Stuttgart: Top-seeded Maria Sharapova got through another tough test in outlasting Ana Ivanovic 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 on Friday to advance to the semi-finals of the Porsche Grand Prix. Sharapova, the defending champion, needed more than 3 hours to overcome Lucie Safarova a day earlier. This one was an hour shorter but perhaps just as intense. "It was hard to get my body going, I needed some time to warm up...
08:47 AM, Apr 27, 2013
Barcelona: Rafael Nadal may have to play two matches at the Barcelona Open on Friday after his third round clash against Frenchman Benoit Paire was postponed by rain on Thursday. The world number five and second seed, gunning for an eighth Barcelona title, will face Paire on Friday with either sixth seed Kei Nishikori or Albert Ramos waiting in the next round should Nadal avoid an upset. Third seed Tomas...
08:38 AM, Apr 26, 2013
Barcelona: Nicolas Almagro and Juan Monaco both managed third-round wins at the Barcelona Open on Thursday before rain forced the postponement of matches. The two will meet in the quarter-finals after Almagro defeated fellow Spaniard Marcel Granollers 6-3, 6-4 on the outdoor red clay. Monaco outlasted Frenchman Jeremy Chardy in a long second-set tiebreaker to win 6-0, 7-6 (11). The rain bumped Rafael Nadal's match against Benoit Paire to Friday....
12:32 AM, Apr 26, 2013
Barcelona: Top seed David Ferrer summed up his error-strewn defeat by qualifier Dmitry Tursunov as "one of the worst I have played" after falling at the first hurdle at the Barcelona Open on Wednesday. The Spaniard lost 7-5 3-6 6-1 to the Russian but seven-time champion Rafa Nadal eased past Carlos Berlocq 6-4 6-2. Four-time finalist Ferrer had pulled out of the Monte Carlo Masters event last week with a...
09:48 PM, Apr 24, 2013
Barcelona: Carlos Berlocq of Argentina set up a second-round match against defending champion Rafael Nadal at the Barcelona Open by defeating Daniel Gimeno-Traver of Spain 7-5, 6-4 on Tuesday. Nadal last played Berlocq at the Brasil Open and rallied to win 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the quarterfinals. Berlocq says Nadal appears to be in better physical condition now than in February, saying "he is in an awesome shape." Nadal is...
03:14 AM, Apr 24, 2013
London: An army of groundsmen carried out the time-honoured ritual of preparing the All England Club lawns in readiness for the Wimbledon championships on a sunny spring day on Tuesday as plans to take the home of tennis into the future were revealed. Almost unrecognisable from the rambling grounds so familiar with visiting fans in the 1980s and 90s after more than a decade of modernisation, club chiefs unveiled a...
08:43 PM, Apr 23, 2013
London: Wimbledon is increasing prize money by 40 percent this year and plans to build a retractable roof over Court No. 1. Total prize money for the Grand Slam event will be 22.6 million pounds ($34.4 million), an increase of 6.5 million pounds ($9.9 million) from last year, the All England Club said on Tuesday. The club called it the largest single increase and biggest total prize fund in the...
06:07 PM, Apr 23, 2013
Roberta Vinci sent Italy into the Fed Cup final for the fifth time in eight years with a 6-2, 6-7, 6-3 victory over Czech Republic's Lucie Safarova in Palermo on Monday. The match was held over because of rain on Sunday. Vinci's triumph gave Italy, winners of the trophy in 2009 and 2010, an unassailable 3-1 lead over the twice defending champions, meaning the doubles was not played. Russia await...
12:21 AM, Apr 23, 2013
Florida: Venus Williams needed eight match points in the final game to beat Johanna Larsson 6-3, 7-5 and give the U.S. an insurmountable 3-1 lead against Sweden in the Fed Cup World Group Playoff. It marked the first time that the 21st ranked Venus Williams, a former No. 1, has clinched a Fed Cup tie for the United States. Earlier Sunday, No. 1-ranked Serena Williams boosted the U.S. to a...
09:17 AM, Apr 22, 2013
Stuttgart: Germany came from behind to beat Serbia 3-2 in their Fed Cup playoff Sunday and qualify for next season's top-tier World group competition. Sabine Lisicki and Anna-Lena Groenefeld clinched the best-of-five series by winning the decisive doubles 6-2, 6-4 against Vesna Dolonc and Aleksandra Krunic. Mona Barthel began the comeback by defeating Bojana Jovanovski to pull Germany level at 2-2. Barthel had to win to keep Germany in the...
12:54 AM, Apr 22, 2013
Palermo: The Czech Republic's Petra Kvitova rallied to beat seventh-ranked Sara Errani 2-6, 6-2, 6-0 Sunday after a five-hour rain delay and cut Italy's lead to 2-1 in the Fed Cup semifinals. The eighth-ranked Kvitova won the final 11 games of the rainy match, overwhelming Errani with her attacking game. Kvitova, who has led the Czechs to the Fed Cup title the past two years, held a 26-6 edge in...
12:46 AM, Apr 22, 2013
Florida: Serena Williams evened the United States' Fed Cup World Group playoff match against Sweden, waiting out a long rain delay to beat Johanna Larsson 6-2, 6-2 on Saturday night. In the opening match, Sweden's Sofia Arvidsson beat Sloane Stephens 6-4, 4-6, 6-1. The top-ranked Williams finished off the 66th-ranked Larsson in 66 minutes under the lights. "I've been through many rain delays so I know what to do," Williams...
08:31 AM, Apr 21, 2013
Moscow: Dominika Cibulkova rallied to beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 5-7, 6-1, 6-4 in the opening singles on Saturday to give Slovakia a 1-0 lead over Russia in the Fed Cup World Group semifinals. Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia was scheduled to play Maria Kirilenko in the second singles match on indoor clay at Krylatskoye Ice Stadium. Pavlyuchenko broke decisively in the 11th game to take the first set. Cibulkova led 4-0 to...
08:50 PM, Apr 20, 2013
Delray Beach: American Sloane Stephens, ranked 16th, will open the Fed Cup World Group Playoff tie against 54th-ranked Sophia Arvidsson of Sweden at the Delray Beach Tennis Center on Saturday. The second match on Saturday features world No. 1 Serena Williams of the US against 66th-ranked Johanna Larsson of Sweden. On Sunday, Serena Williams will play the first match against Arvidsson, followed by Stephens taking on Larsson. The final match...
11:36 PM, Apr 19, 2013
Monte Carlo: Jurgen Melzer and Leander Paes lost their men's doubles quarterfinal clash against the top seeds Bob and Mike Bryan here at the Monte Carlo Masters on Friday. The Bryan brothers won 4-6, 6-3, 10-5 in one hour and 13 minutes to proceed to the semifinals of the 1000-point ATP clay court tournament. The Indo-Austrian pair broke the top seeds twice in as many chances they got to get...
09:55 PM, Apr 19, 2013
Monte Carlo: Rafael Nadal was pushed all the way by Grigor Dimitrov before winning his 45th straight match at the Monte Carlo Masters, reaching the semifinals with a 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 victory and staying on course for a rematch of last year's final against Novak Djokovic. The top-ranked Djokovic had less of a struggle against Jarkko Nieminen, beating the Finnish veteran 6-4, 6-3 and getting through another test on his...
08:18 PM, Apr 19, 2013
Palermo: Roberta Vinci will face Petra Kvitova on the opening day of the Fed Cup semi-finals between Italy and the two-time defending champion Czech Republic. Vinci beat former Wimbledon champion Kvitova in straight sets in Poland last weekend to move up to a career-high ranking of No. 12. The semifinal opens Saturday with seventh-ranked Sara Errani facing the 25th-ranked Lucie Safarova. After reverse singles on Sunday on the red clay...
06:22 PM, Apr 19, 2013
Moscow: Slovakia chose the experienced Daniela Hantuchova over the higher-ranked Magdalena Rybarikova to back up Dominika Cibulkova against Russia in their Fed Cup semi-final this weekend. Cibulkova will open against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, followed by Hantuchova playing Maria Kirilenko in the second singles on indoor clay at Krylatskoye Ice Stadium. Rybarikova was picked in Friday's draw in doubles, which concludes the semi on Sunday. She and Jana Cepelova will face Russia's...
06:14 PM, Apr 19, 2013
Moscow: Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova will face Slovakia's Dominika Cibulkova in the opening singles of their Fed Cup semi-final on Saturday. Maria Kirilenko was nominated to play Slovak veteran Daniela Hantuchova in the second singles on indoor clay at Krylatskoye Ice Stadium In doubles, which concludes the semi on Sunday, Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina will face the Slovak pair of Magdalena Rybarikova and Jana Cepelova. Russia beat Slovakia 3-2 in...
04:47 PM, Apr 19, 2013
