Martina Hingis drew French Open champion Justine Henin-Hardenne yesterday for a first-round match in the Sydney International, the Swiss star's biggest test in her comeback attempt from chronic foot problems.
Hingis, sidelined for three years, is using the Sydney tournament as her final tuneup for the Australian Open, which begins Jan. 16 in Melbourne. She won the Australian Open three consecutive years from 1997 to 1999.
The fifth-seeded Henin-Hardenne, the 2004 Australian Open winner, is coming off a hamstring problem that derailed her last season after her win at Roland Garros.
PHOTO: AP
The 25-year-old Hingis won three matches in the Australian women's hardcourt championships before falling to Italy's Flavia Pennetta in the semifinals Friday.
The top four seeds -- No. 1 Kim Clijsters, No. 2 Amelsie Mauresmo, No. 3 Patty Schnyder and No. 4 Nadia Petrova -- received first-round byes. Australian star Lleyton Hewitt, a four-time Sydney winner, is the top seed in the men's event.
Also Saturday, former US Open and Wimbledon finalist Mark Philippoussis received a wild-card berth into the Australian Open. The 29-year-old Philippoussis reached the second round of the Adelaide International this week.
On Saturday in Gold Coast, Czech left-hander Lucie Safarova won her third WTA Tour title, beating Pennetta 6-3, 6-4 in the Australian women's hardcourt.
The 18-year-old Safarova beat three seeded players en route to the title -- two-time Gold Coast winner Ai Sugiyama of Japan, defending champion and No. 7 Schnyder and third-seeded Dinara Safina of Russia.
"The tennis now is about power and it's very fast," Safarova said. "I always play like that. I never wanted to just run and put the balls back."
In Auckland, New Zealand, France's Marion Bartoli won her first WTA singles title Saturday, beating Russia's Vera Zvonareva 6-2, 6-2 in the ASB Women's Classic.
"It feels awesome," Bartoli said. "When I came here from Geneva after 24 hours of flying I was so tired I felt it would be hard to put one foot in front of the other."
Also Saturday in the Adelaide International semifinals, France's Florent Serra beat second-seeded Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia 6-3, 6-3, and Belgium's Xavier Malisse defeated sixth-seeded Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-0.
On Friday in Doha, Qatar, defending champion Roger Federer beat Germany's Tommy Haas 6-3, 6-3 in the semifinals of the Qatar Open.
The top-ranked Swiss player will face former French junior star Gael Monfils, a 6-3, 6-4 winner over Italy's Filippo Volandri.
"Obviously, he's one of the rising players and will be fired up for the big occasion," Federer said.
Monfils won his first ATP Tour title in Poland in August.
"Roger is such a great player and I can't say how excited I am to be playing the final against him," Monfils said.
On Friday in Perth, Australia, Lisa Raymond and Taylor Dent won the deciding mixed doubles against the Netherlands to give the US the Hopman Cup title.
Raymond and Dent beat Michaella Krajicek and Peter Wessels 4-6, 6-2 and 10-7 in the match tiebreaker. In singles, Krajicek beat Raymond 6-4, 7-6 (4), and Dent evened the match with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Wessels.
In Madras, India, Belguim's Kristof Vliegen upset fourth-seeded Paradorn Srichaphan of Thailand 6-1, 6-2 on Friday to reach the Chennai Open semifinals.
Vliegen will face top-seeded Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia, a 6-1, 6-3 winner over Gilles Muller of Luxembourg 6-1, 6-3. Czech Radek Stepanek beat France's Thierry Ascione 6-3, 6-4, and third-seeded Carlos Moya of Spain edged No. 7 Bjorn Phau of Germany 6-4, 4-6, 6-1.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was