Bangalore: The only hiccup was when Leander Paes dropped his serve once, but the veteran guided his partner Sanam Singh led India to a 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 win over Indonesian pair David Agung Susanto and Elbert Sie as the hosts took an unbeatable 3-0 lead in the Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Group I relegation play-off here on Saturday.
While the Indian victory was a foregone conclusion and was achieved in just 81 minutes, the only point of interest was whether the unheralded Indonesian combo would be able to stretch their opponents, and they did not come even close to it. After India won the two singles matches Friday, the pressure was squarely on the Indonesians, who eventually gave in, more to their own inexperience than any ingenuity on part of the Indian pair.
Paes, 39, playing his 50th Davis Cup tie and in his 23rd year at this level, was undoubtedly the star of the match with his brilliant netplay marked by quick hands while 25-year old Sanam, a comparative newcomer, excelled from the back court with some searing winners, though at times, his inexperience was exposed. As for the Indonesians, Susanto proved to be the weak link. He held serve just once in the entire match while Sie was never short on enthusiasm, and all but played a lone hand for his team.
Susanto was broken twice in the first set as the Indians jumped to a 1-0 lead but not before saving two break points on
08:48 PM, Apr 06, 2013
Bangalore: India's number one singles player Somdev Devvarman will open country's campaign against Wisnu Adi Nugroho of Indonesia in the Asia/Oceania Group I first round relegation play-off tie, beginning here from Friday. India number two Yuki Bhambri will lock horns against Indonesia number one Christopher Rungkat in the second singles on day one of the tie at Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association (KSLTA) Stadium. On day two, Leander Paes and...
05:43 PM, Apr 04, 2013
Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien will lead the Indian delegation to the inaugural pontifical mass of Pope Francis I in Vatican City on Tuesday, official sources said on Sunday. According to the sources, besides Kurien, the four-member delegation includes his wife Susan, his secretary PJ Antony and Kerala Congress Lok Sabha MP Jose K Mani. ...
03:50 AM, Mar 18, 2013
As for the acting, Johnson does not steal the show from anyone since there is no character strong enough to combat him. ...
05:16 PM, Mar 09, 2013
The UN Security Council, ignoring threats from North Korea, is set to impose a fourth round of even tougher sanctions against Pyongyang in a fresh attempt to rein in its nuclear and ballistic missile programs. Russia's UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, the current council president, said the council will vote on the draft sanctions resolution on Thursday morning. The resolution was drafted by and the United States and China, North Korea's...
01:40 PM, Mar 07, 2013
Directed by filmmaker Sakthi Paramesh the film is produced by V Palanivel and AC Anand. ...
04:47 PM, Jan 31, 2013
The State Department made a "grievous mistake" in keeping the US mission in Benghazi open despite inadequate security and increasingly alarming threat assessments in the weeks before a deadly attack by militants, a Senate committee said on December 31. A report from the Senate Homeland Security Committee on the September 11 attacks on the US mission and a nearby CIA annex, in which the US ambassador to Libya and three...
11:50 AM, Jan 01, 2013
US President Barack Obama is expected to nominate Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry to succeed Hillary Clinton as secretary of state, a source familiar with the process said on Saturday. Kerry, the Democratic nominee for president in 2004 and a stalwart Obama supporter, had been widely tipped as the likely candidate for top US diplomat following the withdrawal last week of US ambassador to the United Nations Susan...
09:50 AM, Dec 16, 2012
Susan Rice, the US ambassador to the United Nations and a close confidante of President Barack Obama, withdrew her name from consideration as secretary of state on Thursday in the face of what promised to be a difficult Senate confirmation battle. ...
08:34 AM, Dec 14, 2012
Inspired by true events chronicled in a PBS Frontline documentary, 'Snitch' centers on a devoted father whose son faces 30 years in prison after being set up in a drug deal. ...
08:09 AM, Dec 04, 2012
London: Singer Susan Boyle's life story is soon to be told for the big screen. The 'I Dreamed A Dream' hitmaker has just returned from the US, where she has signed a mega deal, reported Sun online. Filming for the biography will start next year and Boyle, 51, has already decided that Hollywood star George Clooney should play her manager. "It's wishful thinking. But it's Hollywood... Anything can happen," she...
11:44 AM, Nov 22, 2012
Maybe if you're 20 years old and high in your dorm room with your friends, the platitudes presented in 'Cloud Atlas' might seem profound. Anyone else in his or her right mind should recognize it for what it is: a bloated, pseudo-intellectual, self-indulgent slog through some notions that are really rather facile. Ooh, we're all interconnected and our souls keep meeting up with each other over the centuries, regardless of...
12:53 PM, Oct 27, 2012
Richard Gere and Susan Sarandon starrer 'Arbitrage' is a suspense thriller about money, power and betrayal. ...
03:19 PM, Sep 14, 2012
New Delhi: Writer Nicholas Jerecki is turning a feature film director with Arbitrage. His first film stars Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon, Tim Roth and Brit Marling in the lead roles. The film is expected to be a suspense thriller where the characters get to understand each other in an unfavourable condition. The basic story line revolves around the theme of love, betrayal and cash. Richard Gere is playing a 60...
06:38 PM, Sep 13, 2012
New Delhi: The first extended trailer of Tom Hanks and Halle Berry's 'Cloud Atlas' was released to much excitement among fans of the epic drama, based on a 2004 novel by the same name by British author David Mitchell. A scene from the trailer shows Berry in a red sari and wearing the red and white bangles that married women from north India wear. Mitchell had won the British Book...
04:46 PM, Jul 27, 2012
Los Angeles: Billionaire genius Tony Stark had to learn to play well with others in 'The Avengers' after two 'Iron Man' films where he was the main attraction. So did Robert Downey Jr., though his path to superhero team player came without the fisticuffs and rivalries that Stark stumbles into with his fellow Avengers, who beat up on one another a bit before they figure out how to work as...
11:49 AM, Apr 26, 2012
Starring Jason Segel, Ed Helms and Susan Sarandon,'Jeff who lives at home' tells the story about two brothers. ...
08:38 PM, Feb 01, 2012
New Delhi: Ruskin Bond, one of the best known English writers in India, once said that 'pen, in honest and gifted hands, is mightier than the grave'. The author, now 77, lives by this philosophy and says he has many more stories to tell. "By and large I have had a fulfilling life. I am a writer without regrets. But I would say that there is a long way to...
05:06 PM, Dec 01, 2011
Los Angeles: Actress and social activist Susan Sarandon was reported to have called Pope Benedict a Nazi during a public discussion at a U.S. film festival in New York, provoking criticism from both Catholic and Jewish groups. The movie star, who won an Oscar for her role in the 1995 anti-death penalty film 'Dead man Walking' actress, said she had sent a copy of the book, on which the movie...
02:12 PM, Oct 18, 2011
