Roger Federer made a victorious start to the grasscourt tennis season with a 6-4, 6-4 defeat of Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen in the first round of the ATP event in Halle, Germany, on Tuesday.
The top-seed prevailed in 1 hour 3 minutes to set up a second-round match with either Colombia’s Alejandro Falla or Israeli qualifier Noam Okun.
“I had two double faults, which is usually enough for two matches,” said Federer, who had to save two break points in his first service game.
Federer is seeking to bounce back after falling to Sweden’s Robin Soderling in the quarter-finals at last week’s French Open and losing his world No. 1 crown to Paris champion Rafael Nadal.
Federer typically uses the Halle event as a tune-up event for Wimbledon, where he will this year seek to win a record-equaling seventh singles title.
Elsewhere at Halle on Tuesday, Russian second seed Nikolay Davydenko beat Germany’s Simon Greul 7-6 (7/1), 6-0, but Davydenko’s third-seeded compatriot Mikhail Youzhny fell 4-6, 6-1, 7-5 to German Nicolas Kiefer.
“It was a tough game for me. The longer an injury absence endures, the harder it is to come back,” said Davydenko, who is making his return to action after three months on the sidelines with a left wrist problem.
Austrian sixth seed Jurgen Melzer, a surprise semi-finalist at Roland Garros, overcame the loss of the first set against Russia’s Alexandre Kudryavtsev to win 3-6, 7-6 (7/2), 6-2.
Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber kept on course for a quarter-final meeting with Federer by edging Belgium’s Ruben Bemelmans 7-6 (7/2), 6-7 (10/12), 6-4.
Next up for Kohlschreiber is Swiss Marco Chiudinelli, who defeated lucky loser Olivier Rochus of Belgium 6-3, 2-6, 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