Tennis - Crunch time on the courts

It is crunch time at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex as the tennis semifinals take place on Tuesday 12 December. All the remaining participants in the men's and women's singles, men's and women's doubles and mixed doubles are guaranteed a medal, but few will be thinking of bronze, with theIt is crunch time at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex as the tennis semifinals take place on Tuesday 12 December.

All the remaining participants in the men's and women's singles, men's and women's doubles and mixed doubles are guaranteed a medal, but few will be thinking of bronze, with the the glory of gold just two wins away.

In the men's singles, top seed Lee Hyung Taik from Korea is the man to beat. He hasn't lost a set so far and only Cecil Mamiit of the Philippines stands between him and a second consecutive Asian Games men's singles final. The other semi features Danai Udomchoke of Thailand and Go Soeda of Japan.

In the women's singles, all eyes will on the centre court clash between top see Li Na of China and crowd favourite Sania Mirza of India. Mirza, the no 4 seed will be hoping that her vast army of Indian supporters can inspire her to victory.

The other semi features the no 2 and no 3 seeds, Zheng Ji, China and Aiko Nakamura fropm Japan. India will also be looking to the men's doubles for another chance of success. Top seeds Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi are ranked 42 in the world, significantly higher than any other pair in the draw.

They will play the Filipino duo Mamit and Frederick Taino in the semifinals. The other tie features Jun Woong Sun and Korea's Kim Sun Young and Thai twins Sanchai and Sonchat Ratiwatana.

In the women's doubles, top seeds China's Zheng Jie and Yan Zi are hot favourites. Currently ranked No 7 in the world, they play Ryoko Fuda and Tomoko Yonemura from Japan in the semis. The other finalists will come from the clash between China's Sun Tiantian and Li Ting and Chan Yung Jan and Chuang Chia Jung from Chinese Taipei.

If the Indian fans thirst for action hasn't been quenched then it surely will be in the mixed doubles. Paes and Mirza will both return to action as they team up against China's Yu Xinyuan and Sun Tiantian in the day's final match. The other semi features Chinese Taipei's Lu Yen Hsun and Hsieh Su Wei against Satoshi Iwabuchi and Akiko Morigami of Japan.