BUCHAREST: India are raring to go for their weekend Davis Cup World Group play-off tie starting today after having defeated Uzbekistan and Japan to qualify.

Not since 2005 have the Indians - overall runners-up in 1966, 1974 and 1987 - reached the playoffs while they last contested the World Group in 1998.

Prakash Armitraj - 7-9 in Davis Cup career singles play - will go up against Victor Crivoi and Somdev Devvarman will face Gstaad tournament winner Victor Hanescu in the opening singles before experienced duo Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi take on Adrian Cruciat and Horia Tecau in tomorrow's doubles.

Rohan Bopanna partnered Bhupathi for what proved a crucial doubles success in the 3-2 win over over Uzbekistan - the same margin as over Japan - but Paes' experience will see him return to the fray.

In Sunday's return singles Amritraj, India's 222nd-ranked and son of former star Vijay Amritraj, will tackle Hanescu before 242nd-ranked Devvarman plays Crivoi.

Indian skipper Shiv Prakash Misra is confident his men have the tools to pull off a win. "The players have enough experience and I hope that will make the difference. You play better when you are representing your country and that's why I don't think we will have problems."

Special

Bhupathi concurs that playing for the nation is a special feeling.

"When you play for your country everything is different. I played (alongside Mark Knowles) against Tecau (who partnered Swiss Yves Allegro) at the US Open," he noted, a second-round match in which Bhupathi finished on the winning side.

Devvarman has acclimatised to Romania having made it through the qualifications at the ATP event in Bucharest before losing last week to Spain's Nicolas Almagro in the first round proper.

Three-times finalists Romania and India have met three times in the Davis Cup. India managed a 5-0 whitewash in 1922, but the Romanians then had the upper hand with a 4-0 win in 1969 on Romanian clay and then scored a 4-1 success in 1971 in New Delhi with Ilie Nastase and Ion Tiriac proving too strong for their rivals.

NUSA DUA, Indonesia (AP) — Flavia Pennetta of Italy reached the quarterfinals of the Bali Open, beating Anastasia Rodionova of Russia 6-3, 7-5 on Thursday.

Pennetta, seeded third, will next face Austrian Tamira Paszek, who upset seventh-seeded Italian Sara Errani 6-0, 7-6 (2) in the second round.

Flavia Pennetta hit out at Anastasia Rodionova after beating the unseeded Russian to advance to the quarter-finals of the Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic.

Pennetta, the third-seeded Italian, claimed a 6-3 7-5 over Rodionova, who squandered a 5-2 second-set lead while suffering from what appeared to be heat-related illness, for which she called for the trainer twice in the second set.

"For me, if you are like this on the court it is better that you go," Pennetta said. "If you have any problem and you cannot play, you cannot play. That's it. You go."

She added: "I was also very tired in the beginning of the second set. We made one unbelievable rally in the first game and I couldn't breathe and I was tired.

"But I didn't stop the match. A match like this is not good for the public. The last three or four games were very bad to watch, so if you have to play like this it's better you don't play."

Pennetta appeared to be moving toward an all-Italian quarter-final clash with Sara Errani, but her seventh-seeded compatriot was upset 6-0 7-6 (7/2) by Austria's Tamira Paszek in the second round.

Now instead of dealing with her 41st-ranked countrywoman, Pennetta simply needs to get past the world number 85 to book a place in the semi-finals.

The 16th-ranked Pennetta should not take anything for granted against her 17-year-old opponent, however, as she she needed to rally for a 2-6 6-1 6-4 triumph when the players met for the first time this July in Los Angeles.

Pennetta, 26, is one of three top-20 players at this event along with top-seeded Daniela Hantuchova and number two Patty Schnyder, who advanced to the round of eight Wednesday.

The runner-up to Lindsay Davenport here last season, Hantuchova is a potential semi-final opponent for Pennetta.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Leander Paes and Zimbabwe's Cara Black won the mixed doubles title at the U.S. Open on Thursday, beating Briton Jamie Murray and American Liezel Huber 7-6 6-4.

The fifth seeds saved two set points in the first-set tiebreak before breaking once in the second to clinch their first grand slam title together.

Black hit a crucial volley to save the first set point and Murray, who won the mixed doubles at Wimbledon in 2007 with Jelena Jankovic, netted a volley on the second.

Murray was the only man to lose his serve, in the fifth game of the second, and Paes served out for his eighth grand-slam title, while Black has now won seven, including three mixed.

Black and Huber will join up in the final of the women's doubles when they play American Lisa Raymond and Australian Sam Stosur, the 10th seeds.

Paes will be looking to win the men's doubles title when he and Czech Lukas Dlouhy, the seventh seeds, play American twins, Bob and Mike Bryan.

New York(PTI): Seventh seeds Leander Paes and his Czech partner Lukas Dlouhy advanced to the US Open men's doubles quarterfinals with a comfortable straight-set victory over South African Rik De Voest and Australia's Ashley Fisher here.

The Indo-Czech pair beat their rivals 6-3, 6-3 in a lopsided third round encounter.

Paes and Dlouhy will now take on the winners of the other third round match between the top seeded Canadian-Serb pair of Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic and Robert Lindstedt (Sweden) and Jarkko Niemein.

No. 7 seeds Lukas Dlouhy and Leander Paes (pictured) needed only 69 minutes to reach the US Open quarterfinals with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Rik De Voest and Ashley Fisher on Sunday.

Dlouhy and Paes, who first teamed up at Roland Garros in May when they reached the third round (l. to eventual champs Cuevas/Horna), improved their match record to 15-5 together. They also were finalists in Halle, semifinalists at Wimbledon and ATP Masters Series Toronto and quarterfinalists at ATP Masters Series Cincinnati. Their last three losses have come to World No. 1 Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic. They will meet again if Nestor/Zimonjic win their third round match on Monday (vs. Lindstedt/Nieminen).

Dlouhy and Paes converted three of six break points while saving two of three break points on their serve. In their previous two rounds, they prevailed in three sets.

In the only other third round match Sunday, unseeded Germans Christopher Kas and Philipp Petzschner surprised Czech Republic No. 11 seeds Martin Damm and Pavel Vizner 6-3, 7-6(6).

Kas and Petzschner, who are playing in only their third tournament together this season (ATP World Team Championship, Halle), advanced to their first Grand Slam quarterfinal as a duo. This is only their fourth Grand Slam tournament together (4-3 record).

Kas and Petzschner, who upset No. 5 seeds Jonas Bjorkman and Kevin Ullyett in the second round, won 65% of second serve points to the Czech's 39%. They converted two of eight break points while only losing serve once.

The Germans will take on the winner of Michal Mertinak/Lovro Zovko and No. 2 seeds Bob and Mike Bryan in the quarterfinals.

(source)