Paes-Damm race to 2nd spot, Sania one place up

New Delhi, Apr 2 (UNI) Leander Paes and his Czech mate Martin Damm's recent Indian Wells victory and runner-up finish at Miami saw the formidable duo race to the second spot while an injury-plagued Sania Mirza climbed one place to the 46th in the latest rankings released today.

The Paes-Damm pair lost a golden chance to become the new Stanford ATP Doubles race leaders after going down fighting to American siblings Bob and Mike Bryan in the Sony Ericsson Open final on Saturday.

The Bryan brothers have now displaced Max Mirnyi and Jonas Bjorkman at the top of the chart to the fourth spot.

Paes' estranged partner Mahesh Bhupathi and Czech's Radek Stepanek lies at 14th spot in the double's race.

However, Peas is one place below Damm at the eighth spot in the individual points table.

Sania's one spot climb has been the result of other players' non-performance as the Indian tennis sensation has been out of action after tearing a ligament in her right knee during her first match in the Qatar Open last month.

The 20-year-old Hyderabadi had pulled out of the tournament after her victory over Italy's Romina Oprandi in the first match.

Among the other Indians on the WTA Tour, Shikha Uberoi lies at 237th spot while Rushmi Chakravarthi and Ankita Bhambri is languishing in the 400 plus bracket.

In the Men's singles category, Rohan Bopanna is the highest placed Indian at 263rd spot followed by Harsh Mankad (333rd), Karan Rastogi (349th) and Prakash Amritraj (684th).

The Bryans are 6-8 lifetime in ATP Masters Series finals and they have reached the title match in all nine Masters Series tournaments.

Paes and Damm, the reigning US Open champions now have an impressive 20-5 win record for the year and 49-23 career record.

They have also captured ATP title this year in Rotterdam and finished runner-up in Doha.

UNI