Italian qualifier Andreas Seppi ended Lleyton Hewitt's unconquered 22-match run at the Sydney International with a fighting victory in the quarter-finals yesterday.
Hewitt was bidding for his fifth consecutive tournament victory in the lead-up event to the Australian Open and held two match points, but he could not fend off the tenacious 60th-ranked Seppi and stumbled 4-6, 7-5, 7-5.
Seppi will now play unseeded Russian Igor Andreev in today's semi-finals, with US eighth seed James Blake and Russian second seed Nikolay Davydenko meeting in the other semi.
The Australian world number four suffered a series of errors as he served for the third set, and a missed backhand volley and an over-hit forehand on match points ultimately cost him dearly.
"I just played too defensive when I got ahead," Hewitt said. "He played a lot better on my service game than his serve, I just didn't attack enough and didn't put enough pressure on him early on my serve. It really should have been finished off in straight sets."
Hewitt said he still was not feeling right after a stomach ailment struck him down in Monday's first-round win over the US' Vince Spadea.
Thailand's Paradorn Srichaphan yesterday pulled out of the tournament with injury, forsaking a quarter-final appearance in order to be fit for the Australian Open.
The 50th-ranked Paradorn made his decision shortly after coming off the court a 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (8/6) winner over Croatia's Ivo Karlovic.
Justine Henin-Hardenne yesterday stormed into the final of the Sydney International, overpowering former US Open champion Svetlana Kusnetsova in a scintillating performance. The Belgian fifth seed, who won here two years ago, was in the zone as she swept to a 6-3, 6-1 victory over the sixth-seeded Russian to set up a date in today's final with Italian Francesca Schiavone.
World number one Roger Federer yesterday promised to stop experimenting and play tournament tennis as he recovered from a rare loss to inflict a sixth straight defeat on Croatian Ivan Ljubicic.
The six-time Grand Slam champion missed his chance to play for a second consecutive Kooyong Classic title after his opening-day defeat to Tommy Haas.
But the Swiss, who lost only four matches last year and is runaway favorite for the season's first Grand Slam, bounced back to beat Ljubicic 6-4, 6-3 in the relegation round.
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
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but