Out-of-form French No. 1 Richard Gasquet admits Roland Garros may come too soon for him after he was the biggest casualty of the Hamburg Masters Series on Tuesday.
Having been runner-up in 2005, Gasquet’s poor run this year continued as the world No. 9 made a second round exit at the hands of Italy’s Andreas Seppi, going down 6-3, 6-2 in just 71 minutes.
The Frenchman, seeded eighth, became the only seed to fall on Tuesday.
PHOTO: AP
“I am really disappointed, I wasn’t in the game and I didn’t play at all well,” said a glum Gasquet with Roland Garros set to start in less than a fortnight.
“I am not confident at all for Roland Garros, but you can never say never, I will try to do my best there, of course,” he said. “I am not carrying any injuries, but I am just so tired.”
“This year is totally different to 2005, then I was playing well, I was confident and I did well at Monte Carlo before I came here. Now I just need to get some rest and try to recover,” Gasquet said.
Neither the fourth-seed Nikolay Davydenko nor fifth-seed David Ferrer wasted any time booking their places in the third round after comfortable wins.
Ferrer had few problems as the Spaniard claimed a routine victory with a 6-3, 6-3 win in just 76 minutes against Ivo Minar from the Czech Republic.
Davydenko, who by his own admission is never comfortable on clay, took slightly longer but still needed only 85 minutes to secure his 6-4, 6-1 win over Ivan Ljubicic from Croatia.
Davydenko is bidding to repeat March’s Masters Series win in Miami when he beat world No. 2 Rafael Nadal in the final and enjoyed his first victory over Ljubicic since 2004 in Monte Carlo.
“It’s always difficult to play your first match of a tournament, it doesn’t matter how confident you feel,” said Davydenko, who is ranked fourth in the world.
“I didn’t play well in Rome last week when I lost to Tommy Robredo [in the third round] and I want to do well here in preparation for Roland Garros,” he said.
Earlier, Spain’s Carlos Moya reached the second round with a hard-fought three set win over France’s Julien Benneteau.
Eleventh-seed Moya, who won his only Grand Slam title at Roland Garros in 1998, said he was pleased to get a win under his belt after struggling recently.
Despite losing the first set he went on to claim a 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (9/7) victory.
“The last couple of tournaments have been tough for me,” Moya said. “Every match had felt like torture for me, so although the first set didn’t go well, I came back into it and had a good win.”
And compatriot Fernando Verdasco booked his place in the third round with a straight sets win over France’s Michael Llodra 6-2, 6-0.
Germany’s No. 1 Philipp Kohlschreiber fell by the wayside when he lost to Spain’s Tommy Robredo 2-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-3 despite breaking the 13th seed twice on his way to taking the first set.
But after losing the second set tie-breaker, Kohlschreiber had few answers as Robredo served out the third set.
■ AZARENKA WINS
AP, ROME
Unseeded teenager Victoria Azarenka routed 19th-seeded Sybille Bammer 6-1, 6-3 in the first round of the Italian Open on Tuesday before play was suspended due to rain.
The highly touted Azarenka continued her strong form from the last two weeks, when she lost to eventual champion Dinara Safina at the German Open and posted a runner-up finish at the Prague Open.
She is ranked a career-high 19th this week, but had to ask for a wild card because she decided late to enter the tournament.
Azarenka, an 18-year-old who is from Belarus but resides in Arizona, improved to 19-9 this year.
The 22nd-ranked Bammer was granted a seed when Safina withdrew due to a back injury.
Also, Italian wild card Roberta Vinci held off Estonian Kaia Kenepi 6-4, 4-6, 6-0; Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia defeated Gisela Dulko of Argentina 7-6 (1), 6-4; and Tsvetana Pironkova eliminated Klara Zakopalova 6-4, 6-2.
Further play was suspended due to afternoon rain at the Foro Italico, and the bulk of the day’s schedule was to be completed yesterday.
Both Williams sisters were due play their opening matches yesterday.
Seventh-seeded Venus was to face Samantha Stosur and No. 5 Serena was due to take on Alona Bondarenko.
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