Bhupathi, Ghouse for Vietnam Futures

Indian doubles ace Mahesh Bhupathi has been awarded a wildcard for the $10,000 ITF F1 Futures tennis tournament in Ha Noi, Vietnam.

Bhupathi will face Robert Krause of South Africa in the first round, at the Sao Mai-Tay Ho tennis club in Ha Noi. He had defeated the South African in the second round of the Pattaya Futures recently.

Another Indian, Mustafa Ghouse will face fifth seed Benjamin Cassaigne of France in the first round.

Ghouse qualified for the main draw, defeating local lad Phu-Quy Huynh 5-7, 6-0, 6-4 in the final of the qualifier.

In doubles, Mustafa Ghouse, pairing with Matthieu Amgwerd of Switzerland, will face Robert Cheyne of New Zealand and Simon Shen of Taiwan in the first round.

Aisam Qureshi of Pakistan is the top seed and will face wildcard Huynh Chi Khuong of Taiwan in the first round. Last week Qureshi had won the Bangkok University Open Futures in Thailand, defeating fifth seed Yeu-Tzuoo Wang of Taiwan.

In another tournament, Rohan Bopanna will face Jurek Stasiak of Australia in the first round at the Berri Australian Unity International F5 Futures event, being played at Berri, Australia.

The Indian, ranked 643 on the ATP rankings, had lost in the second round of the Bangkok University Open Futures in Thailand, last week.

In the doubles qualifying event at Berri, top seeds Bopanna and Ron Rugimbana of Tanzania lost to wildcard Australians Adam Feeney and Mark Van Elden 6-7(5), 4-6 in the first round.

Meanwhile, Manisha Malhotra lost in the finals of the quailfiers at the $25,000 Nuriootpa Australian Unity International event being played at Nurioopta, South Australia.

Second seeded Manisha defeated Joulia Vorobieva of Russia 6-3, 6-3 in first round, defeated Debby Haak of the Netherlands 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 in second before falling off to Stephanie Weis of Germany 4-6, 3-6 in the third.

In the doubles, Manisha and Leanne Baker of New Zealand are seeded third and will face Yulia Beygelzimer of Ukraine and Anouk Sterk of the Netherlands in the first round.