Sania, who lost in the very first round of the singles event, and Wozniacki beat local favourites Anne Keothavong and Melanie South 6-4, 6-1.

The Indo-Dane pair will now be up against the winners of the match between the Russian-Czech team of Maria Kondratieva and Vladimira Uhlirova and the 11th seeded Zimbabwean-Slovak combination of Cara Black and Daniela Hantuchova.

There was more good news for India in the men’s doubles event with old warhorse Leander Paes and his Czech partner Lukas Dlouhy winning their opening round match.

Third seeds Paes and Dlouhy shrugged off a one-set deficit to beat South African Rik De Voest and German Mischa Zverev 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-3 in a hard-fought contest.

Somdev on Sunday lost his French Open first round match, a marathon five-setter, to Marco Chiudinelli of Switzerland.

Vishnu Vardhan also jumped seven places to be at 355. In the doubles chart, Leander Paes (6) and Mahesh Bhupathi (7) remained unchanged.

Meanwhile in the WTA list, Sania Mirza also had her singles ranking (91) intact but lost two positions in the doubles (75) chart.

Somdev put India ahead by overwhelming Izak Van der Merwe 7-6 (5), 6-3, 6-4 in the first singles and then Bopanna staged a stunning comeback to upset Rik De Voest 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 in the second rubber at Ellis park indoor arena. A win in Saturday’s doubles rubber will clear India’s entry into the World Group after 11 years.

Bopanna refused to throw in towel even after receiving a ruthless drubbing in the first set and turned the tables on his higher ranked opponent, who is placed 99 rungs above him at 189 in the ATP chart. Bopanna was struggling to get on the board initially but raised his game by several notches as the match progressed. Like Somdev, Bopanna too took a while to get into rhythm. He never looked back after breaking Rik, South Africa’s number one player in the tie, in the fifth game of the second set.

Earlier, coming into the tie after his breakthrough performance at the US Open, the 133rd ranked Somdev played with maturity and took two hours and 10 minutes to dispatch his opponent. Somdev faced just one breakpoint and mostly played from the baseline. Merwe displayed an excellent serve and volley game but unforced errors dented his chances.

Bopanna and Bhupathi will take on Jeff Coetzee and Wesley Moodie in the doubles rubber on Saturday.

Sania will next face the winner of an all Romanian match between Edina Gallovits and Sorana Cirster.
With this win, Sania, ranked 78, has now taken a 3-0 lead over Germany’s Groenfeld, whom she beat in 2004 and 2005.

After taking the first set comfortably Sania faced some fire in the second set as the German put up a determined fight, not throwing in the towel. Sania had her chances right from the start but Groenfeld did not let the Indian cash in on those. Sania earned three breakpoints in the first game by hitting some good winners but the German hung on.

Groenefeld then broke Sania in the next game, using drop shots very effectively and held her own to take a 3-0 lead. Sensing danger, Sania then stepped on the gas and broke back Groenfeld but only to drop her own serve in the sixth game to squander the opportunity to draw parity.

The Indian then saved two set points in the eighth game but unforced errors dented her chances and she eventually lost the set. The Indian, however, made a brilliant start to the do-or-die third set by breaking her rival in the very first game and won four of the first five games to take a 4-1 lead.

The next three games went with serve and the Indian wrapped up the set and match in style.

Paes-Bhupathi were cruising along comfortably after winning the first two sets but the Taipei pair surprised them with their never-say-die spirit as they upset the multiple Grand slam winners in the third set.

After this victory, India need to win one of the two reverse singles on Sunday to advance to the third round of the Asia/Oceania Group I competition. Somdev Devvarman, who won the first singles for India, is up against a tough customer in Yen-Hsun Lu and considering Lu’s form, it will be an uphill task for the Indian to beat the world number 59.

Rohan Bopanna, who will play the second reverse singles against Ti Chen, may have to pull it off for India in the deciding fifth rubber.

Paes now has 6940 ranking points, just 15 more than seventh placed Bhupathi. Rohan Bopanna moved to 72 with 1705 points after gaining three spots.

In the singles, Somdev continued to be India’s highest ranked player at 150.

In the WTA rankings, Sania Mirza slipped to 88 from 75 in singles and lost nine places in doubles to stand 72nd.

The win also gave Bhupathi his 11th Grand Slam title –seventh in mixed doubles. This was also Bhupathi’s second mixed doubles title here, following his 2006 triumph with Martina Hingis. For Sania, it was her maiden Grand Slam title. They also got richer by 1,34,460 Australian dollars.

In the summit clash, Bhupathi was solid with his service and displayed great hands at the net throughout the match. Sania complemented him with powerful forehands.

Top seed Yuki swept aside unseeded Georgousdas 6-3, 6-1 in 57 minutes to pocket his first Grand Slam singles title.

The other Indians in the elite list are Ramanathan Krishnan (1954 Juniour Wimbledon champion), his son Ramesh Krishnan (1970 Wimbledon and French Open junior champion) and Leander Paes (1990 Junior Wimbledon and Junior US Open champion).

The Delhi boy, who lost in the semi-finals here last year, was at his dominant best from the start and seemed determined to lift the title this time.

Yuki, partnering Chinese Taipei’s Liang-Chi Huang, also made it to the semi-finals of the boys doubles event but were shocked yesterday by Russian-Japanese pair of Mikhal Biryukov and Yasutaka Uchiyama 3-6, 1-6.

In the summit clash, they will take on the unseeded French-Israeli combine of Nathalie Dechy and Andy Ram, who stunned seventh seeded Spaniards Anabel Medina Garrigues and Tommy Robredo 7-6 (9/7) 6-4.

The win makes it a double delight for Bhupathi, who along with Bahamas’ Mark Knowles, has also made the men’s doubles finals to be played tomorrow. Bhupathi has six mixed doubles Grand Slam titles under his belt with different partners.

The third seed Indo-Bahamian pair proved too good for their unseeded Polish-Austrian opponents as it took them just 58 minutes to win the semi-final encounter.

In the other semi-final, the fourth seeded Paes-Dlouhy pair lost 3-6 3-6 to American second seeds Mike and Bob Brayan. Paes and his Czech partner’s fight against the formidable Bryan brothers was over in just 54 minutes, ending Indian hopes of seeing two of its best doubles players fighting for the title.

Paes has not won a men’s doubles title at a Grand Slam since winning the US open in 2006 with Martin Damm. Bhupathi now has a chance to grab his fifth men’s doubles Grand Slam title, first Australian Open title and 11th overall as he and his partner take on second seed Americans Bob and Mike Brayan in the final.

While Bhupathi and his Bahamian partner Mark Knowles defeated Nicolas Lapentti and Tommy Robredo 6-3, 6-4, Paes and his Czech partner Lukas Dlouhy, seeded fourth, beat locals Paul Hanley and Jordan Kerr 6-2, 7-5.

Bhupathi-Knowles pair next faces the Spanish pair of Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco. Paes and Dlouhy will be up against Italians Simone Bolelli and Andreas Seppi.

The third seeds Bhupathi and Knowles took 70 minutes to dispatch the unseeded Ecuadorian-Spanish duo in their third round clash.

The unseeded Sania-Bhupathi pair thrashed Australian duo of Anastasia Rodionova and Stephen Huss 6-1, 6-2 in 54 minutes to set up a last eight clash against the winners of the match between Canadian pair of Aleksandra Wozniak and Daniel Nestor and second seed Chinese-Bahamian duo of Zi Yan and Mark Knowles. The Indian pair of Sania and Bhupathi displayed were in their game today against the crowd favourites Rodionova and Huss as they took just 23 minutes to pocket the opening set.

The other Indian in the fray, veteran Leander Paes and his partner Cara Black of Zimbabwe will open their campaign against Serbian duo of Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Nenad Zimonjic.

The second seeded Indo-American pair were broken by their opponents once in each set but failed to capitalise on three break point opportunities they got in the one hour and 14 minute summit clash.

Paes and Lipsky were playing together for the first time this week in the $480,750 hard-court event.

The 35-year-old Paes, who teamed up with Damm to win the 2006 US Open doubles title, was playing in his 67th ATP World Tour doubles final (40-27 win-loss record).

Somdev’s defeat meant that India’s wait for an ATP title continues as no player from the host nation has emerged winner on the ATP Tour since Leander Paes’ win at Newport in 1998. The wild card entrant’s memorable run at the $450,000 event, in which he stunned former world number one Carlos Moya and the king of aces Croatia’s Ivo Karlovic, has already given him a superstar status.

Somdev, with his brilliant effort, pocketed valuable 150 ranking points which will help take his current 202 placing near to the 150-mark.

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

Playing before a packed stadium and the home crowd rooting for him, Somdev, who on Thursday scalped former world no.1 and two-time champion here Carlos Moya, played his heart out to win the quarterfinal match in 86 minutes.

In the process, he became the only second Indian after Leander Paes to figure in the semifinals of the 14-year old prestigious event. In the other semifinal on Saturday, third seeded Marin Cilic of Croatia plays eighth seed Marcel Granollers of Spain.

After his stunning display against Moya, Somdev was in his elements today also, probing Karlovic right from the third game. But the Croat, winner of the Nottingham ATP Tournament last year, never gave any leeway throughout the first set.