Fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko was forced to retire with a wrist injury in his second-round clash with Germany’s Michael Berrer at the Dubai tennis championships yesterday.
The Russian looked out of sorts, losing the first set 6-3, having battled back from a set down on Tuesday to get into the last 16.
“It started yesterday afternoon,” said Davydenko. “I was thinking: ‘Okay there’s pain, but I will recover’. I warmed up [today] and the wrist was feeling okay but the match was different and it started to get swollen.”
PHOTO: AFP
The world No. 6 is now a doubt for Russia’s Davis Cup tie against India in Moscow next week.
Berrer, 29, dominated, breaking his beleaguered opponent in the fourth game after Davydenko had put a backhand smash into the net, and then held serve comfortably to clinch the set.
“I played very aggressive. I played the ball where it came from; he likes to play it from running,” said Berrer, who has never made the world top 50. “I went to the net a lot, put pressure on the second serve.”
The German has now won more ATP matches this year than he did in the whole of last year and put the improvement down to his new coach, Claudio Pistolesi.
“[He’s] given me a lot of confidence. I’m German and we’re a little bit self critical and he’s helped me to believe more in my strength,” the left-hander said.
Berrer will play Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis or Indian qualifier Somdev Devvarman in today’s quarter-finals.
Austria’s Juergen Melzer beat Spaniard Tommy Robredo 6-3, 7-5 to earn a last-eight clash with Marin Cilic after the world No. 9 wrapped up a routine 6-2, 7-6 victory over another Austrian, Stefan Koubek.
Croatian Cilic was rarely at his best, making only 47 percent of first serves, and squandered six set points after racing into a 6-0 lead in the second-set tiebreak, eventually triumphing 8-6.
■DELRAY BEACH
AP, DELRAY BEACH, FLORIDA
Second-seeded Ivo Karlovic of Croatia and third-seeded Benjamin Becker of Germany won first-round matches at the Delray Beach International Tennis Championships on Tuesday.
Seventh-seeded James Blake, a 2008 Delray Beach finalist, fought until after midnight to take a 6-1, 3-6, 5-3 lead over fellow American Taylor Dent. But he couldn’t take advantage of three match points before rain suspended the match at deuce. Play was scheduled to resume yesterday with Dent poised to eliminate the seventh-seeded Blake.
The 2.05m Karlovic is known for his big serving, so he was not impressed with only posting 19 aces in his 6-3, 7-6 (3) win over Philipp Petzschner of Germany.
“I don’t know what happened today,” the 33rd-ranked Karlovic said. “Disappointing. Only 19 aces. No good.”
Becker ousted 2008 Delray Beach champion Kei Nishikori of Japan 6-3, 1-6, 6-0.
Two-time Delray Beach champion Xavier Malisse of Belgium fell to fourth-seeded Jeremy Chardy of France 6-3, 7-6 (5), while Germany’s Florian Mayer, seeded sixth, was too good for Australia’s Nick Lindahl, winning 6-4, 6-1.
Defending champion Mardy Fish appeared in danger of being bounced from the tournament, but moved into the second round when Christophe Rochus of Belgium retired with a bad back at 5-7, 6-3, 3-3.
Ernests Gulbis of Latvia, Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen and Robin Haase of the Netherlands were other winners on Tuesday, along with German pair Mischa Zverev and Daniel Brands, plus Colombia’s Santiago Giraldo.
■MEXICAN OPEN
AP, ACAPULCO, MEXICO
Top-seeded Venus Williams won her first clay-court match of the season, defeating Mathilde Johansson of France 6-2, 6-3 to reach the second round of the Mexican Open on Tuesday.
Williams, the defending champion who is coming off a hard-court tournament victory at Dubai on Sunday, seemed to make the switch to the slippery clay without too many problems.
“It was a really good first match,” Williams said. “I was just trying to get my rhythm on the clay and make the transition.”
In other women’s first-round matches, third-seeded Gisela Dulko of Argentina defeated Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic 6-1, 2-6, 6-1 and No. 5 Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain beat Hungary’s Greta Arn of Hungary 6-0, 6-0.
On the men’s side, No. 1-seeded Fernando Verdasco of Spain rallied from a set down to defeat Italy’s Fabio Fognini 2-6, 6-4, 6-0. No. 3 David Ferrer also advanced with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Italy’s Potito Starace.
Sixth-seeded Nicolas Almagro and eight-seeded Albert Montanes — both from Spain — came through their first-round matches.
Almagro beat Dudi Sela of Israel 6-1, 7-6 (0) and Montanes advanced with a win over countryman Daniel Gimeno-Traver 7-5, 4-6, 6-2.
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
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite