Sania, who is in the Capital for the treatment of her chronic wrist injury, said she thoroughly enjoyed India`s 320-run record win at Mohali on Tuesday.

“Cricket has been my first love. It was great to see India winning over the best team in the world with such a big margin,” said the Hyderabadi, who has been practising at the Delhi Lawn Tennis Association (DLTA).

My left ankle has been bothering me since the US Open and I need to take a break now to get it back to 100 percent,” the US Open champion was quoted as saying by the Moscow organisers.

“I have played a lot this year and my body needs to recover. My goal is to try and get the number one ranking back,” said the American, who will relinquish the number one spot to Serbia’s Jelena Jankovic when the new rankings are released on Monday.

Saina became the first Indian woman shuttler with two Grand Prix crowns under her belt after she clinched the title in Chinese Taipei beating unseeded Malaysian Li Ya Lydia Cheah 21-8, 21-19 in the final of the GP Gold event on Sunday.

“This is my biggest victory. Philippines Open was a four-star event but this one was five star and I feel I really played very well. I was in peak form and my confidence was very high,” Saina said.

Playing for the sixth year at Flushing Meadows, the No. 1-ranked Nadal rallied to reach the quarterfinals. He got quite a workout and a scare from his unseeded, 20-year-old American opponent.

‘‘Very tough,’‘ Nadal said. ‘‘Sam is a big player, a big server. He has a great future.’‘

Sania, returned into the game after a three-month lay-off following a wrist surgery, was trailing 1-6 1-2 against Czech Iveta Benesova when she decided to concede the match. The injury also casts a cloud of doubt over her availability for tomorrow’s doubles first round match.

The Indian scratch pair of Sania and Sunitha Rao is scheduled to meet French pair of Tatiana Golovin and Pauline Permentier in the opening round here on Tuesday.

“She had a surgery on her right wrist and it was bothering her right from the beginning. She was covering the court well and keeping the ball in play too. But things subsequently became too painful and she had to retire,” team coach Nandan Bal said.

It was a tougher match than expected for Kuznetsova though as rank outsider Kanepi had her back-pedalling in the first set with the weight of her groundstrokes.

The fourth seed will play the winner of the all-Russian clash between Dinara Safina and Elena Dementieva for a place in the final.

The last, and only time, the two had met was in the junior girls final here in 2001 when the Estonian won on her way to taking the world No.1 junior ranking.

They went different ways after that, Kuznetsova basing herself in Spain to further her career, while Kanepi elected to stay at home.

The Russian went on to win the US Open title in 2004 and was runner-up here last year as well as rising to second in the world.

Kanepi struggled to make the switchover to the seniors and she has yet to win a WTA Tour level title.

The unseeded Indian pair went down 6-7 (4) 4-6 to the Chinese-Serbian pair in the close to one and half hours contest.

Sania and Bhupathi only had themselves to blame for the loss as they were a break up at 4-3 in the first set before they allowed the fifth seeds to claw their way back into the match.

Williams has caught the eye at Wimbledon with the white trenchcoat she wears during the pre-match warm-up, while Maria Sharapova’s tuxedo top and shorts combo attracted plenty of attention.

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Sania will compete in the strongest ever singles field, led by world number one Serb Ana Ivanovic, in the history of the quadrennial extravaganza and the young Indian knows well that the road ahead is full of challenges.

Yet, she is determined to live up to the expectations.

Mirza went down in the opening singles match after cramp hampered her in the final set against America’s Meghann Shaughnessy. Rohan Bopanna then lost in straight sets to Mardy Fish before Mirza and Bopanna maintained its undefeated doubles record.

Despite the 2-1 loss, Mirza was happy with how she played.

The Spaniard missed two championship points in the fourth set but recovered to win a dramatic rain-interrupted match 6-4 6-4 6-7 (3-7) 6-7 (8-10) 9-7.

The final shot was struck in near darkness on Centre Court at 2115 BST.

Nadal, 22, is the the first man since Bjorn Borg in 1980 to win the French Open and Wimbledon back to back.

Federer, 26, had been trying to become only the second man to win six consecutive Wimbledon titles, and so surpass Borg to match Willie Renshaw, who played in the 1880s.

The defeat brought to an end his unbeaten run of 65 matches on grass, and arguably his reign as the undisputed king of tennis.

The defending champion recovered from a whirlwind start by her younger sister to land her seventh Grand Slam title courtesy of a 7-5, 6-4 win.

Venus paid tribute to the performance of Serena, who had looked as if she might blast her big sister off court in the opening games.

“I can’t believe it is five because when you are in the final against Serena Williams five seems so far away,” said the champion.

“It’s unbelievable especially with some of the injuries I have gone through. I love this place.”

The quality of the meeting dispelled any suggestion that the two siblings were incapable or unwilling to produce their best tennis against each other.

The third seed and local favourite won a topsy-turvy first set before easing through the second to capture his second title of the year and repeat his New Haven triumph of 2005.

“That’s a great way to go into the U.S. Open,” Blake told reporters.

“I am going into every match feeling that I can win. To win another title is great, so hopefully I can carry it over into the U.S. Open.”

World No. 50 Fish, in his first final for 16 months, twice recovered from a break down in the first set but Blake broke again in the 11th game and served out to move ahead.

Blake then broke twice to lead 4-1 and though Fish got one of the breaks back, the third seed held on to win his 10th career title and claim his 17th victory in 20 matches on hard courts this summer

But though he is high on confidence after winning his 50th career title in Cincinnati last weekend, the world number one has one name nagging away at him.

Rafael Nadal [Images].

Victory in New York would not only make Federer the first man since American Bill Tillden in the 1920s to win four titles in succession, it would also see him win three of the four Grand Slam events for the third time in four years.

A 12th Grand Slam crown is also on the line for Federer, just two short of the record held by Pete Sampras.

Nadal ended any hope of a Federer Grand Slam by beating him in the French Open final and pushed him to five sets in the final at Wimbledon. The Swiss had no doubts about who will be his main rival over the next two weeks.

“Even though now people talk about (Novak) Djokovic, for me Nadal is better, a lot better to be honest,” Federer told Reuters in an interview.

“If I don’t win the US Open I expect him to win it.”

Djokovic beat both Nadal and Federer to win the Montreal Masters the week before Cincinnati but Federer said the Spaniard was a cut above the rest

Blake, runner-up to world number one Roger Federer [Images] in the Cincinnati Masters last week, will play 16th seed Agustin Calleri of Argentina or unseeded American Robby Ginepri in the third round.

“I think I am playing some of my best tennis,” Blake said.

“American hard courts is where I feel the most comfortable. It suits my game the best, I’ve got the fans on my side and I end up feeling great.

“I feel like I am playing better than when I won here in 2005 but the tour is getting better as well.”

In the women’s event, Indian Sania Mirza [Images] advanced to the second round with a 6-3 6-3 win over Spaniard Anabel Medina Garrigues

Sharapova, the third seed, tumbled out of the tournament she won in 2004 after a lacklustre display on Court One.

The pin-up of the women’s game had reached at least the fourth round on all five of her previous visits to the All England Club, but she could have no complaints after being over-powered by her compatriot, who now plays China’s Peng Shuai.

Usually, the beautiful 21-year old, who won Wimbledon 4 years ago, has taken a liking to wearing dresses on court. Of course, we’re not talking about any kind of dresses. Two years ago, at the U.S. Open, Sharapova delighted her fans by donning a sports dress inspired by Audrey Hepburn in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”.

Last year at Wimbledon, she wowed fashion critics yet again with her famous by now Swan Dress – a Nike tiered dress with swan-style ruffles on the back, reminiscent of an elegant pair of wings. In 2008, with the eyes of the entire tennis world upon her, Sharapova once again manages to keep a little fashion surprise up her sleeve.

Second seed Ivanovic, the 2007 runner-up, defeated fellow Serbian Jelena Jankovic 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 in Thursday’s semi-final while 13th seeded Safina reached her first Grand Slam final with a shock 6-3, 6-2 victory over fourth seeded compatriot Svetlana Kuznetsova.

Ivanovic, who will become the new world number one on Saturday, win or lose, will start as favourite in her third Grand Slam final against a player she has defeated twice in three meetings.

But Safina, so long in the shadow of big brother Marat Safin, has enjoyed a fairytale run, twice coming back from a set and 2-5 deficits, and twice saving a match point, in her fairytale run through the tournament.

For Jankovic it was the fourth time she had played in a Grand Slam semi-final and the fourth time she had failed to make it through.

“It was a tough match and I managed to stay strong at the end to win it,” said Ivanovic who also reached the Australian Open final in January but lost to Maria Sharapova.

“She started to play really good tennis and I was too passive and if you give her a chance of course she is going to use it.”

The Fontana Golf Course on the outskirts of Vienna had been hit by heavy overnight rain which continued in the morning when the event was abandoned for the day.

Nadal matched Bjorn Borg’s mark of four French Open titles in a row. Borg won six in his career.

Nadal was in control from the start, and he broke Federer to open the match. Federer held off one break point from the net when Nadal hit an errant backhand. Nadal won the game as Federer missed long on a crosscourt forehand.

Federer’s play picked up in the second set, but he continued to fall short in solving Nadal’s service game. With the set even 3-3, Nadal took over, unspooling wins in nine straight games.

Nadal’s first drop shot of the match help sparked the run. Facing a break point, Nadal threw Federer the curveball, drawing the Swiss into the net, where Federer failed to get a crosscourt backhand back over.

CNN-IBN has learnt that Bhupathi has told the All India Tennis Association that he has run out of patience and does not want to play alongside Leander.

CNN-IBN has a copy of the explosive e-mail sent by Mahesh Bhupathi to the Indian Olympic Association, in which Bhupathi says:

“While people who don’t really understand tennis are willing to force us to play together to win a medal, you will agree that we are not magicians and a medal will not happen just because we step on court. I would prefer to play with Rohan Bopanna in Beijing, we do have a good relationship and we are planning to play a couple of events over the next few months.”

Over the last few weeks, the IPL has quite literally been the opium of the masses, and encouraged by its staggering success, sports administrators are putting together plans for a similar explosion.

Bhupathi may have closed the door on their partnership but Leander Paes hasn’t given up hope. Speaking exclusively to CNN-IBN, Leander urged Bhupathi to reconsider his decision not to pair up for the Beijing Olympics.

“I find that Mahesh and myself have lot of differences of opinions off the court but when it comes to on court there is no hiding the fact that we are the best team. I urge Mahesh to reconsider his decision that he has made and to put our differences aside,” he said.

Bhupathi has told the All India Tennis Association (AITA) that he has run out of patience and does not want to play alongside Leander.

The exclusive e-mail sent by Bhupathi to the Indian Olympic Association, in which Bhupathi said:

“While people who don’t really understand tennis are willing to force us to play together to win a medal, you will agree that we are not magicians and a medal will not happen just because we step on court. I would prefer to play with Rohan Bopanna in Beijing, we do have a good relationship and we are planning to play a couple of events over the next few months.”

Sharapova could be fined $700,000 if she declines to do the shoot, which is part of the WTA’s multi-million dollar global marketing campaign. The tournament begins on May 12.

Since she does not wear a WTA patch on her clothing, the fine for skipping a tour promotional event would rise $400,000 from the standard $300,000.

The former world number one doubles pair defeated Japan’s Takao Suzuki and Satoshi Iwabuchi 7-6 (7/2), 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 to hand the hosts a decisive 3-0 lead in the Asia-Oceania group 1 second round tie.

Watch: Lee-Hesh take India past Japan

It was India’s eighth successive win at home against the Japanese since 1961 and carried them into September’s play-offs for the elite 16-nation world group.

India last appeared in the world group in 1998 and have not taken part in the play-offs since 2005.

“After all that happened in the past few months, this win is very satisfying,” said Paes. “It is just a great feeling when you do well for your country. Nothing else matters.”

Bhupathi explained his stand on Sunday. “There’s no doubt that Leander has achieved a lot in Davis Cup and should be captain but I feel the best scenario is where we have a non-playing captain ,” Bhupathi said on Sunday. In addition, Paes spent nearly an hour in discussion with Bharat Oza and Hiranmay Chatterjee, members of the committee specially appointed to resolve the issues that surround the Davis Cup squad.

As far as the AITA is concerned, though, Paes has been appointed captain for the full year. “We interviewed all four players as well as the coach (Nandan Bal) and manager (SP Mishra) during the course of the day,” said Chatterjee who was appointed by the AITA, along with Oza, to sort out the problems. “The players who had threatened not to play the tie versus Japan have some issues which were noted down. The AITA has already taken steps like appointing a manager. The other issues too, will be sorted out before the next tie,” he added. Chatterjee added that Paes should be leading the side in the play-off tie as well. “A captain is appointed for the entire year, so he should be in charge for the next tie.”

Bhupathi expressed surprise when he learnt of this. “We weren’t told of Leander being captain for the year. This is the first I’m hearing of this. When we receive an official communication, we will decide what to do,” he stated.

Rohan Bopanna overcame a sore knee and steamy heat to quell the challenge of Japanese teenage sensation Kei Nishikori in a five-setter and give India a 1-0 lead in the Asia-Oceania Group I Davis Cup tie in New Delhi on Friday.

Bopanna toiled hard for two hours and 25 minutes to score a 7-6 (2), 3-6, 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 win in the first singles match.

Bopanna, who spearheaded India’s challenge against Uzbekistan in the last tie, was made to sweat by 18-year-old Nishikori, who recently became the first Japanese player to win an ATP event in the Delray Beach International final in February.

A tennis tantrum by Russian Mikhail Youzhny left him bloodied but made him a YouTube celebrity.

When Youzhny hit a backhand into the net during his third-round match Monday at the Sony Ericsson Open, he angrily whacked himself in the head three times with his racket strings. The forehand to the forehead sent a thick stream of blood running from above his hairline down his nose nearly to his mouth.

By Wednesday afternoon, video of the tantrum had drawn more than a half million hits on YouTube.

The final was expected to be a well-matched encounter with the No. 3 seed Serena taking on world No. 12 Schnyder. It was a match that pitted power against power.

The first set was a closely contested one and could have gone either way but the American held on to her nerves and took the set 7-5, helped by Schnyder’s many unforced errors.

Schnyder, seeded fourth, started positively in the second set, breaking Serena early. She tokk a lead of 3-1 but Serena rallied around and the Swiss player suddenly lost her composure.

The brash and bubbly sisters played to the gallery to the hilt, waving and blowing kisses to the exclusive crowd attending the function at the Leela Palace.

So Paes will lead the team against Japan in April.

The strident brevity of Sharapova’s 6-1, 6-0 win over Caroline Wozniacki, a promising 17-year-old Dane, suggested she is unofficial favourite for her second title of the year as well provided her with her 12th successive victory in all competitions.

India’s top two singles players — Prakash Amritraj and Rohan Bopanna — supported by Bhupathi and Karan Rastogi, who was not in the squad for the tie against Uzbekistan, have written to the All India Tennis Association saying they will not play under Paes and have made their grievances clear.

AITA chief Anil Khanna, on Sunday, confirmed to have received the letter.

Amritraj and Bopanna, while insisting that their stand had nothing to do with the earlier clashes between Paes and Bhupathi, said that the captain is putting his interests above the team’s and taking credit by winning matches he has no business playing.

The announcement ended one of the most glorious careers in the sport as the 34 year old won 53 singles titles and six doubles tournaments.

“Tennis has been and will always be a huge part of my life,” Seles said. “I have for some time considered a return to professional play, but I have now decided not to pursue that.”

She became world No 1 in March 1991 and held the top ranking for 178 weeks over the next two years.

Seles was born in the former Yugoslavia and became a naturalized United States citizen in 1994.