Chennai, January 10
Somdev Devvarman will lock horns with Croatia’s third seed Marin Cilic in the summit clash of the Chennai Open as he reached his maiden ATP tour event final after Germany’s fifth seed Rainer Schuettler pulled out from the semifinal due to a wrist injury here today.

Cilic stormed into the final after defeating eighth seed Spaniard Marcel Granollers 6-4, 6-3 in his semifinal match of the USD 450,000 hard court tournament. Somdev is first Indian player to reach the final of the Chennai Open, now into 14th edition.

India’s doubles ace Leander Paes had reached the semifinals of Chennai Open in 1998. Somdev is also the only second Indian player in recent times to make the final of an ATP Tour event.

Prakash Amritraj had reached the final of Hall of Fame Tennis championship in Newport, United States, in July last year when he lost to Fabrice Santoro.

Somdev made full use of his wild card, upsetting players like Croatia's world number 25 Ivo Karlovic and former world number one Carlos Moya en route to the semifinal.

The new Indian tennis sensation knows that it would be tough to bring home the title. “Tomorrow is going to be very tough. I have my work cut out. Cilic is really playing very good,” he said after getting the walkover.

Somdev was delighted to make the final but was disappointed to miss the chance to play against Schuettler.

“It is obviously disappointing. Specially for the crowd. I knew it’s going to be tough (against Schuettler). He is a seasoned pro. I had thought of playing an attacking game but I did not get the chance,” he said.

Schuettler was also disappointed on leaving the tournament mid-way. “During yesterday’s doubles match I started feeling pain in my left wrist. As I warmed up for the semifinal I wasn’t able to hit a double handed backhand, I felt a strong pain. I would only be able to slice and I’m also afraid that the injury would get worse. I had the same a few years ago but it wasn’t as bad as now,” the German ace said.

“I feel sorry for the crowd and the tournament. It is a very disappointing moment for me.” Schuetller was also worried about his campaign in the Australian Open.

“I also have to pull out of Sydney. I will now fly to Melbourne and see if I can be ready in time for the Australian Open,” he said.

The German player became the second player to pull out from the event after Russian top seed Nikolay Davydenko, who had to leave the event due to a heel injury ahead of his second round match, earlier. — PTI

Chennai, January 10
Somdev Devvarman's fans may still be relishing his stunning victories over Carlos Moya and Ivo Karlovic but the new Indian tennis star has left behind those wins and is completely focussed on the title clash of the Chennai Open against third seed Marin Cilic tomorrow.

Somdev reached his maiden ATP Tour event final after getting a walkover from fifth seeded German Rainer Schuettler in the semifinal today.

"I am focussing on tomorrow's final match and have forgotten about how I got there. What is important for me in tomorrow's match is that I want to focus on the right things and not focus on pressure or else.

"Cilic is playing fantastic tennis in this tournament. Obviously I have worked out that for me. I think I would have played an awesome tennis today too. I will surely be focussed on how I can win my match tomorrow," Somdev said at the post-match press conference.

The 23-year-old Indian though was not happy with the way he entered the final. "It is disappointing to come through like this. I was excited about playing the semi-final and a big crowd was already up there to shout for me. It is not going to boost my morale. Unfortunately he got hurt. He is a tremendous player," he said.

Denying that he was emotionally charged about tomorrow's final, the 23-year-old Indian said, "To be honest, I did not have too much time to think about it. I do not want to think too much about next day's match. I am going to put what has happened to me today behind me as well."

Somdev said that he came to play at Chennai Open without any expectations. "I never had any expectations while coming in for this tournament. I was a wild card. It is obviously nice to be in a tournament final like this in India. A knock on wood ... (he hits the table) I do not cramp," he said.

The young Indian star also knows that after this phenomenal performance, every step of his will be scrutinised.

Somdev was also eyeing the main draw of Australian Open, where he will compete in the qualifying event.

"I am excited about my playing the qualifier in the Australian Open. Hopefully I win a few matches and qualify for the main draw," he said.

On making adjustments to his game while playing on different courts, he said, "I did not really have much of a choice but adjust and adapt to the situations and make the most out of it. I still enjoy playing on clay today. I find myself very comfortable there." — PTI

Hong Kong, January 10
India's Sania Mirza, who made a comeback after a
lengthy injury lay-off, handed a straight set mauling
to 25th ranked Hungarian Agnes Szavay to get the
Asia-Pacific team the Silver Group champions trophy
in the World Team Challenge here.

World number 100, Sania overpowered her Hungarian rival, who was representing Team Europe, 6-3 6-4 last night.

Earlier, the Indian paired with Chinese Zheng Jie, overcame the European team captain and world number one Jelena Jankovic of Serbia and Portugal's Michelle Larcher de Brito to clinch the doubles final 6-1, 6-1.

The win gave the Asia-Pacific team a 2-0 lead in the three-match finals before Jankovic pulled out from the reverse singles to extend the lead to 3-0.

Jankovic, who later said she was, ''feeling weak and sick for the last couple of days,'' opted out of her singles' match against Jie today due to flu.

Asia-Pacific could not make the Gold Group finals of the exhibition tournament after losing to Team Russia.

The top-ranked Indian was earlier tamed by her old nemesis Ana Chakvetadze 4-6, 4-6 in the semifinal match.

The two wins last night would serve as a major morale booster for the Indian star, who has been troubled by a number injuries, ahead of the Australian Open due to begin this month. — UNI

London, January 10
In a major decision, Andrew Strauss has been named as England captain for the one-day series and the one-off Twenty20 match against the West Indies after being offered the Test captaincy for the tour following Kevin Pietersen's resignation.

Strauss, who has not played ODI cricket since the 2007 World Cup 20 months ago and was not initially picked in the 15-man limited-overs squad for the West Indies, was appointed to lead the team to stabilise dressing room atmosphere.

"The selectors feel that it is important to have stability and continuity on the Caribbean tour given the events of the last few days," said England's Chief Selector Geoff Miller.

"Andrew and I have also agreed that we will review the one-day captaincy at the end of the tour. Andrew is extremely comfortable with that," he added.

Strauss was named skipper after Pietersen quit as the captain following his fall out with coach Peter Moores, who has also been sacked by the England and Wales Cricket Board.

England Cricket Managing Director Hugh Morris said: "We have a backroom team with a proven track record. They will all work very closely with Andrew Strauss during this tour with the sole aim of securing success in the Test, ODI and T20 matches."

The 31-year-old Strauss said he was confident that he would contribute to the team despite being away from the shorter version of the game for a long time.

"I am delighted to lead the team in the one-day internationals and Twenty20. I know I haven't played an ODI since the end of the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2007 but I do feel that I have something to offer in that form of the game.

"Now this situation has been resolved we can now all unite and get about the business of winning cricket matches for England and winning them consistently."

The tour was significant for the England team in the run up to the Ashes against Australia later this year. — PTI

Wellington, January 10
Today's fourth one-day international between New Zealand and the West Indies at Eden Park, Auckland, was abandoned because of rain after a sparkling debut from Martin Guptill.

West Indies were 64 without loss in the 11th over, in reply to New Zealand's 275 for 4, when the match was called off because of a second rain delay.

The umpires had already set West Indies a revised target of 235 off 40 overs after the first delay, which lasted an hour, but any hopes of a result evaporated when the game was stopped a second time after just 11 more balls.

The series, which is locked at 1-1, will be decided by Tuesday's final match at Napier. The fouled weather ruined the prospect of an exciting finish to a match that was evenly poised.

Guptill, one of four changes to the New Zealand team that won the third match in Wellington on Wednesday, smashed a century on his one-day international debut to help his side amass an imposing total.

Guptill batted through the entire New Zealand innings to finish unbeaten on 122, the second highest score by a debutant in a one-day international.

The 22-year-old right-hander faced 135 balls, striking eight fours and two sixes, and shared in three valuable partnerships after West Indies had won the toss and invited the home side to bat first.

He helped put on 68 with Brendon McCullum (26) for the opening wicket, 144 with Ross Taylor (75) for the third wicket and an unbroken 56 with fellow debutant Neil Broom (24 not out) to push the total to 275. — Reuters

Patna, January 10
In a day of upsets, Olympian Neha Aggarwal and defending champion Poulomi Ghatak bowed out of the women's singles event, while ace paddler Achanta Sharath Kamal defied all odds to enter the semi-final of the 70th Senior National Table Tennis Championship here today.

Second seeded PSPB's Neha was in for a shock as she failed to overcome Maharashtra-A's Ashlesha Bodas and went down 4-1 to the 20-year-old paddler in pre-quarterfinal.

Unseeded Pune girl Ashlesha dominated her fancied rival throughout the pre-quarterfinal tie, before being stunned by seventh seeded Pooja Sahasrabudhe 4-1 in the quarterfinal.

Fourth seeded Poulomi also proved no match for Divya Deshpande of Maharashtra-A and conceded a 4-1 defeat in the quarterfinals.

Earlier in the day, Poulomi staged a great comeback when she saved a match point and then came from behind to beat Mamta Prabhu in a thrilling pre-quarterfinal.

Among others, top seeded K Shamini (PSPB) blanked Prajakta Tipale (Mhr-B) 4-0, while unseeded Mouma Das of West Bengal won a closely contested tie against PSPB's Madhurika Patkar 4-2 to enter the last four of women's singles.

Sharath Kamal did not face much difficulty in outplaying Aniket Koparkar (Mhr-A) 4-1. His PSPB teammate, former national champion Subhajit Saha was made to bite the dust by unseeded Pathik Mehta of Gujarat 4-3.

Among others, third seeded PSPB's A Amal Raj stunned Saugata Sarkar (WB) 4-0, while fourth seeded Sourav Chakraborty of RSPB defeated Jignesh Jaiswal (Guj) 4-2 to enter the semi-finals of the men's singles category.

In men's double, Subhojit Saha and A Amal Raj of PSPB, Ranbir Das and Subham Choudhary of West Bengal, Raja R S and G Sathiyan of Tamil Nadu and Sourav Chakroborty and Anirban Nandi of RSPB stormed into the semi-finals.

While Neha Aggarwal and Shamini K of PSPB, Divya Despandey and Ashilesha Bodas of Maharastra 'A', Poulomi Ghatak and Mouma Das of West Bengal and Sushmita Ray and Madhurika Patkar of PSPB sailed into the women's doubles semis.

Subham Choudhary and Mousumi Paul of West Bengal will clash with Aniket Koparkar and Pooja Shahasrabhudhe of Maharastra in the mixed-doubles final. — PTI

BRIEFLY

Johnson opts out of IPL auction
Melbourne: Aiming to keep himself fit for the rigours of a busy season ahead, Australian pacer Mitchell Johnson has decided to give the lucrative Indian Premier League a miss for the second year in a row. Johnson could have fetched in the region of $800,000 in the IPL auction on February 6 but said playing the league, scheduled in April, was not his priority. Johnson skipped the inaugural IPL to improve his fitness and cement his place in the Australian team. “We decided not to go last year because he wanted to get fit and build his strength and consolidate his place in the Australian team. We want to protect his long-term interests and I don’t see that being by playing the IPL,” Johnson’s manager Sam Halvorsen said. — PTI