist became the first Briton to win four titles in a season.

He will be the first Briton in the Open era since Fred Perry in 1936 to finish the year at No. 4.

“Gilles was hitting much better from behind the baseline, but I got a lot of free points from my serve,” Murray said.

“That was probably the key to my win today.”

Simon had previously won five straight three-set matches at Madrid.

“I couldn’t move like I’m used to and Andy knew it, so he tried to kill me by making me run,” said Simon, barely able to walk the step up to the microphone.

“Often I missed two easy shots, one after another. That’s why I lost today; I couldn’t focus on every point. It was too much effort for me.”

Murray beat Roger Federer in the semifinals, while Simon defeated top-ranked Rafael Nadal to reach his fourth final this year.

Their victories denied a fifth Nadal-Federer final of 2008.

I know you guys would have liked to have seen a Roger-Rafa final but you brought a great atmosphere, so thanks for coming,” Murray told the crowd at the Madrid Arena, which hosted the tournament for the final time as it moves to the newly built “Caja Magica” (Magic Box) next year.

The 23-year-old Simon is ninth in the race to qualify for the season-ending tournament—seven points behind No. 7 David Ferrer and six back of Juan Martin del Potro and the eighth and final qualifying spot.

“It won’t be easy because there are one or two tournaments left. I don’t know if I play in Lyon because right now I just want to rest,” Simon said.

In the doubles final, 7th-seeded Poles Marcin Matkowski and Mariusz Fyrstenberg won their second ATP title of the season on Sunday with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over 4th seeds Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles at the Mutua Madrilena Masters Madrid.

It is the first ATP Masters Series title for the Poles, who finished runners-up to Bob and Mike Bryan in the Madrid final last season.

In the quarterfinals this week they knocked out second seeds and Wimbledon champions Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic and they saved three match points in their semifinal win over Jeff Coetzee and Wesley Moodie.

The Poles began the week at No. 9 in the Stanford ATP Doubles Race with 307 points, 17 points behind Marcelo Melo and Andre Sa in eighth position.

They won their first ATP title of the season at Warsaw, and have also finished runners-up at Barcelona, Bucharest and Metz; this is their seventh career team title. They now have a 33-23 match record on the season.

(Via AP, ATP official website, Images via Yahoo! Sport)