Top-seeded Roddick beats Muller Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Top-seeded Andy Roddick successfully opened his bid for a second straight tournament victory, beating qualifier Gilles Muller 6-4, 7-6 (4) on Wednesday night in the first round of the RMK Championships.
Roddick, coming off a victory Sunday in San Jose, Calif., overcame the hard-serving Muller's 18 aces. At one point in the second set, Muller had five straight aces.
"He was serving up a storm," Roddick said. "I was lucky to get through."
Roddick will face former high school teammate Mardy Fish in the second round. Last week in the San Jose quarterfinals, Roddick needed three sets to beat Fish.
While Roddick advanced, two-time defending champion Tommy Haas was upset by German Davis Cup teammate Benjamin Becker, 3-6, 6-2, 7-5, in a second-round match.
The third-seeded Haas had eight double faults, seven in the second and third sets.
"I played a solid first set, overall," Haas said. "At the beginning of the second set I started to make a few too many unforced errors. I kind of lost my form a bit and a little of my confidence.
"He got a break by me making a few too many unforced errors and then he started picking his game up and serving better and playing really aggressive. He didn't give me much of (an opportunity) to play my game. And at the end it just came down to a few points here and there."
In other second-round matches, fourth-seeded Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic, the losing finalist in San Jose, beat France's Florent Serra 7-6 (6), 2-6, 7-5; and Belgium's Steve Darcis edged seventh-seeded Jurgen Melzer of Austria, 6-3, 7-6 (4).
In first-round play, eighth-seeded Robin Soderling beat Canada's Frederic Niemeyer 6-2, 6-1.
In women's Cellular South Cup play, fourth-seeded Lindsay Davenport moved into the quarterfinals with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Russia's Evgeniya Rodina.
Defending champion Venus Williams and second-seeded Tatiana Golovin were knocked out of the WTA event in the first round Tuesday.
Davenport will face sixth-seeded Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark, a 6-2, 6-4 winner over Portugal's Michelle Larcher.
"It's impossible not to see (the top-seeded) players who have lost," Davenport said. "But the next person I play is a very good player. I can't afford to look ahead."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
posted by Brandon Schenz @ 11:46 PM,
,
Clijsters gives birth to daughter
Former U.S. Open champion Kim Clijsters gave birth to a daughter Wednesday, nine months after retiring from tennis.
Clijsters and her husband, American basketball player Brian Lynch, named the baby Jada.
"The parents and the baby are in great shape," spokesman Jeroen Jespers said.
The 24-year-old Clijsters retired in May, saying a string of injuries had led to fatigue, a lack of motivation and a decline in play. She said she wanted to focus on a new life with Lynch, who plays in the Belgian league.
Clijsters was Belgium's first tennis player to reach the No. 1 ranking, holding it for 19 weeks in 2003.
She won her only Grand Slam title at the 2005 U.S. Open, but Clijsters also won the 2002 and 2003 WTA Championships as part of her 34 career singles titles.
According to Clijsters' Web site, the baby, born at a hospital in Tongeren, weighed 6.69 pounds.
|
|
|
|
posted by Brandon Schenz @ 12:57 PM,
,
MidwestTennis.net is Gearing up for Spring Tuesday, February 19, 2008
MidwestTennis.net |
02/19/2008 | |
|
|
||
|
|
||
Wilson KSixOne Tour 90 K Factor Tennis RacquetThe latest racquet used by Roger Federer, the Wilson KSixOne Tour 90 picks up where the Wilson nCode nSixOne Tour 90 left off. Wilson introduces the use of K Factor technology and continues to feature classic feel in the same tradition as the previous-generation nSixOne Tour 90, Hyper Pro Staff Tour 90 and Pro Staff Kevlar 85. 17mm flat beam and 90 square inch headsize provide the ultimate in feel and control for those players advanced enough to wield Federer's racquet of choice. What is [K] Factor? At Wilson's global launch of the [K] Factor product line in Las Vegas February 27-March 1, this next-generation technology was unveiled to Wilson dealers from 50 countries around the world. All [K] Factor racquets utilize Wilson's proprietary next-generation [K]arophite Black structure which adds additional bonds between the SiO2 and graphite molecules on a nanoscopic scale, resulting in more feel and a stronger, more stable racquet. Overall, there are 4 new key [K] Factor technology concepts found in various configurations depending on the [K] Factor model:
The Wilson KSixOne Tour utilizes [K]arophite Black and [K]ompact Center technologies to provide the ultimate in feel and [K]ontrol. |
|
|
|
|
||
Visit the Liquidation section of our site anytime for the best deals in tennis!Feel free to forward this message to family and friends! |
||
![Wilson [K] Pro Tour Six Tennis Bag](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/21G1F92xrZL._AA160_.jpg)
posted by Brandon Schenz @ 4:48 PM,
,
USA starts title defense with 4-1 victory over Austria Sunday, February 10, 2008
The United States started the defense of its Davis Cup title with a 4-1 first-round win over Austria.
The teams split Sunday's reverse singles after the United States had already secured its quarterfinal spot by winning Saturday's doubles.
American team captain Patrick McEnroe rested Andy Roddick and James Blake and let doubles pair Bob and Mike Bryan play the meaningless reverse singles.
Mike Bryan withdrew with a left hamstring injury in the second set against Stefan Koubek, giving Austria its only point. Bob Bryan posted a 6-0, 3-6, 7-6 (7-3) victory over Werner Eschauer, who substituted for Jurgen Melzer.
The Americans will host France, which beat Romania in the first round, on April 11-13 for a place in the semifinals.
Austria lost its opening tie in the World Group for a fifth straight year and will enter the playoff round in September.
Koubek led 7-5, 1-0 when Mike Bryan retired. The American doubles specialist was playing his first Davis Cup singles match.
Eschauer had 12 unforced errors while losing the first set in just over 20 minutes. The 58th-ranked Austrian converted his first break point at 2-2 in the second and broke Bob Bryan again at 5-3 to win the set.
Both players held serve in the final set until 5-5, when Bryan broke at love. He then failed to convert two match points on his serve before Eschauer broke back, but the American took a 6-1 lead in the tiebreaker and converted his fifth match point.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
posted by Brandon Schenz @ 3:13 PM,
,
Sharapova's win gives Russia 1-1 tie with Israel Saturday, February 02, 2008
Maria Sharapova won her Fed Cup debut match and defending champion Russia split with Israel in their opening singles, while Spain and China took 2-0 leads in the first round.
Sharapova defeated Tzipi Obziler 6-0, 6-4, and Israel's Shahar Peer rallied to defeat Dinara Safina 0-6, 6-2, 6-2.
Nuria Llagostera Vives of Spain upset Francesca Schiavone of Italy 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-2, and Anabel Medina Garrigues followed with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Flavia Pennetta in Naples, Italy. That puts the 2006 champion and last year's runner-up on the verge of elimination heading into Sunday's competition.
In Beijing, Li Na defeated Alize Cornet of France 6-3, 6-1 and Peng Shuai outlasted Virginie Razzano 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 to put China within one victory of its first appearance in the Fed Cup semifinals.
Sharapova led 5-1 in the second set after sweeping the first before Obziler won three straight games with the support of the 6,000-capacity crowd at Ramat Hasharon Tennis Center.
At one point, the crowd began imitating Sharapova's grunts each time she hit the ball.
"I don't mind it," Sharapova said. "It brings out the best in me. I love the atmosphere, the crowd and their craziness. It is what we live for. I got really anxious and excited as I was close to finishing my first Fed Cup match."
The 16th-ranked Safina broke in the opening game and won the first set in 25 minutes.
Peer, ranked No. 17, dropped serve to start the second set, but won four straight games to win it. She was broken in the opening game for the third time before winning six games in a row to close out the match.
Peer called it the best comeback of her career.
"Every point that I won, I felt the crowd and it helped me, and I think it also affected her," Peer said.
The reverse singles Sunday will be followed by the doubles. Anna Chakvetadze might replace Safina in the second reverse singles match against Obziler.
In her win against Cornet, Li fell behind 2-0 but rallied to win the set. In the second, set she took a 4-0 lead and was never challenged.
After splitting the first two sets, Peng broke to lead 5-4 in the third and held to close out Razzano.
"I was a little bit nervous when I was down in the first set," Peng said. "I could hear a lot of fans and my team and coach supporting me ... I am really happy. We're up 2-0 and we have a chance to make the next round."
In World Group II play, Ukraine and Belgium, Japan and Croatia, the Czech and Slovak Republics and Argentina and Austria all split their opening singles.
|
|
|
|
posted by Brandon Schenz @ 8:34 PM,
,
