Eastbourne Sania Mirza and Lizel Huber suffered an upset defeat at the hands of Monica Niculescu and Klara Zakopalova to crash out of WTA Aegon International, here on Wednesday.
The second seeded Indo-American pair had recovered well after losing the first set and had chances in the match tie-breaker but eventually lost 3-6 6-3 9-11 in one hour and 20 minutes to the Romanian-Czech combination.
It was second match in a row where Sania and Huber faced stiff competition from their rivals.
They will now play Wimbledon, where they have been seeded sixth....
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10:34 PM, Jun 19, 2013
Rosmalen: Simona Halep continued her strong recent form to humble top-seeded Roberta Vinci 6-0, 6-1 on Wednesday and advance to the quarterfinals of the Topshelf Open grass court tournament. Halep is looking to make it two titles in as many weeks after beating Andrea Petkovic 6-3, 6-3 to win the inaugural Nurnberger Versicherungscup on Saturday in Germany, the 21-year-old Romanian's first WTA title. Halep, ranked 45 in the world, had...
10:19 PM, Jun 19, 2013
Serena Williams says she's reaching out to the family of the victim in the Steubenville rape case after the tennis star was quoted in a Rolling Stone article saying "she shouldn't have put herself in that position." "I am currently reaching out to the girl's family to let her know that I am deeply sorry for what was written in the Rolling Stone article," Williams said in a statement released...
10:08 PM, Jun 19, 2013
London: Divij Sharan and Purav Raja will make their first ever appearance at a Grand Slam as the Indian duo on Wednesday qualified for the Wimbledon men's doubles event. Seeded fourth in the qualifying event, left-handed Divij and Purav received a walkover from their second round opponents, Andreas Haider-Maurer from Austria and Jiri Vesely of Czech Republic. The Indian representation has increased at the Wimbledon with Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi...
08:54 PM, Jun 19, 2013
London: Two-time Grand Slam winner Svetlana Kuznetsova has pulled out of Wimbledon because of an abdominal strain. The Russian was seeded No. 26 at the All England Club and her withdrawal has resulted in the 33rd-ranked Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic climbing into the seedings at No. 32. Kuznetsova won the US Open in 2004 and the French Open in 2009 but has never progressed further than the quarterfinals...
07:45 PM, Jun 19, 2013
New Delhi: The Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) is likely to appoint Germany's Peter Engel as the head coach of the national team. The position has been lying vacant since the 2012 London Olympics. Engel is currently in charge of the Spanish women's team and is expected to come to India in August. "I am really looking forward to come to India though I have not signed a contract...
07:29 PM, Jun 19, 2013
London: Veteran Indian tennis player Leander Paes, who turned 40 on June 17, has been seeded fourth with Czech partner Radek Stepanek in the men's doubles competition at Wimbledon which starts on Monday. Another veteran Mahesh Bhupathi with Austrian Julian Knowle has been seeded eighth while Rohan Bopanna, with Frenchman Edouard Roger-Vasselin, has been seeded 14th. In the women's doubles category, Sania Mirza has been seeded sixth with American partner...
07:24 PM, Jun 19, 2013
Eastbourne: Top-seeded Milos Raonic was beaten 6-2, 7-6 (7) by Croatia's Ivan Dodig in the second round at the Eastbourne grass-court tournament on Wednesday. The Canadian struggled from the start, dropping his serve in the opening game and then again to fall behind 5-2. He then failed to convert a break point as Dodig served for the set. The second set went with serve and Raonic failed to convert a...
06:13 PM, Jun 19, 2013
Eastbourne: Marion Bartoli of France has withdrawn from the Eastbourne grass-court tournament with a viral infection, giving No. 2-seeded Li Na of China a walkover into the quarter-finals. Bartoli, the 2011 champion, reached the second round with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Flavia Pennetta of Italy on Monday. Later on Wednesday, 2012 runner-up Angelique Kerber of Germany was paired against 2010 champion Elena Makarova of Russia and Czech Petra Kvitova...
04:20 PM, Jun 19, 2013
London: Rafael Nadal will be seeded No. 5 at Wimbledon, setting up the possibility of a quarter-final match against Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic or Andy Murray. The All England Club released the seedings on Wednesday for this year's championships, with the top five in the ATP rankings remaining in their positions. Djokovic is No. 1, followed by Murray, Federer, David Ferrer and Nadal. Nadal, who was sidelined for about seven...
04:14 PM, Jun 19, 2013
Watch tennis legend Roger Federer sport a fake moustache going incognito giving tips to an amateur tennis player. Federer in his fake moustache helps amateur tennis player at a club with the spin effect of a tennis racquet. After exchanging the racquet, Federer drives off in style. ...
01:31 PM, Jun 19, 2013
Eastbourne: Top-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska slumped to a 7-6 (2), 6-2 defeat by American qualifier Jamie Hampton in the first round at Eastbourne on Tuesday. Radwanska, who won the title in 2008, struggled throughout the match at the Wimbledon warm-up tournament. Although the Polish player leveled at 5-5 when Hampton served for the first set at 5-4 and then held a set point at 6-5, she was overwhelmed in the tiebreaker...
09:03 AM, Jun 19, 2013
London: Wimbledon's seeding committee should use its power to promote 11-times grand slam champion Rafa Nadal into the top four, according to three-times former champion John McEnroe. Speaking the day before the seeds are announced for the grasscourt slam which starts on Monday, the American said it would be "totally wrong" if Nadal had to play world number one Novak Djokovic, defending champion Roger Federer or home favourite Andy Murray...
08:38 AM, Jun 19, 2013
London: American Venus Williams has pulled out of this year's Wimbledon because of a back injury, the five-times singles champion said on Tuesday. The 33-year-old has not played since pulling out of the doubles at this year's French Open. "I will not be able to participate in Wimbledon," Williams wrote on her Facebook page. "I am extremely disappointed as I have always loved The Championships." Williams won her last Wimbledon...
08:21 AM, Jun 19, 2013
Eastbourne: Indo-American pairing Sania Mirza and Liezel Huber defeated Croatian-British duo of Darija Jurak and Heather Watson to enter the quarter-finals of the women's doubles event at the Aegon International here Tuesday. The second seeds were not in their elements but managed to win their first round tie 7-6(4), 7-6(3) in one hour and 36 minutes on the grass courts of Devonshire Park. Sania-Liezel had a shaky start as they...
08:49 PM, Jun 18, 2013
London: Steve Johnson of the United States joined Frenchman Nicolas Mahut as a wild card at Wimbledon. The 100th-ranked Johnson from Orange, Calif., will play in the singles at the grass-court Grand Slam tournament for the first time since becoming a full-time professional last summer. He won the ATP Challenger title at Nottingham last week to earn his wild card, which was announced Tuesday. Mahut, loser of the longest match...
06:41 PM, Jun 18, 2013
Rosmalen: French Open finalist David Ferrer lost his first-round match Tuesday at the Topshelf Open, a grass-court tournament held the week before Wimbledon. A single service break in the second set was enough for Xavier Malisse of Belgium to beat defending champion and top-seeded Ferrer in straight sets, 7-6 (3), 6-3. The 2011 champion Roberta Vinci had no such problems, brushing aside Kaia Kanepi 6-3, 6-3 in the first match...
06:35 PM, Jun 18, 2013
Eastbourne: Defending champion Tamira Paszek was forced to retire with a left thigh injury from her first-round match against 2009 champion Caroline Wozniacki at Eastbourne on Tuesday. Wozniacki was leading 6-2, 2-2 when Paszek was forced off. The Austrian, who was chasing her first win on the WTA tour since January, was broken at 3-2 and Denmark's Wozniacki then broke again to take the opening set. Paszek broke to lead...
05:22 PM, Jun 18, 2013
Eastbourne: Wimbledon can hold no fear for Agnieszka Radwanska this year, after she survived all the way to the final last July. Having got her maiden grand-slam final out of the way, conquering her nerves and taking eventual winner Serena Williams to three sets, the Polish world number four is feeling relaxed about returning to the All-England Club next week. "Everything around the final was a huge, huge thing and...
08:29 AM, Jun 18, 2013
London: An Indian is all set to be a part of this year's men's singles final at Wimbledon as Pinki Sonkar has been chosen to toss the coin ahead of the marquee match on July 7. Pinki will be representing New York-headquartered Smile Train, the world's largest cleft lip and palate non-profit organisation, which has been picked as the charity partner to perform the flip of the coin at the...
01:25 AM, Jun 18, 2013
