Melbourne: Australian tennis authorities have rushed to ensure Bernard Tomic receives support ahead of the French Open after his father and coach was suspended from ATP events pending an investigation into allegations of assault. John Tomic was charged with assault after allegedly head-butting Bernard's hitting partner, Thomas Drouet, on Saturday outside a Madrid hotel. The case will be heard by a Spanish court on May 18 and the ATP on...
06:39 PM, May 08, 2013
Singapore: The WTA has signed a five-year deal to host its season-ending championship in Singapore starting in 2014. WTA chairman and chief executive Stacey Allaster said the top eight singles players and top eight women's doubles teams will compete for $6.5 million in prize money from next year, describing the deal with Singapore as a "record breaker" for "the WTA's crown-jewel season finale." The WTA announced the deal for 2014-18...
06:34 PM, May 08, 2013
Madrid: Novak Djokovic was dumped out of the Madrid Open in the second round on Tuesday when he went over on his ankle and incurred the wrath of the locals on the way to a shock 7-6 6-7 6-3 reverse to Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov. The world number one, who had a bye in the opening round, was already a break down to the unseeded 21-year-old in the second set when...
08:06 AM, May 08, 2013
Madrid: Roger Federer looked as sharp as ever in his first match following a two-month layoff as he beat Czech Radek Stepanek 6-3, 6-3 at the Madrid Open on Tuesday. The Swiss chose an eye-catching mint-green shirt for his first match since losing to Rafa Nadal at the Indian Wells Masters in March and secured a 12th victory over Stepanek in 14 meetings. The victory set up a possible third-round...
11:30 PM, May 07, 2013
New Delhi: Indian women team's coach Bhawani Mukherjee on Tuesday accused reigning national champion K Shamini of shirking away from taking on top players and has lodged a complaint with the TTFI about her "lackadaisical attitude." Mukherjee informed that Shamini on Tuesday refused to play against England in the team championship semi-final as she was pitted against higher-ranked players. "She (Shamini) said that "Sir, I am not comfortable playing Joanna...
11:25 PM, May 07, 2013
Madrid: World number one and defending champion Serena Williams continued her serene progress at the Madrid Open tennis when she eased past Spanish wild card Lourdes Dominguez Lino 6-2, 7-5 in the second round on Tuesday. Chasing a fourth title of the year and the 50th of her career, Williams had too much power for the slightly-built Dominguez Lino, who nonetheless managed to unsettle her illustrious opponent with some clever...
08:48 PM, May 07, 2013
Madrid: Fifth seeds Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sania Mirza advanced to the next round at the Mutua Madrid Open with a three-set win over Daniela Hantuchova and Anabel Medina Garrigues. The Indo-American pair have been in terrific form this year, winning Premier-level titles in Brisbane and Dubai and finishing runners-up in Stuttgart. The duo were down a break in the first set at 4-3, 5-4 and 6-5 yet broke serve each...
07:36 PM, May 07, 2013
New Delhi: Indian men paddlers entered the finals of the team championship event after beating England, while the women went down fighting against the same opponents in their semi-final encounter at the 19th Commonwealth Championship here Tuesday. Even as men prevailed 3-2, the women's team lost 2-3 to settle for a bronze medal. Indian men will now take on mighty Singapore, who defeated Malaysia 3-0, in the finals Wednesday. The...
06:15 PM, May 07, 2013
Madrid: Milos Raonic said he needed to iron out "crucial mistakes" after the Canadian 12th seed squeaked past former world number three Nikolay Davydenko 7-5, 7-6 in the opening round of the Madrid Open on Monday. Raonic, at 22 almost 10 years younger than his unseeded Russian opponent, managed one break of the Davydenko serve to secure the first set and edged the second-set tiebreak 7-5 to set up a...
11:59 AM, May 07, 2013
Madrid: Maria Sharapova rallied from a break down in the first set to beat Alexandra Dulgheru of Romania 7-5, 6-2 on Monday and reach the second round of the Madrid Open. The second-seeded Russian said she was still adjusting to changing weather conditions in Madrid and "the altitude as well" after winning the title in Stuttgart last weekend. "It was a tough match," Sharapova said. "I was really happy that...
11:24 AM, May 07, 2013
New Delhi: Indian paddlers continued to impress as both men's and women's teams assured themselves of at least two bronze medals by progressing to the semi-finals of the 19th Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships, here on Monday. Both teams have common rival in England in their respective semi-finals, to be played on Tuesday. Men paddlers topped their group by winning all the three matches while women finished second behind Singapore. Women...
10:16 PM, May 06, 2013
New Delhi: Indian women paddlers put up a brave fight before going down 1-3 to Singapore in a league match of the second stage at the 19th Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships, here on Monday. However, India made a positive start to their campaign overwhelming Scotland 3-0 in the opening match of the day. The eves will now take on Wales to seal a spot in the last four round. Against...
07:20 PM, May 06, 2013
New Delhi: Indian paddlers made a fine start at the Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships topping their respective groups in Stage I on Sunday. The men's team, led by Sharath Kamal, first saw off Australia 3-1 and then blanked South Africa in Group B matches played at the Thyagaraj Stadium. The women too had it easy in Group C, beating Sri Lanka and Canada with an identical 3-0 margin. They got...
08:54 AM, May 06, 2013
Munich: Tommy Haas won the BMW Open for the first time in his 10th attempt. The third-seeded Haas beat defending champion Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-3, 7-6 (3) on Sunday to win the first all-German final in Munich in 48 years. The 35-year-old Haas capped an impressive week by beating Kohlschreiber in 83 minutes for his 14th ATP Tour title and his fourth on home soil. He is the first 35-year-old to...
11:08 PM, May 05, 2013
Madrid: Top-ranked Serena Williams won her opening match on the red clay of the Madrid Open on Sunday. She and other stars are glad the tournament returned to the traditional surface after its trial with blue "Smurf" clay flopped last year. After dispatching Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan 7-6 (5), 6-1, the defending champion said she liked the new courts at the Caja Magica. "I think these clay courts are really...
11:01 PM, May 05, 2013
Oeiras: Stanislas Wawrinka won the Portugal Open by beating top-seeded David Ferrer 6-1, 6-4 in Sunday's final. The second-seeded Wawrinka, who is from Switzerland, broke Ferrer's serve three times while not giving up one break point to finish the lopsided match in 1 hour, 5 minutes. It was Wawrinka's fourth career title and first this year. ...
10:53 PM, May 05, 2013
Madrid: Seventh-seeded Sara Errani advanced to the second round of the Madrid Open, beating Urszula Radwanska of Poland, 6-3, 6-1 on Saturday. The Italian will face either Sorana Cirstea or Ayumi Morita. Also, Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia defeated Sloane Stephens of the USA 6-3, 7-5, Germany's Julia Goerges downed Serbia's Bojana Jovanovski 6-4, 6-1,and Lourdes Dominguez-Lino of Spain beat Simona Halep of Romania 6-2, 4-6, 6-4. Alize Cornet, Sabine Lisicki,...
10:58 AM, May 05, 2013
London: Tennis great Chris Evert has hit out at her former fiance Jimmy Connors for hinting that their relationship ended in the 1970s after she had an abortion against his wishes. "In his book, Jimmy Connors has written about a time in our relationship that was very personal and emotionally painful," Evert said in a statement released on Saturday through her agent Lawrence Frankopan at StarWing Sports. "I am extremely...
10:07 AM, May 05, 2013
Munich: Tommy Haas will play defending champion Philipp Kohlschreiber in an all-German final at the BMW Open on Sunday. The third-seeded Haas defeated Ivan Dodig of Croatia 6-4, 6-3 on Saturday, while Kohlschreiber edged compatriot Daniel Brands 6-7 (4), 6-3, 7-6 (5) to set up the first all-German title match in Munich in 48 years. The 35-year-old Haas, who reached the 2000 final and hopes to win the title for...
11:10 PM, May 04, 2013
Oeiras: Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova beat Spain's Carla Suarez 7-5, 6-2 to win the Portugal Open on Saturday. The 21-year-old Russian saved six of seven break points and overcame five double faults to win her fifth career title and second of the year. Later Saturday, top-seeded David Ferrer plays Andreas Seppi in the semifinals, while Stanislas Wawrinka faces Pablo Carreno-Busta. ...
08:15 PM, May 04, 2013
