Chennai Open: From the catwalk to the court

Prakash Amritraj, Horia Tecau, Nikolay Davydenko and Mahesh Bhupathi

In keeping with tradition, Kingfisher Chennai Open Good Times Opening Party kicked off with a fashion show featuring the spring/summer collection of Manoviraj Khosla and Vivek Karunakaran’s uber-chic collection.

Players who did the catwalk were Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi, Prakash Amritraj, Nikolay Davydenko, Yves Allegaro and Horia Tecau.

Leander Paes

Mahesh Bhupathi

Here are more off court photos.

Leander Paes and dubs partner Lukas Dlouhy pose on elephant sculptures.

Alberto Martin and Pablo Andujar show us Spain's other favourite sport.

Top-seeded Nikolay Davydenko advanced to the second round of the Chennai Open after beating Daniel Koellerer 6-2, 6-3.

A favourite to win at this tournament, Davydenko will next face Lukas Dlouhy, who needed three sets to beat Go Soeda of Japan.

Third-seed, Marin Cilic had little difficulty in making the second round with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Alberto Martin in 91 minutes, while Bjorn Phau did not exert much in getting past Santiago Ventura of Spain 6-2, 7-5.

Indian player Prakash Amirtraj suffered a disappointing defeat to Rainer Schuettler 2-6, 6-4, 1-6 in 85 minutes, becoming the topic of criticism on continuing to falter despite getting the wild cards in succession in the event.

Rohan Bopanna who qualified for the event after beating Michael Berrer 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 however lost in the first round to Denis Isomin 6-4, 7-6(3).

For more info and results, click here.

(Via chennaiopen.org, ptinews.com, timesofindia.indiatimes.com; Images viaatpworldtour.com)

Novak Djokovic's HEADache; could be HEADing to Sydney

Novak Djokovic’s preparations for the defence of his Australian Open title suffered an unexpected setback after being knocked out of the Brisbane International in the first round.

The world no. 3 who has made a switch over to Head from Wilson, lost his debut match at the brand new Pat Rafter Arena to Latvian Ernests Gulbis 6-4 6-4.

“I am not panicking,” he told reporters.

“The Australian Open is my highest goal for this part of the year and I really want to play well there.

“It’s not the end of the world. It’s the first match, so I’m not going to be pessimistic.

“I have a lot of time now to prepare for the Aussie Open.”

From a chat with Zara, Nole could be getting/accepting wild card entry to play at the Medibank International Sydney Tennis Tournament starting this weekend.

He has to accept it (if offered) or else he will begin the Australian Open with only one competitive match under his belt this season.

(Image via Yahoo! Sport)

Let the 2009 ATP World Tour begins!

Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer launched the 2009 ATP World Tour in spectacular fashion on Sunday with a unique game of tennis aboard a traditional Arabian Dhow in Doha Bay.

On a specially designed onboard court floating in the Persian Gulf, the special match, between the world's two best players, also marked the start of the year-long race to crown the official 2009 ATP World Tour Champion. It was the pair's first meeting since the Wimbledon final in July last year.



Nadal and Federer are the top two seeds at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open 2009 played in Doha from January 5-10.


(Via atpworldtour.com; Images via Yahoo! Sport)

Andy Murray beats Rafael Nadal in Abu Dhabi exho final

Did Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal get the right trophies?

Nadal looks like a winner to me, no?

Alright, in reality Andy Murray is the winner and he must be sending alarming statement to the big players now that he had beaten Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal at the Abu Dhabi exho last week.

Murray defeated Nadal 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 on Saturday to take the Capitala World Tennis Championship exhibition and walked away with $250,000 a winner-take-all prize.

A day earlier in the semifinals, he topped the No. 2-ranked Federer 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (6).

“This victory was good before I go to Australia,” said Murray, who is now in Doha to defend his Qatar Open title.

“I have never been past the fourth round there. I trained hard over the break and the victories over the past three days have given me confidence.”

Murray’s last and only victory over Nadal was at the U.S. Open semifinals back in September.

“He has carried his form over the last four months and he has a good chance to win in Australia,” Nadal said.

“For me it was a very good test,” he said.

“Playing 2 hours, 45 minutes at the best level is good. I forgot about my knee and my injury. I am looking forward to the year.”

(Images via Yahoo! Sport)