World No. 1 Roger Federer has withdrawn from next month’s Japan Open and Shanghai Masters in order to get some rest, the Swiss player said yesterday.
“I am disappointed that I have to withdraw from Tokyo and Shanghai as they are two of my favourite cities in the world and the fans have been great to me over the years,” Federer said on his Web site.
“After consultation with my team and doctors, I decided to take the difficult decision to withdraw from both tournaments so that I can give my body a chance to rest, rehabilitate and fully recover from a physically challenging year,” he said.
PHOTO: EPA
Rafael Nadal is also struggling ahead of the Asian stop on the ATP Tour, pulling out of next week’s Thailand Open with an abdominal injury. Both Federer and Nadal have already qualified for the end-of-season Masters Cup in London.
■OPEN DE MOSELLE
AP, METZ, FRANCE
Top-seeded Gael Monfils reached the Open de Moselle quarter-finals by thrashing fellow Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean 6-1, 6-1 on Thursday.
Following a first-round bye, Monfils fired 10 aces and broke Grosjean six times in their first matchup in three years.
Former world No. 4 Grosjean, a wild-card entry ranked 1,147th, underwent shoulder surgery in December last year and this week won his first match since Wimbledon last year.
Monfils will next face Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia, who upset eighth-seeded Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia 6-4, 7-6 (3).
Ljubicic, who beat Monfils in the 2005 final, fought for nearly two hours before losing to Tipsarevic for the first time.
Fourth-seeded Philipp Petzschner of Germany beat wild card Michael Llodra of France 7-6 (3), 6-3 in their second-round match.
Petzschner will take on Richard Gasquet, who fought more than two hours to edge Belgian Christophe Rochus 7-5, 4-6, 6-2.
■KOREA OPEN
AP, SEOUL
Defending champion Maria Kirilenko of Russia advanced to the Korea Open semi-finals yesterday by beating Vera Dushevina of Russia 7-5, 7-6 (5).
Kirilenko will next play Kimiko Date Krumm of Japan, who beat top-seeded Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-4.
Taiwan’s Chan Yung-jan fell 6-0, 2-6, 7-5 to Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany. Groenefeld will play Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain, who defeated Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia 6-3, 6-3.
Top seeds Alexander Zverev of Germany and American Coco Gauff on Tuesday advanced to the third round of the Canadian Open after both players were pushed hard by their opponents. World No. 3 Zverev, playing in his first match since his first-round loss at Wimbledon, was far from his best, but emerged with a 7-6 (8/6), 6-4 win over Adam Walton under the lights in Toronto. Momentum shifted firmly in Zverev’s favor when he won a 52-shot rally in the first set tiebreak and he sealed the win on a double fault by the Australian in the second set. “It was a very
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Alex Michelsen on Thursday rallied for a 3-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-4 upset victory over third-seeded Lorenzo Musetti in the men’s singles, converting his seventh match point to reach the fourth round of the Canadian Open. Michelsen reached the last 16 of a Masters 1000 for the first time with his second win over a top-10 player in eight attempts. The 20-year-old American survived nearly 50 unforced errors and converted just two of nine break chances, but it was enough to vanquish Italy’s Musetti, a two-time Grand Slam semi-finalist ranked 10th in the world. “It feels really good,” the 26th-ranked Michelsen said. “I’ve put
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