Top seed Mikhail Youzhny retired with a back injury midway through his second-round match against Denis Istomin at the St Petersburg Open on Thursday.
Youzhny, fresh from winning his first Kremlin Cup title on Sunday, took a medical timeout after losing the first set, but was forced to quit three games later, trailing 6-2, 2-1.
Fifth-seeded compatriot Igor Andreev followed Youzhny out of the indoor tournament when he retired with a knee injury in the second set of his second-round encounter against Marat Safin, trailing 6-3, 0-1.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Safin said he was unaware his opponent was injured.
“I was just concentrating on my game and didn’t know he was feeling pain in his knee,” said the former world No. 1, playing in his penultimate tournament before retiring.
“In any case, I’m just happy I got through to the next round,” added the Russian, who will now take on 101st-ranked Istomin of Uzbekistan in the last eight.
■VIENNA OPEN
AP, VIENNA
Marin Cilic and Gael Monfils retained their slim chances of reaching next month’s ATP World Tour Finals by toughing out wins at the BA Trophy Vienna Open on Thursday.
Top-seeded Cilic beat Daniel Brands of Germany 7-6 (9/7), 6-4, while third-seeded Monfils overcame Jan Hajek of the Czech Republic 6-1, 2-6, 6-4.
The pair, along with second-seeded Radek Stepanek, are vying for the last two berths in the elite, eight-man tour finals in London next month. Cilic was 12th in line, Stepanek 14th and Monfils a distant 16th.
Fellow seeds, No. 6 Feliciano Lopez, the 2004 Vienna champion, and No. 7 Jurgen Melzer, also reached the quarter-finals.
Top-seeded Cilic, looking for his third title of the season, was broken when serving for the first set at 5-4 and then saved a set point in the tie-breaker.
Cilic sealed the win on his third match point and next plays Lopez, who defeated Daniel Koellerer of Austria 6-3, 6-3 to reach his sixth quarter-final in Vienna in as many years.
The 45th-ranked Lopez dominated most of the match, apart from struggling early in the second set when he lost serve once.
In earning his eighth quarter-final appearance of the season, Monfils conceded just seven points in a 17-minute opening set, but lost control afterward.
“I’ve got a headache, nothing serious really,” the Frenchman said.
Monfils will next play Janko Tipsarevic, who beat Michael Berrer of Germany 7-6 (7/3), 6-1.
Berrer, who replaced injured defending champion Philipp Petzschner in the main draw, was broken twice while serving for the opening set at 5-4 and 6-5.
Tipsarevic, coming off his first career final in Moscow last week, used three breaks in the second to wrap up the victory.
Melzer defeated Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia 6-4, 7-5 and advanced to his seventh quarter-final of the year. Melzer meets Stepanek in the quarter-finals.
■LYON GRAND PRIX
AP, LYON, FRANCE
Top-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga led five Frenchmen into the Lyon Grand Prix quarter-finals on Thursday by beating Olivier Rochus of Belgium 6-3, 6-2.
Tsonga was joined by second-seeded Gilles Simon, former Lyon finalist Marc Gicquel, Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra.
Tsonga, who also beat Rochus at Lyon two years ago, hit 13 aces and lost only 12 points on serve to down last week’s Stockholm Open finalist in 64 minutes.
He will face Clement, who beat seventh-seeded Benjamin Becker of Germany 6-4, 6-3.
Simon thrashed qualifier David Guez 6-1, 6-2 in 52 minutes in an all-French match.
Gicquel upset fellow Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-4, 6-0.
Llodra, a doubles specialist, easily beat Monaco after converting two of five break opportunities.
Third-seeded Ivan Ljubicic was the only non-French winner on the day, as the 2007 Lyon champion from Croatia beat Nicolas Kiefer of Germany 6-3, 3-6, 6-1.
The 2025 International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness (IFBB) Mr Universe Chinese Taipei competition began yesterday at Xinzhuang Gymnasium in New Taipei City, with more than 150 athletes showcasing their physiques. It is the first time in 16 years that the IFBB has held a competition in Taiwan, the last being the 2009 World Games in Kaohsiung. The professional bodybuilding contest is bringing together athletes from Taiwan and 16 other countries, including Malaysia, Japan, the US, France and Mexico. IFBB Chinese Taipei president Hsu An-chin said in an interview yesterday that the event came to Taiwan thanks to his lobbying efforts at last
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
Cycling great Marianne Vos won the opening stage of the women’s Tour de France with a brilliant late attack on Saturday. The 38-year-old Dutchwoman overtook her Visma–Lease a Bike teammate Pauline Ferrand-Prevot approaching the line, and then held off Mauritian rider Kim Le Court in the closing meters of a grueling uphill finish. Ferrand-Prevot looked set to win the stage, but the Frenchwoman attacked too early from 600m and could not withstand the late surge from Vos, who punched the air with her left fist as she crossed the line. Moments later, Vos hugged an exhausted-looking Ferrand-Prevot, the Paris-Roubaix winner. “I didn’t know if
TAIWANESE EXITS: Fellow Australian Christopher O’Connell joined Tristan Schoolkate as a winner following his 6-1, 6-2 defeat of Tseng Hsin-chun Australian qualifier Tristan Schoolkate on Monday dispatched rising Brazilian talent Joao Fonseca 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 at the ATP Toronto Masters, ensuring a breakthrough into the world top 100. The 24-year-old from Perth moved to 98th in the ongoing live rankings as he claimed his biggest career victory by knocking out the ATP NextGen champion from November last year. Schoolkate, son of a tennis coach, won his first match over a top-50 opponent on his sixth attempt as he ousted the world No. 49 teenager from Brazil. The qualifier played a quarter-final this month in Los Cabos and won through qualifying for his
RSS