Carlos Moya withstood a determined challenge from qualifier Tim Smyczek in the first round at Indian Wells on Thursday, at the tournament where he seized the world No. 1 ranking in 1999.
The veteran Spaniard held off the 22-year-old from the US to triumph 7-6 (9/7), 7-6 (7/5).
Moya is playing the Masters 1000 tournament, which runs alongside a WTA premier event under the BNP Paribas Open banner, for the first time since 2008.
PHOTO: EPA
Smyczek, playing his third ATP Tour event and his first Masters 1000, had set points in each set, but Moya managed to outlast him in each.
“I’m hitting the ball well and training well, but I can see I’m having trouble closing out matches,” said the Spaniard, who was hindered by a series of injuries last season. “That’s not something you can practice for. My goal now is to try and play as many matches as possible. In the first set I had so many chances. I made it very difficult to win.”
Moya received a wild-card into the main draw. The top 32 seeds, led by Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, enjoy first-round byes.
Djokovic will open against Mardy Fish of the US — the man he beat in the final here in 2008.
Fish rallied on Thursday for a 1-6, 6-1, 6-3 victory over Germany’s Michael Berrer.
Fish said the chilly wind that prevailed during their match as darkness fell made it hard to get into the contest, but he was looking forward to tackling Djokovic again.
“We’ve played three or four times, we’ve had some great matches,” Fish said. “He beat me at Wimbledon the last time we played in straight sets. Other than that, it has gone the distance. We’ve had some great matches.”
The women continued to jockey for position in their first-round matches.
Taiwan’s Chan Yung-jan defeated Stefanie Voegele of Switzerland 6-0, 7-5 to advance to the second round.
Italy’s Roberta Vinci booked a second-round clash with two-time champion Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia, the 21st seed, with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-0 victory over rising US teen star Melanie Oudin.
Unheralded Sloane Stephens of the US, 16, booked a second-round match with defending champion Vera Zvonareva of Russia.
Stephens, ranked 747th in the world, beat Czech Lucie Hradecka 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (9/7).
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY STAFF WRITER
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later