Win or lose, Paes-Bhupathi assured of No 1 spot

The Indians will finish the year as number one for the first time, irrespective of how they perform at Hartford. In 1997, they lost in the final to Leach and Stark, in 1998 they lost two league matches and then pulled out due toPaes’ foot injury. They go into the 1999 version with the knowledge that their ranking will remain intact, but with little practice together since their US Open final loss in September. Both Paes and Bhupathi (especially Bhupathi) have been troubled by some injury or the other in the last few months. Yet, going into a big situation with hardly any tune-up is not a new thing for them, and it would be nice if they finished the year on a winning note.

The top two teams are placed in two round robin groups of four teams. Similarly, teams placed at three and four, five and six and seven and eight each have a draw which places them in either group.

Each team plays the other three teams in their group one match each over three days starting Wednesday. The top two teams in each group advance to the semi-final. Ties will be broken based on sets won, followed by games won. There are 90 points each for each round robin win ($ 19,500 prize money for the winning pair to share no money for the losing team), 180points for a semifinal win ($ 40,000 money for winners) and 270 points for the final win ($ 70,000 for the winners). The maximum points any team can gain is 720. The draw will be released on Tuesday.

Sane in second round
PUNE: Vikrant Sane of Maharashtra made the second round in the boys’ under-14 and 16 of the Hero Honda Junior National Ranking Tennis Championship at the PYC Gymkhana courts.

Sane vanquished G Arjun of Andhra Pradesh 6-1, 6-1 in the under-14 and beat unseeded Aditya Rao of Maharashtra 2-6, 6-4, 6-2.

Amanjot Singh (Chandigarh) beat P Vikas (AP) 6-0, 6-3 to make the second round in the under-16. Fifth seed Gavryl Fernandes (Maharashtra), seventh seed Chatwinder Singh (Chandigarh) and eighth seed Vignesh (Tamil Nadu) all sailed into the second round with easy wins.

Pierce rallies
New York:
Mary Pierce rallied from a set and a break down to subdue Anna Kournikova and reach the quarter-finals of the two-million-dollar WTA Tour Chase Championships yesterday.

Thefifth-seeded French player won 6-7 (3/7) 7-6 (7/5) 6-0. Barbara Schett of Austria posted a 6-1 6-4 victory over Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario.

Enqvist sparkles
STOCKHOLM: Swede Thomas Enqvist beat veteran compatriot Magnus Gustafsson 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 in just under 90 minutes for his third titleof 1999, the Stockholm Open.