New Delhi: Somdev Devvarman and Sania Mirza will carry India's gold medal hopes in the tennis event of the Commonwealth Games as they progressed to the singles finals but star pair of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi bit the dust in a big upset here on Friday.
Out of 15 medals on offer, India are assured of three medals, including two silver.
India's overall medal tally can go up to a maximum of four medals which will be a disappointing show considering the tennis event got a depleted field due to the pullout of many star players.
Powerhouse Australia have dominated the debut year of the sport in the Games as their players will compete for gold medals in at least four of the five events.
Indian fans had hardly recovered from the shock defeat of Paes and Sania in the mixed doubles quarter-finals yesterday that top seeds Paes and Bhupathi on Friday joined the casualty list with a 2-6 2-6 defeat against Australia's Paul Hanley and Peter Luczak.
They will now play the bronze medal play-off against second seeds, Somdev and Rohan Bopanna, who went down fighting 6-3 3-6 4-6 against the British pair of Ross Hutchins and Ken Skupski in the other semifinal.
The two Indian pairs were expected to play for the gold medal, which would have ensured a 1-2 finish for hosts in men's doubles.
Early in the morning, Somdev and Sania ensured India will grab at least two silver medals.
Somdev, ranked 97th, outplayed third seed and Matthew Ebden 6-3 6-1 while second seed Sania had to overcome some demons of her own before prevailing 1-6 6-4 6-4 against Australia's sixth seed Olivia Rogowska.
Somdev will fight for the gold medal with Australia's fifth seed Greg Jones, who upset his compatriot and second seed Peter Luczak 6-7 6-4 6-2 in the other semifinal.
"It feels great. Matt's a great player. Once I got into groove, I made it tough for him. It's huge. Today was one of my bigger days. It's a guaranteed medal for the country. I'am very happy with this win," Somdev said.
Sania will lock horns with the winner of the second semifinal between Australian top seed Anastasia Rodionova and her comaptriot and fouth seed Sally Peers.
Watched by her husband Shoaib Malik and egged on by a boisterous 2000-strong home crowd, Sania erased an opening set deficit to pull off win after striving for one hour and 55 minutes at the Centre Court of the R K Khanna Tennis stadium.
There was little to separate the two players since both were erratic with their serves and hardly had control over their strokes as unforced errors outnumbered the winners.
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