World No. 1 Roger Federer has withdrawn from next month’s Japan Open and Shanghai Masters in order to get some rest, the Swiss player said yesterday.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.
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