Tim Henman, the UK's former world No. 4, began the battle to save his career with a 7-5, 6-3 win over French qualifier Antony Dupuis to reach the second round of the BA-CA Trophy in Vienna on Monday.
It was Henman's first match since losing in the first round of the US Open six weeks ago and only his second win since Wimbledon -- an injury-ruined phase which brought speculation that the 31-year-old's touring days might be nearing their end.
"I've been working very hard back home but when you come on to court that's the next level so I'm really pleased with the way I played," said Henman, who was the champion here five years ago.
PHOTO: AP
Dupuis made the first set a good contest by holding serve five times and hitting some beefy forehands, but just when he seemed about to force it to a tie-break, he cracked.
At 30-love up in the eleventh game, his serve was punished by a penetrating forehand return. Dupuis then played two indifferent points to go 30-40 down, and on the set point served a double fault.
Although Henman dropped serve in the opening game of the second set -- which was interrupted by music in the middle of a rally -- it spurred him to his best tennis of the match.
Earlier Jiri Novak, the former top-10 Czech who was one of the potential danger men in the same quarter, was unexpectedly beaten by a local wild-card player, Oliver Marach.
Later the defending champion Feliciano Lopez came through a difficult test, the eighth-seeded Spaniard surviving three sets and a partisan home crowd to beat Alexander Peya, the wild-card Austrian entry, by 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.
Kremlin Cup
Patty Schnyder of Switzerland, fifth seed of the women's section of the joint ATP and WTA Kremlin Cup event, battled back from a set down to oust Russia's Anna Chakvetadze on her way to the second round in Moscow on Monday.
Schnyder won 2-6, 6-2, 7-5 in one hour 58 minutes to beat the local favorite in their first ever meeting.
In the ATP section fourth-seed doubles specialist Max Mirnyi of Belarus booked a second-round berth following a straight-set win over Russia's Yevgeny Kirillov, who appeared in the main draw courtesy of a wild card.
Stockholm Open
Thailand's Paradorn Srichaphan stretched his late-season ranking rehabilitation into a third week on Monday, knocking eighth-seed Fernando Verdasco out of the first round of the Stockholm Open.
The Asian ace, trying desperately to polish his sagging No. 55 standing in the game after once being ranked ninth in the world, began a European run by following up a Bangkok semi-final and third round at Tokyo this month.
The top Asian said he's not putting on any pressure as he closes out his season this month before returning home to undergo a Thai ritual of living briefly as a monk, a once-in-a-lifetime tradition for young men in the kingdom.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB